Video art goes from museum to Mofile

While looking up a new exhibition from a friend of Shanghaiist, we were directed to a website called Art Mofile, a sort of YouTube for video artists and aspiring film makers. Art Mofile bills itself as a "platform for short films and art videos." Anyone can submit work (provided the works are artistic in nature, not for commercial purposes) and the people behind the site select the best ones to put on the site for the whole world to see. Everything from documentary to music videos are accepted; to submit, you merely upload your work and voila! You're on your way to artistic glory. Shanghaiist likes this idea very very much, and there were already two pages of videos to view... although with Shanghaiist's super slow internet, we didn't have the patience to see many of them. Maybe when they fix the whole earthquake thing ... whenever that may be. For now, we're happy just knowing it exists.

The coolest part is one can become a resident artist of the site, meaning you have your own page so people can view your videos without searching or looking through other people's videos. To do so, you just have to upload five videos and fill out an application form. Art Mofile also has offline events as well as their online exhibitions. A platform like this is important, especially after the depressing turn of events at the Duolun Museum, where staff left en masse. The Duolun was one of the few museums that really supported video art but with a big gaping hole left here by the former staff, people have to find other ways to view video and film. Which is probably why the former curator Biljana Ciric turned to Art Mofile for her latest project called Interventions (art in public spaces). View the preview video and read all about this and other events here. The site is in English and Chinese.