Get out your digicams and fire up your graphics software! The Guardian is inviting the Bay Area's visual artists to enter their most challenging and controversial video art pieces in our inaugural arts contest, in honor of famed British artists GILBERT & GEORGE!

Entries will be judged by a panel of members of the Bay Area's digital, film and arts community, including:

Bill Banning, Roxie New College Film Center
Anna-Mae Chin, San Francisco Film Society
Peaches Christ, Midnight Mass / SF Underground Short Film Festival
Emily Doe, Wholphin
Bruce Fletcher, Dead Channels
Timothy Gibbons, Lucasfilm

Winning entires will be shown at the Guardian's celebration of GILBERT & GEORGE, a massive retrospective of the legendary performance artists' work at the de Young Museum, in late March!

The top three finalists will also each receive a Film Enthusiast level membership to the San Francisco Film Society!

Contest rules, submission guidelines and deadlines

Get some background and inspiration on Gilbert and George from YouTube (warning: videos may contain mature, controversial and/or thought-provoking material)

Upload your own video art piece to YouTube

Email the link to contest@sfbg.com (subject line: VUSUAL CONTEST) and your video will be uploaded to the Guardian's YouTube channel http://youtube.com/SFBayGuardian

Stay tuned for our judges' decisions!

Videos must have a maximum length of 5 minutes; deadline for entries is 5pm, Friday, February 29, 2008.