Art in Motion

BY PETER WEIBEL

Dear visitors,

wheel technology (railways, cars, etc.) powered the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Around 1900 the machines of the moving image developed from the motion machines. Rotating wheels and discs, buzzing film and magnetic coils produced cinematography, the writing of movement, the art of illusory movement. At the same time, kinetics, the art of real movement, emerged. »The movie, the moving pictures« were declared the 7th art. Movement became the motor of art in the 20th century. Therefore the picture, which until then was considered to be one of the arts of space, became a time-based art form, closer to music, the mother of all time-based arts, than painting. 

In our exhibition »Art in Motion. 100 Masterpieces with and through Media« are therefore not only set in motion by celluloid, but also by letters, light and sound sources - and even by the viewer himself. Media art arises when one of the three conditions is fulfilled: apparative production, apparative distribution, apparative reception. These three conditions are changed by storage techniques such as chemical, magnetic or electronic storage of information. In the 21st century, electronic storage makes it possible not only to simulate movement, but also to simulate life itself with computer-aided image systems and installations.

In the ZKM, 100 masterpieces of media art from 100 years and another 300 reference works are on display. Decide for yourself which work is a masterpiece for you and join us on a great mental adventure! The art of movement has moved many things. 

By the way: The »Open Codes« educational experiment will continue from 1 September: »Open Codes II. The World as a Field of Data« will be supplemented by new artistic works and will run until January 6, 2019. 

Yours
Peter Weibel