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Re: <nettime> Media Mutations - Life | Registration | Simulation (was: Political Work in the Aftermath of the New Media Arts Crisis) |
> jaromil said: > Montevideo / Time Based Arts ... which is now called Nederlands > Instituut voor Mediakunst (NIMK, BTW) > if we speak of a national institute that started in a squat in > Amsterdam 30 years ago Hello. I did not remember that the 'Nimk' was started in a squat: isn't this the story of Paradiso and Melkweg? As far as I know the 'Netherlands Media Art Institute' was born when 'Monte Video' and 'Time Based Arts' merged (1993). Monte Video was founded by René Coelho in 1978, and initially operated from his house in Amsterdam. (was that squatted? I tend to doubt.) Monte Video focused on video art and provided equipment for producing works and space to show them (soon collecting and distributing... video-tapes!). Time Based Arts was founded in 1983 by the Association of Video Artists, so it was an artists run association creating a network for distribution; it was more performance oriented than Monte Video, according to the story that was narrated to me, and which I deduced from the collection. (Can anyone confirm this, please?) Were they squatting? But they were getting funding... I am somewhat curious. Maybe other people on this list know more. There is a page of history on the nimk.nl, but i saw no wikipedia entry on this topic. I find the *story of this institute quite beautiful and paradigmatic in the development of the (non-linear) chain of media mutations (which could off course be expanded): happening/performance (art=life) electronic art video-art (art=registration) media-art, software-art (art=simulation) I paste it below. Best, Eleonora === **History** 1978 Monte Video is founded by René Coelho. From his home on the Singel in Amsterdam he makes equipment and documentation available, and furnishes one room as a gallery. The first video artist whose work is shown here on the Singel was Livinus van de Bundt, Coelho's inspiration. Other artists, such as Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Shelly Silver and Gabor Body, soon make contact. It is not long before Monte Video has a large selection of works available for rental. 1983 Thanks to government funding Monte Video is able to move to Amsterdam North. There is now sufficient space to offer regular presentations. Not only Dutch artists, but also those from other countries are given a chance to show their videos or installations. 1986 Government funding received by Monte Video is cut back to almost nothing. Monte Video does receive several small transitional grants from the city of Amsterdam. Time Based Arts, which had been founded in 1983 by the Association of Video Artists, is fast becoming well-known as a distributor of video art, and continues receiving government funding. 1986-1993 René Coelho continues on his own. Monte Video moves back to his home on the Singel. The acquisition of production facilities, distribution, documentation and promotion goes on, financed from his own income and by organizing large projects. One of these, as an example, was 'Imago', an exhibition of Dutch video installations which toured worldwide for five years beginning in 1990. There were also plans laid for the first conservation programs for video art. The chairman of Time Based Arts, Aart van Barneveld, died; his death was followed by many conflicts within the organization. In the early 1990s Time Based Arts also lost its subsidies and threatened to go under. Monte Video and Time Based Arts decide to provide a joint art program for Amsterdam cable TV, Channel Zero. 1993 Time Based Arts merges with Monte Video. Their work is continued under the new name of Netherlands Media Art Institute, Montevideo/Time Based Arts. This fusion does free up national funding. In both 1997 and 2001 the grants are expanded and converted into a structural subsidy for four years. 1993-2002 The Netherlands Media Art Institute moves twice, in 1994 to the Spuistraat and in 1997 to its present location on the Keizersgracht. The Institute continues to grow through these years, and adopts the following mission statement: The Netherlands Media Art Institute supports media art in three core areas: presentation, research and conservation. At the same time, through its facilities it offers extensive services for artists and art institutions. Among these services are educational programs, to be developed to accompany all activities. and **History of the Collection** The collection of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Montevideo/Time Based Arts reflects the turbulent history of the Institute. In addition to the collection of Monte Video, the predecessor of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, the Institute administers the collections of four institutions: the Lijnbaan Center (1970-1982), Time Based Arts (1983-1994), De Appel (1975-1983) and the Institute Collection Netherlands. This combination of artists' initiatives (Time Based Arts, De Appel and the Lijnbaan Center) and more formal institutions (Institute Collection Netherlands and the present Netherlands Media Art Institute) affords the collection a surprising diversity. In addition to renowned artists like Bill Viola, Nam June Paik and Gary Hill (who were represented in the collection as far back as the 1970s), there are internationally known Dutch artists who experimented with the medium for only a short period in the 1970s, such as Marinus Boezem, Jan van Munster and Pieter Engels. Before any institutions at all had yet been created for the purpose of collecting small centers were set up in various parts of The Netherlands which facilitated and promoted the use of video by and for artists. The earliest examples of this were Agora Studios in Maastricht, the Lijnbaan Center in Rotterdam (itself a merger of the studio of Venster in Rotterdam and the video studio which was set up for the Sonsbeek exhibition in 1971 in Arnhem), and a couple of individuals such as the artists Miguel-Ángel Cárdenas and Jack Moore in Amsterdam, who made their cameras available for other artists. Many of the works which were made in this earliest period of Dutch video art only surfaced from oblivion in the course of the 1990s. Surprising discoveries among them are the works of Dennis Oppenheim, Terry Fox, Wim Gijzen, Nan Hoover and Tajiri. With the arrival of the collection of De Appel an enormously rich collection of video records of performances was added. De Appel flourished in the 1970s as one of the most progressive international work sites for performance art. The collection of this institution contained unique works by Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Gina Pane, Carolee Schneemann and others. But in addition to records of events in her own gallery, Wies Smalls, the founder of De Appel, also built up a collection of international video art in order to enable the Dutch public to become acquainted with what was happening internationally, including work by Douglas Davis, Ulrike Rosenbach, Joan Jonas and Alison Knowles. In the early 1980s, with De Appel as its base, efforts were begun to establish an association for video artists, which later created the Time Based Arts Foundation. The collection of this artists' association, in addition to works by artists based in The Netherlands, such as Abramovic/Ulay, Hooykaas/Stansfield, Ben d'Armagnac, Christine Chiffrun and Lydia Schouten, also included work by international artists like Mona Hatoum and General Idea. Time Based Arts maintained an active collection policy, in which any artist who worked with video could try to have his or her work included in the collection. As it grew the collection became enormously diverse and afforded a good overview of the various ways that video could be employed in the visual arts. Through in to the 1990s Time Based Arts played an important role in the collection, distribution and support of video art until, in 1994, under pressure from the municipal authorities of Amsterdam, it entered into a merger with Monte Video. René Coelho began his video gallery Monte Video in 1978, and in doing so laid the foundation for the present Institute. Monte Video was a gallery which specialized in electronic art and especially in video art that sought out the creative possibilities and qualities of the medium itself. An important impetus for establishing the institution was the work of the Dutch video pioneer Livinus van de Bundt. He was therefore the first artist to be shown in the gallery. Later the Vasulkas, Bert Schutter, Peter Bogers, Matthew Schlanger and many others followed. In addition to the works that were to be seen in the gallery, Monte Video began to be active in collecting and distributing work. Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Shelly Silver and Gabor Body were for instance artists who 'stabled' their work with Monte Video. The gallery owed its international success chiefly to this. When in the 1990s the conservation of video works became a pressing problem, the then merged Montevideo/Time Based Arts established itself as the goad and later as the center of technical expertise for carrying out the Conservation of Dutch Video Art project. As well as the collections described above, there was integral cooperation with museums that over the course of time had also collected video work. In addition to much technical research, the conservation efforts also prompted considerable recording work and research into content. Among questions dealt with were the status of the vehicle, the significance of the material chosen and establishing the boundary conditions for proper exhibition. Because of the differences in approach among the institutions from which they came, considerable time was spent integrating the collections with one another, and getting the possibilities for the use of the works coordinated with one another. But now, with the end of the conservation project in sight, the gaps between the collections appear to be closing ever more, and we can proudly present our multi-faceted collection to the public, as we do here. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org