Staff

Abina Manning, Director

Abina has worked to promote artists' film and video for many years, in both Europe and the United States. Prior to joining the Video Data Bank in 1999, she worked with a number of arts organizations in the U.K., including the LUX Center, the London Film Maker's Co-op, London Electronic Arts, and Cinema of Women. She was Director of the inaugural Pandæmonium Festival of Moving Images, a major European exhibition presented at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London that showcased film, video, gallery installations, and multi-media works. The Guardian called the Pandæmonium Festival, "A rich lucky-dip of the sublime and the startling." Abina has participated in many international film and video festivals and conferences as a juror, panelist, curator, and advisor, and has worked on collaborative projects with arts venues internationally. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Philosophy from Middlesex University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Film and Television from the University of Westminster, London.

email: abina@vdb.org

Brigid Reagan Balcom, Assistant Director

Brigid is the Assistant Director of Video Data Bank. As AD, Brigid manages submissions, acquisitions, public programs, marketing and promotion for the organization. She was VDB’s Distribution Manager prior to her current appointment and previously worked in both programming and educational outreach for Cinema/Chicago, presenter of the Chicago International Film Festival. Brigid has presented VDB work at festivals and conferences throughout the world, and has sat on various panels and juries in the media arts field. She holds a BA in Film and Television from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago, where she was a Dwight Follet Fellow.

email: brigid@vdb.org

Lindsay Bosch, Distribution Manager

As Distribution Manager at the Video Data Bank, Lindsay is responsible for artist and client services, overseeing purchases and rentals of video art titles, and coordinating screenings with national and international festival organizers and curators. Lindsay holds a Bachelors degree in Radio, Television and Film from Northwestern University. She earned her Masters in Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has previously worked in media exhibition and distribution for the Reeltime Film Forum, the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. She has presented VDB work at various festivals, and has participated in a number of media arts events on behalf of the organization. She curated the exhibition Pass It On! Connecting Contemporary DIY Cultures at the A+D Gallery of Columbia College, Chicago, and presented at the 2010 College Art Association panel Multiples & Multiplicity-Beyond Benjamin. She is the coauthor of the art history textbook Icons of Beauty: Art, Culture and the Image of Women [Greenwood Press, Dec. 2009].

email: lindsay@vdb.org

Tom Colley, Collection Manager

Tom manages technical services at the Video Data Bank, and is responsible for fulfilling orders and organizing the collection. His activities involve cataloging, preservation, digitization, dubbing, and maintaining equipment. He works closely with the Media Producer on digital projects and oversees Graduate Assistants who work on the shipping, receiving, and production of tapes and files. In addition, Tom collaborates in running the Butcher Shop, an artist run studio space. He received a Bachelor's degree in Art and Anthropology from Oberlin College, and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois. He is also an active member of AMIA, the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

email: tom@vdb.org

Hans Peter Sundquist, Media Producer

Hans is responsible for maintaining the digital aspects of the Video Data Bank, including the website, DVDs, BluRay, and graphic design. He received his Bachelors degree from Bethel University in 2002, attended the Oregon Extension in 2001, and received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007, during which time he worked as a graduate intern at the Video Data Bank. In 2008, Hans co-founded the Julius Caesar gallery in Chicago. He maintains a studio, and has shown at Threewalls, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of the City of Skopje in Macedonia, the McAninch Arts Center, and LVL3 gallery.

email: hans@vdb.org

Mary Scherer, Distribution Assistant

Mary is responsible for managing VDB's front office and screening room, for fielding inquiries about the collection, processing orders and submitting new work to festivals worldwide. She also volunteers with the experimental music organization LAMPO. Prior to VDB, Mary worked with the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. Mary earned her BFA in Film and Video from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2006, and is currently working towards an MFA at the School of the Art Institute. She is a practicing visual artist working in video, film and electronic media, with an interest in conceptually-based projects.

email: distro@vdb.org