40jahrevideokunst.de

In 2003 the Federal Cultural Foundation began a programme to restore, archive and publish outstanding works of German video art. This project was necessary for two reasons - first, many major works of international video art have been created in Germany, and second, much of its film material is being threatened by decay. There are many original films which can no longer be played, or their quality has deteriorated to such a degree that one can only make out "television snow". To make matters worse, rapid technological advances have made it increasingly difficult to view these original works because the playback devices are no longer produced.

The project was managed by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Its other partners included the Städtische Galerie in Lenbachhaus, Munich, the Kunsthalle Bremen and an art organization in the new German Federal States.

As part of the project a video publication was created with fifty of the most significant German works of video art. In 2006, the featured pieces of the publication were exhibited at the participating art institutions together with works of their own collections. In 2005, a research convention discussed the restorative and aesthetic challenges facing video art.