About

The VHS Activism Archive holds information and resources connected to 184 tapes first accumulated and used for teaching and research by one media scholar and video artist: the Alexandra Juhasz VHS Collection. It reflects her queer feminist media praxis with particular attention to activist and experimental media concerning AIDS, anti-racism, and the art and expression of people of color, queers of many stripes, lesbians, femmes, and women. The collection also holds documentary, art video, and experimental film.

An evolving and growing collection of dedicated student researchers and assistants from a variety of programs at CUNY (and NYU) have built in information and context for all the tapes, and we always seek more.

The Archive also holds graduate student work generated by re-engaging and activating 12 or more of the tapes in the collection with a particular focus on AIDS, sexuality, women, and people of color.

We are eager to engage the tapes' makers and communities, as well as to encourage new uses and users. Please feel free to contact us about more resources and information, as well as documentation of your own activation of the collection. In these ways, the dead tapes can stay alive, stay useful, while the collection grows to take the shape of a larger community of practice.

The VHS Activism Archive is affiliated with the Radical Film Network: https://radicalfilmnetwork.com. Find more kindred connections under the pull-down menu, Sister Sites.