David Curtis

David Curtis, founder of the British Artists' Film & Video Study Collection, on the genesis of his 2007 book A History of Artists' Film and Video in Britain:

"One of the prompts to the writing of this book was the absence of any comprehensive history of the support-organisations designed by and for British moving image artists. Bits of the story (the GPO phenomenon; the Film Co-op's early days) are relatively well know, but an overview that shows the links and recurring patterns has not been attempted before.

"Agencies of the State - the GPO, the BFI, the Arts Council, the British Council and Channel 4 - loom large, which would imply a dependency by British artists upon State support greater than that of their contemporaries abroad. How true this is will remain conjecture until more European nations have written their own stories. Certainly this account implicitly illustrates the reality that State involvement in the arts can be a mixed blessing. It can be slow to act and vulnerable to policy changes - and like any intervention designed to influence a natural ecology, almost invariably stimulates the mediocre alongside the good. (When involved in Arts Council funding, I was often made keenly aware of the limited effectiveness of our decision-making, not least by the ability of some of our true originals, such as Jeff Keen and Margaret Tait, to be prolific makers with little or no institutional support). Probably more in common with developments in mainland Europe, a continuing strength of the British scene has been the role of artist-led organisations, exhibition spaces and magazines; pragmatic, do-it-yourself utopianism being the recipe for success."

A History of Artists' Film and Video in Britain (BFI, 2007)

David Curtis on the BFI Southbank exhibition (15 May - 4 July 2007) Artefacts: British Artists' Film and Video in Documents accompanying the publication of the book:

"More than anything else, the posters, photographs and drawings in this display illustrate the independence and mutual self-help that have characterised this movement from the beginning. They show artists inventing their own models of production, exhibition and distribution, both in response to the indifference of the commercial industry, and as a means of retaining control over the use and reception of their work."

David Curtis published Experimental Cinema: a fifty year evolution in 1971 whilst organising screenings at the Drury Lane and Robert Street Arts Labs. He was Film Officer at the Arts Council from 1977 until 2000, leaving to found the British Artists' Film & Video Study Collection at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

He curated A Century of Artists' Film In Britain for Tate Britain in 2003-4; Collected Works and Colour Fields at the Lethaby Gallery, Central St. Martins College of Art in 2006 and the ongoing seasons of British artists' film and video screenings at BFI Southbank in 2007.