Imai Foundation

The non-profit foundation imai in Düsseldorf is an institution dedicated to the preservation, archiving, restoration, research, mediation and distribution of video art and media art . Your ever-growing archive is conservationally cared for, art-historically processed and made accessible to research and the public.

imai video lounge in the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, 2019

same same but different , exhibition by the imai foundation at the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, 2015

Pictures against the Dark, exhibition view, KIT - Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, 2012

history

The non-profit foundation imai was founded in 2006 in cooperation with the media art agency 235 MEDIA Cologne, the city of Düsseldorf, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Kunststiftung NRW under the name imai - inter media art institute in Düsseldorf. The imai foundation took over the holdings of over 3000 video art tapes from the media art agency 235 MEDIA in Cologne, which was founded in 1982 . From 2008 to 2019, the foundation was headed by Renate Buschmann, who has held a professorship for digital arts and cultural mediation at the University of Witten / Herdecke since 2020 .

Research projects

Case studies for the reconstruction of old media art installations: Until 2014, installative works by Lutz Mommartz , Nan Hoover , Studio Azzurro , Gary Hill , Bill Seaman and Katharina Sieverding were analyzed and reconstructed in order to develop possible solutions for the long-term preservation and presentation of technology-based installations.
The media art agency 235 Media. Their importance with regard to the production conditions, economization and internationalization of media art (duration: 2015 to 2018, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation).

Events

Media art is conveyed through regular participation in conferences and festivals, through lectures, screenings and exhibitions. Examples of events:

Video art screenings by the imai foundation at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, 2016, 2017, 2019.
The monthly event series Videobox has been running in the University House in the center of Düsseldorf since 2015 . It is curated alternately by Darija Šimunović, Renate Buschmann, Jessica Nitsche, Lara Perski and guest curators.
Lecture at the 53rd Rhenish Archives Day, annual meeting of archivists in the Rhineland, Duisburg, 2016.
Waiting in video art , moderated screening at the conference WAITING AS CULTURAL PRACTICE, University of Paderborn, May 21, 2016.
Laugh cry. Video art and comedy , moderated screening at the media aesthetics of comedy conference at Bielefeld University, July 7, 2017.
Lecture at the 26th Berlin EVA conference BASED ON TRUST , Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 2019.
Lecture at the MAI conference museums and the internet of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland LVR in Düsseldorf, 2019.
LET'S DANCE. Music - Art - Video in the 1980s . Screening with an introduction by Renate Buschmann, Museum Folkwang, Essen, June 14, 2019.

Exhibitions

furthest from the edge, furthest inside . Intimacy in Media Art. New art space NKR, Düsseldorf, 2019
WATCH OUT! Imai Foundation and KIT show young media art. KIT - Art in the Tunnel, Düsseldorf, 2018
On Photography . Thomas Kutschker, Lukas Marxt, Róbert Olawuyi, Maria Vedder. NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, 2017
Same Same But Different . The new limited imai video still edition, exhibition for the Düsseldorf Photo Weekend, NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, 2015
The Invisible Force Behind . Materiality in media art. Exhibition for the Quadriennale Düsseldorf, NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, 2014
Pictures against the dark . Video art from the imai archive at KIT. KIT - Art in the Tunnel, Düsseldorf, 2012.

Own conferences and symposia

Video art distribution. From Alternative Art Market to Commercialization , NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, 2018. The international conference dealt with the interactions between art production, video art distribution, the art market and exhibitions for media art.
Image transfer. Preserve, convey, and develop media art . Symposium, NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, 2006.

distribution

The sales program is intended to promote video artists and their audiovisual works and anchor them in the public eye. Collectors, museums, etc. can borrow or buy almost 1500 audiovisual works by over 120 international artists.

Video lounge

Since July 2019, the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf has hosted the imai foundation's permanent video lounge. There, around 1000 videos can currently be viewed on the tablets provided from lounge seating. Information sheets for all of these videos extend over three walls and make searching and finding a physical experience. An app also offers search options. Changing video programs are shown on the large projection screen.

Publications

The imai foundation publishes exhibition catalogs, publications on research results and conference proceedings, etc. a. the exhibition catalog The Invisible Force Behind. Materiality in Media Art for the Quadriennale Düsseldorf 2014 (Verlag Kettler, Dortmund 2014), the conference volume The Presence of the Ephemeral. Media art in the field of tension between conservation and interpretation , Wiener Verlag für Sozialforschung, 2014, and the book Media Art Installations - Media Art Installations. Preservation and Presentation - Preservation and Presentation , Reimer Verlag, 2013. The publication Video Visionen provides information on the origins of the imai Foundation's archive . The media art agency 235 Media as an alternative in the art market (edited by Renate Buschmann and Jessica Nitsche), Bielefeld: transcript 2020.