In the beginning, everyone thought that YouTube was just some scattered web version of a funnniest home videos television show. But the website has proved and is continuoulsy proving that it is more than just that.

The art world is taking YouTube and amateur video seriously. The well-respected Guggenheim museums and YouTube launched on Monday a search for the most creative online videos and expand on ideas of what video can be.

The "YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video" project will be a platform for the 20 videos that will be selected from the web community to be presented at the Guggenheim in New York on October 21 and instantaneously projected at museum centers in Berlin, Bilbao and Venice.

"Creative online video is one of the most compelling and innovative opportunities for personal expression today," said Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation director Richard Armstrong.

"'YouTube Play' demonstrates this is within the reach of anyone who uses a computer and has access to the Internet."

According to Guggenheim Foundation deputy director Nancy Spector, the global competition was "not looking for what's now" but for "what's next", as she stressed the museum's "commitment to new media".

The contest is open to anyone, from creative professionals to amateur video makers. Entries can be new or old videos from the last two years, must run up to 10 minutes and accompanied by a written statement.

Entrants are invited to submit creative videos, including art, animation, motion graphics, narrative and non-narrative work, or totally new art forms on any subject. Deadline for the submission of entries is on July 31.

Youtube.com/play will feature 200 finalists and from them, 20 videos will be selected by a jury consisted of top artists, filmmakers, designers and musicians to be shown in the museums.

The project will give video creators an opportunity to receive international artistic recognition.