Institute for New Media

The Institute for New Media (INM), based in Frankfurt am Main , has been run as an autonomous platform in the field of new media research and development and Internet applications and solutions since 1994 under the sponsorship of the Institute for New Media eV. It was founded in 1989 as an affiliated institute of the Städelschule , State University of Fine Arts, Frankfurt, and between 1990 and 1994 had established itself as an avant-garde experimental laboratory for interactive media art . The INM is organized as an open “plug-in” platform to which people, institutions and companies can dock their individual projects. It offers space, logistics and networks for projects and discourses about the present and future of new media and the knowledge society. With its theoretical and application-related research projects, the INM forms a bridge (“bridging”) between science and society, business and creative people (“public science”). The transdisciplinary and intermethodical way of thinking - between art, science and application - of the protagonists at INM is an essential prerequisite for dealing with the new media (r) evolution in our real-virtual environment.

history

The INM was founded in 1989 as an institute of the Städelschule , State University of Fine Arts Frankfurt. Since 1994 the INM has been run independently and autonomously under the sponsorship of the Institute for New Media (IfNM) eV.

As an affiliated institute of the Städelschule, the INM was responsible for the postgraduate training of “New Media Artists”, for the development of theoretical foundations for “New Media - Art and Science” and for the realization of “(Interactive) New Media Art” projects. Peter Weibel , the first director of INM said in 1992: “The students are artists in a postgraduate training stage and come from all disciplines: stage design, visual arts, new media, but also philosophy, physics and computer science. Visiting professors such as Steina and Woody Vasulka , Matt Mullican , Jeffrey Shaw, Holger van den Boom, Dara Birnbaum , Dan Graham and occasional lecturers have expanded the range of courses offered in recent years. "

Experimental laboratories for video, audio and computer graphics were available to employees and guests for production. These Kasper König (Rector of the Städelschule) in the establishment press conference in 1990: "The Society of the Western world is almost entirely durchmediatisiert. The new media, computer-aided machines and networks provide valuable services in almost all areas of life. An art college should accept this current state of society and prepare its students for this reality. This is also done by trying to examine the artistic dimension of these new media, as is done at the institute. ” In the first few years, the INM developed into an extremely successful incubator for postgraduate, independent artists. The attractive context, the warmth of the nest and the discourses had lasting effects: around 45 postgraduate artists and scientists worked at the INM in the first five years, from which more than 10 international professorships could then be filled. In addition, the INM in Frankfurt was a world-famous "hot spot" for the "new media scene", which on the one hand was due to the ideal location in terms of traffic in Frankfurt am Main, but above all to the global impact and the extensive activities of its director Peter Weibel today director of the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) Karlsruhe.

Sponsoring association

The INM Institute for New Media (INM) has been run as a non-profit association since 1994 under the sponsorship of the Institute for New Media eV (IfNM eV). The director of the institute is Michael Klein. The board members are Claus Möbius, managing director of MTS-Moenus Treuhand und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main; Mark Mattingley-Scott, Principal - Sensor & Actuator Solutions EBO, IBM - Germany GmbH; Gerd Döben-Henisch, professor at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences .

The sponsorship of the IfNM eV ensures the INM its non-profit status and independence. In this way, the INM was able to maintain its economic independence even in the most turbulent times of recent years. The lean and adaptable structure withstood the lure of the Internet hype and the pull of the decline of the new economy. In terms of content and organization, the INM has always been a burning glass for developments and currents in the new media scene. As an autonomous institution supported by the voluntary commitment of a non-profit association and personal enthusiasm, the institute has set out to cooperate independently on the one hand, but at the same time in a synergetic ideal way with public and private institutions in the Frankfurt-Rhein Main area.

Order and projects

The INM sees itself as a "plug-in" platform to which people, institutions and companies can dock their individual projects. The institute is an incubator for transdisciplinary project collaborations in the areas of "Science & Art, Vireality & Applications, Network & Discourses". The structural concept of a real and virtual platform - real in the INM loft and virtually on the Internet - closely linked to the FrankfurtRheinMain region but “global by location”, determines the future of INM both conceptually and programmatically. Through its projects and its own event program, the INM intends to continue to contribute to the content-related discourse between researchers and society, creatives and business in the fields of knowledge and new media.

The INM Institute for New Media is organized purely on a project basis. All research and development measures as well as the portal platforms are financed from acquired third-party funds or orders. The event program is financed through cooperation and sponsor support and partly through association funds. With its realized projects, the INM does not compete with commercial productions on the market. Rather, the institute realizes non-profit projects and, above all, experimental applications. In addition, it has a network of colleagues, partners and specialists who take on tasks in a wide variety of disciplines as part of the projects.

Knowledge, interaction and networking - application-related development projects

Open Knowledge Simulation Modeling (OKSIMO)
Knowledge portal FrankfurtRheinMain with knowledge atlas
Science4FrankfurtRheinMain (S4FRM)
Knowledge portal of the European partner regions of Hesse
Public Space Projects - Public space projects

Science and Art - Theoretical Basic Research and Residences at INM

Performative Science
Vireality
Artists / Scientists in Residence

Events and Discourses

unplugged heads (This open discourse event takes place monthly in the INM Institute. Colleagues from the INM circle invite a speaker on a current topic from their area of interest and discuss them in dialogue with the audience.)
Science salons
Visual Music Award (competition for young talent, which honors compositions of films or animations according to musical principles in the spirit of painting with time, light tone symphony and eye music (visual music).)

Internet and portal platforms art, culture and knowledge at the INM

Art in public space Frankfurt
FrankfurtRheinMain knowledge region
Science4FrankfurtRheinMain
Public space projects
Knowledge portal of the European partner regions Hessen

Portal projects of the INM service network

Frankfurt Opera
Hypermedia real-time traffic information system, Hessian road and traffic administration
Corporate identity IVM Integrated Traffic Management FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH
Institutional websites
Numerous corporate websites

Partner clubs

Association for the Promotion of Phonography and Experimental Music eV The association organizes its bimonthly concert series "Phonophon" from the fields of phonography and experimental music at the Institute for New Media.
The Institute for New Media is a founding member of the "DigitalHub FrankfurtRheinMain eV" Objective: To promote the digital infrastructure of Frankfurt am Main and the FrankfurtRheinMain region.
The Institute for New Media is a founding member of the "CLUK cluster of creative industries in Hessen eV" The goal: combining the interests of the creative industries in Hessen.

literature

FA. Bechtoldt, M. Klein: INM Institute for New Media 1994/95. INM, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-931701-01-8 .
Gabriele Gramelsberger, Michael Klein (Ed.): Virtual Space Explorers - Experiments in the data room. INM, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-931701-02-6 .
Hans H. Diebner: Performative Science and Beyond - Involving the Process in Research. Springer, Vienna 2006, ISBN 978-3-211-33357-0 .
Michael Klein, Hans H. Diebner (eds.): New media make sense - INM context: Performative science and vireality. Self-published by INM, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-931701-05-5 .