The web publication is the outcome of the research project For the Record, initiated by Het Nieuwe Instituut in 2018. The project investigated how contemporary music video culture operates as a public space for consumerism, activism and emancipation, by exposing existing realities and by imagining alternatives. In order to do this, For the Record documented and reflected upon the technologies, spatial design and forms of representation deployed in music video and live events, using public programmes and video production as the main methodology.

Topics explored by For the Record included gender roles and feminist positions in popular music videos, forms of representation and decolonising cultural institutions through a close reading of the Carters' Apeshit video, K-pop fandoms and digital diaspora, staging realities and world-building in music videos and live events, and design tactics for collective music experiences during the pandemic, among many other themes. 

Fortherecord.video aims to involve fans, artists, designers, researchers and practitioners from different fields and territories to engage in an ongoing exchange about contemporary music video culture. You are invited to navigate the publication with its essays, videos and playlists through tags, links and queries, and to contribute your own video annotations or thematic video playlist. 

The web publication will be launched through this online event, with contributions by architect and urban theorist Dele Adeyemo and artist and cultural historian Sary Zananiri, among others.