Electronic Arts Intermix

Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a United States nonprofit arts organization devoted to the creation, circulation, preservation, exhibition, and study of video and media art. Founded in 1971 by art dealer and technology-oriented arts advocate Howard Wise, it emerged during the early development of video as an artistic medium. Rather than treating artists' videotapes as conventional commercial gallery products, EAI was established to provide an alternative infrastructure through which experimental video could be made, distributed, shown, collected, and preserved. The organization operates principally as a resource for artists, museums, educators, curators, programmers, collectors, and cultural institutions. Its central asset is a collection of more than 3,500 historical and contemporary video works, covering material from the mid-1960s to the present. The collection includes pioneering video and media artists such as Nam June Paik, Joan Jonas, Bruce Nauman, Martha Rosler, Peter Campus, Juan Downey, and Mary Lucier, as well as later and emerging practitioners including Cory Arcangel, Seth Price, Paper Rad, Takeshi Murata, JODI, Kalup Linzy, and Shana Moulton. EAI makes works available for screenings, exhibitions, acquisitions, research, and educational use within appropriate cultural and academic contexts. EAI's early programs addressed practical barriers facing artists working with new electronic media. In 1972 it established an editing and post-production facility, providing artists with access to equipment and technical workspace at comparatively low cost. The facility helped enable the production of significant works and served artists and organizations working in both analog and digital formats. In 1973 EAI created the Artists' Videotape Distribution Service, an initiative designed to distribute artists' video outside the conventional gallery system. Its model reflected the early video movement's interest in reproducibility, accessibility, and broader public circulation. Preservation became another major area of activity. EAI began its Preservation Program in 1986 to support restoration, archival management, and the long-term care of works in its collection. As formats, playback systems, display technologies, and digital standards have changed, the organization has continued to provide expertise concerning the preservation, presentation, and collection of time-based media. Its work therefore combines elements of arts administration, rights and distribution management, archival stewardship, technical consultation, and public education. In addition to distribution and preservation, EAI maintains public-facing resources and programs. These have included online research materials, educational initiatives, artist talks, performances, exhibitions, and a public viewing room where visitors can access works from the collection. The organization also publishes guidance concerning media-art display, preservation, and collection practices. Through these activities, EAI presents media art not only as a body of collectible works but also as an important field of art history, cultural production, and technological experimentation. EAI remains distinctive because it is an artist-centered nonprofit infrastructure organization rather than a conventional commercial entertainment or software brand. Its principal offering is access to a specialized cultural collection and the expertise required to circulate, interpret, preserve, and present media artworks. Its audience includes museums, universities, libraries, independent curators, collectors, educators, artists, and members of the public interested in video and digital art.

Electronic Arts Intermix was founded in 1971 by Howard Wise, an art dealer whose New York gallery had become an important venue for kinetic, electronic, and multimedia art. The Howard Wise Gallery operated on 57th Street from 1960 to 1970 and presented exhibitions that explored relationships among art, movement, light, television, and technology. Among its notable projects were On the Move in 1964, Lights in Orbit in 1967, and TV as a Creative Medium in 1969. After closing the gallery, Wise redirected his efforts toward building a nonprofit support structure for artists working with video and related electronic media. EAI was created at a formative moment in the history of video art. Portable video equipment and comparatively reproducible videotape formats allowed artists to work outside traditional film and television production systems, but the new medium lacked established mechanisms for production support, exhibition, distribution, and preservation. EAI's founding purpose was to help make video a viable means of personal, creative, and communicative expression while developing alternatives to the conventional commercial gallery model. In 1972 the organization launched an editing and post-production facility. This service gave artists access to equipment, technical assistance, and workspace, helping them produce works that might otherwise have been difficult to complete. The facility was among the early nonprofit technical services established for artists in the United States and supported work by artists including Mary Lucier and Joan Jonas. Over time, it served thousands of artists and organizations and expanded from analog facilities toward digital production and post-production capabilities. The following year, EAI established the Artists' Videotape Distribution Service. The service responded to the need for a distribution system suited to artists' video, whose makers often wanted works to circulate more broadly and at lower cost than conventional gallery editions permitted. Videotapes could be reproduced and distributed in open or unlimited editions, enabling access by educational organizations, museums, cultural institutions, and individual viewers. The service developed around an important group of early video artists, including Peter Campus, Juan Downey, and Nam June Paik, and became one of the longest-running distribution programs dedicated to artists' video. EAI's role expanded from circulation to long-term stewardship. In 1986 it initiated a Preservation Program to address restoration, archiving, and the deterioration of video materials and playback technologies. The program helped safeguard works in the EAI collection and contributed to broader professional discussions about the technical and institutional requirements of preserving time-based media. The collection came to encompass works dating from the mid-1960s through contemporary practice, including landmark pieces by Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman, Martha Rosler, and Joan Jonas as well as newer digital works by artists such as Seth Price, Paper Rad, Cory Arcangel, and Takeshi Murata. EAI also developed a public and educational dimension. It provides access to works for exhibitions, screenings, acquisitions, classroom use, and research, while offering contextual materials that place media art within social, technological, and art-historical frameworks. Its activities have included artist talks, performances, public programs, online resources, and a public viewing room. Artists associated with these programs have included Dan Graham, Joan Jonas, Paper Rad, Charles Atlas, Carolee Schneemann, Nancy Holt, Shana Moulton, Cory Arcangel, JODI, Kalup Linzy, Lawrence Weiner, and Tony Oursler. In September 2011, the exhibition Circa 1971: Early Video and Film from the EAI Archive opened at Dia:Beacon to commemorate EAI's fortieth anniversary. Curated by then Executive Director Lori Zippay, it highlighted early works by artists including Joan Jonas, Nam June Paik, and Ant Farm. The exhibition demonstrated EAI's dual identity as a distributor and a historical archive: its holdings support contemporary circulation while also documenting the development of video and media art since the 1960s. EAI's continuing significance lies in this combination of distribution, preservation, artist support, public access, and specialized knowledge. It functions less like a consumer-facing brand than like a nonprofit cultural infrastructure organization whose services enable media artworks to remain available, interpretable, exhibit-ready, and historically legible across changing technologies.

1. 2011Fortieth-anniversary archive exhibition opens at Dia:Beacon

   Circa 1971: Early Video and Film from the EAI Archive opened at Dia:Beacon, presenting early media works from EAI's holdings.

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2. 1986Preservation Program begins

   EAI began a formal program focused on restoring and safeguarding video works in its collection.

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3. 1973Artists' Videotape Distribution Service is established

   EAI launched a dedicated distribution service for artists' videotapes, helping works circulate outside the traditional gallery system.

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4. 1972Editing and Post-Production Facility begins

   EAI opened an early nonprofit production facility that gave artists access to editing equipment, technical resources, and workspace.

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5. 1971Electronic Arts Intermix is founded

   Howard Wise founded EAI as a nonprofit organization supporting video as an artistic medium and developing alternatives to conventional gallery-based support.

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An artist-centered nonprofit platform and specialist distributor for video, electronic, and digital art, connecting artists and their works with museums, educational institutions, curators, collectors, and public audiences.

• EAI Artists Media Distribution ServiceMedia-art distribution1973

  EAI's distribution service makes artists' video and media works available for screenings, exhibitions, museum and institutional acquisitions, education, research, and collecting. It was established in 1973 as an alternative to conventional gallery distribution and remains centered on the circulation of historically significant and contemporary artists' media.

• EAI CollectionVideo and media-art archive1971

  The EAI Collection contains more than 3,500 historical and contemporary video works spanning the mid-1960s to the present. It includes pioneering electronic and video art alongside newer digital practices and is made available to cultural, educational, and collecting institutions through EAI's distribution and public-resource activities.

• Editing and Post-Production FacilityArtist production support1972

  Established in 1972, the facility provided artists and organizations with access to editing equipment, technical infrastructure, and creative workspace. It supported the production of important video works and later accommodated the transition from analog production environments to digital media workflows.

• EAI Preservation ProgramMedia-art preservation1986

  EAI's Preservation Program was created to address restoration, archival care, format migration, and the long-term accessibility of video and media artworks. The program responds to the technical fragility of videotape and the obsolescence of older playback and display systems.

• 2011Electronic Arts Intermix marks its 40th anniversary with Circa 1971

  Circa 1971: Early Video and Film from the EAI Archive opened at Dia:Beacon in September 2011. Curated by EAI Executive Director Lori Zippay, the exhibition presented early works associated with the organization's archive and the emergence of video art.

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1. Electronic Arts Intermix
2. Electronic Arts Intermix official website