To locate work you will need to approach the people who hold the material and rights. These organisations include distributors, galleries, public and private collections, museums, film archives, estates and artists themselves. The protocol for these organisations varies and it is important to understand a little about how they run and operate to know what you can expect from them and the best approach to be taken. The majority of organisations operate with the artist, the work and their own interest in mind and have varying degrees of openness to how, or even if, they allow work to be shown. This page looks at the key type of institutions you may need to approach and indicates what you can expect from them.

Distributors of artists’ film and video

There are a large number of international distributors for artists' film and video work, mainly dealing with single-screen work, but some also distribute installations, CD-ROMs and sound pieces. Most have very useful online catalogues which can include detailed information about works, biographies of artists and sometimes clips. All distributors hire work for screenings and exhibitions often on a variety of formats and many will also sell works to institutions.

There is certain amount of crossover in terms of the work different distributors represent, but most focus on a certain area or work produced in the country where they are based. Distributors will usually allow work to be shown for a hire fee, and there is usually a sliding scale of pricing to deal with such things as single screenings, extended exhibition periods and gallery installation. The majority of distributors of artists' film and video are not-for-profit organisations who have contractual relationships with the artists to represent their work, with an agreed percentage of each hire or sale paid directly to the artist.

Before approaching distributors with questions first consult their catalogue and/or website, as most of them now have extensive information on their websites. All distributors have staff that know their collections very well, so it is worth contacting them with specific programming inquiries, especially when looking for work that deals with the particular area they specialise in. The majority of distributors have viewing facilities on site to allow visitors to preview work, and some will provide preview tapes or DVDs for a small fee (although this is usually discretionary and often limited to institutions).

If you wish to hire work from a distributor give as much notice as possible – at least three weeks – because of the time it takes to process and ship orders. Also it is important to note that many require payment in advance of shipping and may require you to supply a courier account number to ship the works from and back to them. In terms of the works themselves you will also need to arrange insurance and agree to cover costs involved in replacing the work while they are on site and in transit.

Galleries

There are no real standard arrangements for accessing works that are held in gallery collections; it really depends on the individual gallery and the artist in question as well as the context in which you are proposing to exhibit the work. The main difference to be aware of is commercial galleries that represent particular artists and public galleries and museums that may hold particular works in their collection.

Commercial galleries are usually more flexible and will usually involve the artist in the negotiations about the exhibition of their work. In the case of one-off screenings these may often be dealt with in a fairly ad hoc manner, as this is not usually a very important part of their business. Commercial galleries will usually be more interested in larger scale exhibition projects. Approaching galleries has to be taken on a case-by-case basis but expect it to take anywhere between 2–4 months or longer to agree to access work. In the case of small screenings it may often be worth contacting the artist directly.

In terms of cost, you should at least expect to cover the cost of shipping, insurance and technical preparation that is needed to facilitate the loan. In terms of fees, this varies dramatically from free to very expensive, and may depend on the nature of your exhibition and its perceived benefit to the artist.

One of the real difficulties is trying to find out which gallery represents which artist, or which gallery holds a particular work in their collection. The best place to start is on the internet. In terms of finding out about a particular artist's gallery representation, check to see where they have been having shows: there are a number of good international portal sites which list past and future shows, including the following:

• Artnet
  www.artnet.com
• Art Facts.Net
  www.artfacts.net
• The Gallery Channel
  www.thegallerychannel.com
• Media Art Net
  www.mediaartnet.org

Collections, Museums and Archives

Large public galleries and museums are much slower to react to enquiries than distributors or galleries. The process of loaning work can be slow (up to six months in advance is sometimes needed) and may have restrictions on who they can make loans to.

It is rather more difficult researching for particular works in collections. Again, a general internet search may be the best thing to do first, as many of the major galleries and museums have full listings of their collections online. It may also be worth trying a major portal site such as the US Librarian's Index of the Internet, at www.lii.org, that has more links to many of the large international museums and galleries. Collections vary widely from public to private organisations and the work contained within them is often difficult to access. The tendency for collections is to operate with museums and galleries where work will be loaned on an exchange basis. Borrowing work from collections requires a lot of advance notice, together with paper work and comprehensive insurance for the work. Most collections would require between 4–6 months advance notice.

Film, Video and Television Archives

Accessing works in film archives can similarly be very time consuming. Most archives have three types of work. Firstly works that they actively distribute and hold rights for. Work in distribution will be accessed like work from any film distributor (see above), although film archives will tend to be more familiar with cinema screenings rather than installing work in galleries or art museums. Secondly, works in their collection that are available but for which they do not hold rights (this is usually the majority of their collection). Then thirdly works that are kept solely for archival use and are not available due to their rarity or fragility. This could include negatives or original material that might be used to make a new print.

Most film archives will have online listings or catalogues of work they distribute, and also some form of listing of works they do not process the rights for. In order to show works without rights most collections will be able to guide you to the last known rights holders to help clear them. Depending on how often the work is shown, the rights, the fee charged and any stipulation regarding the work vary greatly. As such accessing work can take anywhere between 1–4 months.

The best source for information on film archives is the website of The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), which has details of over 120 archives around the world. Visit www.fiafnet.org

Commissioning Organisations

Finally there are also numerous commissioning organisations who work directly with artists to produce new work and facilitate its exhibition. Commissioning organisations will have very different engagement with the work and the artists they are involved with. Some work that is commissioned will remain with the commissioner leaving them to actively distribute or represent it, or on the other hand, the work be tied up with the artist and their respective gallery. Depending on the status of the work in their collection you may need anywhere between 1–3 months to access work.