The categorisation of video works is based on the timeline which was published on the opening page of the web edition of Videodocument. At the end of 1990s, it became clear that the differences in the use of video language and medium could be categorised according to consecutive decades. In the early 1970s, only a few artists had access to video equipment. The first video artists used video as a tool to document their artistic activity or as an experimental means of expression. They approached video in terms of a wide understanding of the communication which took place at art events, or of what was offered on national television. In the 1980s, video was used as a powerful form of social and media expression, which became increasingly more of a mass medium both in the context of the underground scene and television. In the 1990s, numerous artists turned to narrative video and aesthetic uses. In addition, collaborations between video artist and contemporary dancers and theatre performers were also common. In the new millennium, video appears as an element in more complex new media works and installations, while remaining to be used as a form of intimate expression which artists use to understand, multiply and represent multi-layered identity.