What is the boundary between reality and illusion? We tend to regard reality and illusion as two opposing concepts and use them to determine each other: Reality is not illusion, and illusion is entirely different from reality; or, rather, it is diametrically opposed to reality. In this way, we understand the two as opposites. However, if we only think of them as a pair, we place ourselves in an uncomfortable situation when we try to understand reality and illusion separately. It becomes obvious that neither reality nor illusion can be delineated solely in terms of the other.

The Take is a blog created by the Guggenheim and inspired by YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video. On it, you’ll find writing by experts, scholars, and artists from the worlds of film, video, and Internet culture. The Take will feature discussions on digital content, the history of video art, and online video and its effects on art and life.

Every time a new technology appears, it promises to solve the problems of an existing medium—but in reality, it tends to introduce new problems all its own. In particular, this describes the relationship between television and YouTube, two tools of mass culture that are good at hiding their technological parameters.

With YouTube Play, the Guggenheim is celebrating online video in an unprecedented global biennial. So far we have received more than 4000 videos from participants in Norway to Vietnam, but that’s not enough—we’re still waiting for your video. Submit your work from now until July 31 for a chance for it to be one of up to 20 videos selected to be shown at the Guggenheim museums in New York, Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice for three days in October. This is your chance to have your video exhibited simultaneously in not one but four major art museums worldwide.

"Video Annoucement for My Show": Made by Parinaz Mogadassi after many many studio visits this summer. Completely nails the mashup that is my current show at Gavin Brown's enterprise and Maccarone but provides a youth and personal vision that I would never be able do if I had made it myself. And we already have 1,141 hits!