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The moving image is a flow, but also a bridge for the 'visual arts' or a breakwater for new creative possibilities. The current hegemony of the moving image in the fields of art and culture, and its unstoppable digitalisation, forces us to rethink the very concept of 'experimental audiovisual' - both in ontological and material terms - and also the new meanings adopted by the notions of 'archive', 'preservation', 'appropriation' or 're-edition'.

When the VideoFlux project (AKMEKA IT 638-22 consolidated group) proposed a monographic issue of the AusArt magazine, we looked back at the concerns that started the project, with the aim of gathering new experiences and enabling new areas of encounter and exchange of knowledge. Thus, the works presented here represent an open and unhurried overview (like those that usually start a film) of a territory where heritage responsibilities and creative experiences converge. A crossroads of approaches that opens up spaces for research where thought and action have a place. We refer to some ongoing projects that are materialising (Video Archive, at the UPV/EHU), to initiatives that are established over time as a reference (Hamacaonline.net) or to the account of the creative processes of certain audiovisual works that could well serve as materials for the classroom. The publication finally brings together contributions that provide an amplified vision of experimental audiovisual, its genealogies and drifts, its hybridisations and interactions.

Thus, the 'expanded' characteristic of the image, through its different ways of relating to the exhibition space, is taken up by various proposals, such as that of Iñaki Billelabeitia, through a revision of the concept of time in this type of work, or the contribution of Francisco José Gómez Díaz in his text on «Entremanos», an installation by the artist Eva Lootz.

The crossovers between film, television and video, hybridisation and stylistic filtrations, and thematic transfers are the subjects dealt with by Ricardo Roncero, who talks about the interstices of television as a space of possibility for art, and by Paz Tornero Lorenzo, who proposes in her text a historical, critical and open perspective on audiovisual experimentation.

For her part, Alba Matilla's contribution takes us on a journey from obsolescence to the new challenges of contemporary audiovisuals.

From a social vision of the possibilities of video, the article by Itziar Zorita brings us closer to an experience of audiovisual creation developed in a community environment and far from conventional production models, while Eneko Lorente proposes in his text a 'mobilisation of the gaze' that addresses the relations established between film and dance. Home video crosses times, stylistic genres and approaches. The texts by Carlos Trigueros and Cristina Vera update the gaze on this 'sub-genre', irremediably linked to the new scenarios produced by social networks.

At Videoflux we wanted to address another aspect that has been gaining importance in our own group dynamics, the so-called 'media archaeology': the problems of obsolescence, as well as everything related to the preservation, conservation and recovery of audiovisual materials, have recently occupied a central place as a result of our experience with the video archive generated by the Fine Arts Faculty of the UPV/EHU. The rapid succession of formats and media of the moving image has left behind a huge amount of physical material that makes it necessary to address new areas of research focused on the processes of obsolescence of the media, as well as on the selection criteria for their subsequent care and maintenance.

In approaches that range from the general to the concrete, the contributions of Paula Fernández Valdés, Carmen Moral and Mireya Arenas, and Sergio Luna, speak to us both from the perspective of technical specialisation and cultural responsibility, of the fragility of the image and its survival beyond the irrepressible technological replacement.

These challenges challenge us to analyse and resolve the responsibilities (public and institutional; technical and academic) regarding the planning, strategy and approach to these issues. Pablo Maravi's text is, in this sense, fundamental. Almost as if it were an editorial for the present issue, it tackles a complex problem, one of the raisons d'être of the VideoFlux project itself: experimentality in the contemporary field of the visual arts. In parallel to this necessary awareness of the sustainability of the audiovisual heritage, Milagros Valerio's contribution is a proposal for the activation of the archive. The transfer of concepts such as performativity, 'common memory' and accessibility to archival work opens up new possibilities for interpretation and the creation of platforms such as Hamaca (hamacaonline.net), which can be extrapolated to other audiovisual repositories.

Aware that the audiovisual archive is also a storehouse, an accumulation of images waiting to be brought back to life, we have not been able to avoid other proposals for contemporary audiovisual creation and production related to the processes of editing and dismantling or that deal with a critical revision of audiovisual 'genres'. This is the case of María Muriedas, a sensitive and intimate narrative exercise that brings us closer to the conceptualisation process of an audiovisual piece. Along the same lines, Aitor Irulegi's text arises from the artistic practice and thoughts linked to the production process of his animated short film.

The experience of the 143D Festival recounted by Iván Pérez is the chronicle of a collaborative (and now historic) event, built from that same creative and enthusiastic drive.

The new challenges of experimental audiovisuals involve understanding the contributions coming from visual programming languages, robotics and artificial intelligence. The texts by Jaime Munarriz, Regilene Sarzi Ribeiro and Ana Sedeño, and José Antonio Vertedor, constitute in this sense a window into this whole field of possibilities for art and audiovisual media.

The selection of texts in the monographic issue of AusArt contributes to opening up new ways of deepening the work of preservation, conservation and recovery of video as artistic and cultural heritage, and invites a wide audience to reflect on these questions, beyond the academic sphere: teachers, students, artists, curators... new audiences and new forums for the dissemination of this field of artistic experimentation.

Arturo-Fito- Rodríguez Bornaetxea

Gabriel Villota Toyos

Coordinators of the monographic (VideoFlux Project)