Mission & Activities

Founded in 1971, Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a nonprofit arts organization that is a leading international resource for video and media art. A pioneering advocate for media art and artists, EAI's core program is the distribution and preservation of a major collection of over 4,000 new and historical video works by artists. For 50 years, EAI has fostered the creation, exhibition, distribution and preservation of video art, and more recently, digital art projects.

EAI supports artists through the distribution, preservation, exhibition and representation of their media artworks, and works closely with educators, curators, programmers and collectors to facilitate exhibitions, acquisitions and educational uses of media artworks. EAI provides access to video art within an educational and cultural framework.

The EAI collection spans the mid-1960s to the present, and is recognized as one of the most comprehensive video art collections in the world. The works in the collection range from seminal videos by pioneering figures — such as Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman, Martha Rosler and Joan Jonas — to new digital works by emerging artists, including Seth Price, Paper Rad, Cory Arcangel and Takeshi Murata.

Through EAI's Artists Media Distribution Service, the collection is made available for screenings, exhibitions and acquisitions to museums, collectors, and educational, arts and cultural institutions. EAI provides audiences with access to media art, with a parallel commitment to the stewardship and preservation of our collection. EAI also provides an art historical and cultural framework for the collection, with related activities that include extensive online resources, educational initiatives, and Public Programs.

The EAI Online Catalogue is a comprehensive Web resource on the artists and works in the EAI collection, featuring a searchable database and extensive research materials. The EAI Online Resource Guide for Exhibiting, Collecting & Preserving Media Art addresses key issues relating to single-channel video, computer-based art, and media art installations, including best practices, equipment and technical guidelines, case studies, and interviews with media art experts, among other materials. A Kinetic History: The EAI Archives Online provides access to rare materials from EAI's historical archives on the emergent video art movement.

EAI's Preservation Program is a pioneering initiative for the conservation and cataloging of works in the media art collection. Over the past twenty years we have restored many important early video works that would otherwise not be accessible.

EAI also provides access to the collection through our Viewing Room, where any work in the collection or archive is available for study or research, by appointment.

EAI also offers public programs and events, such as artists' talks, screenings, lectures and panels, to provide a forum for critical dialogue and exchange around the collection. In recent years artists such as Dan Graham, Joan Jonas, Paper Rad, Charles Atlas, Carolee Schneemann, Nancy Holt, Shana Moulton, Cory Arcangel, JODI and Lawrence Weiner have participated in our series of artists' talks and performances. EAI has also hosted panels on issues ranging from copyright and contemporary art practices to new media art preservation.