"In 1973, gallerist Howard Wise concluded his manifesto with an urgent appeal to build bold and "imaginative funding" structures for video artists. Wise's manifesto would become a foundational document for the video distributor Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), which he founded in 1971 shortly after closing his eponymous gallery. Like many arts manifestos, the text is saturated with a spirit of utopian dreaming; its language is rhetorically structured around "potential" and "possibility," and generates a future-oriented imaginary"
"At EAI, Wise put his manifesto into action, acting as a facilitator who placed deep trust in the judgment and creative aims of artists, researchers, and administrators - firmly believing that those doing the work should define its form. At a time when funding for media arts was rapidly expanding, he provided material and financial support that prioritized potential and experimentation."
"Yet the urgency at the heart of Wise's writing is both pragmatic and deeply invested in the present. He insists that building these futures requires infrastructure-focused coalition building in the present. "Imagination and foresight in funding are needed now," he proclaims, "to see beyond the present - toward a time when these ideas and programs will be fully realized.""
Howard Wise urged the creation of "imaginative funding" structures for video artists and called for immediate imagination and foresight to build future infrastructure. His language emphasized potential, possibility, and a future-oriented imaginary while insisting that present coalition-building would realize future programs. Wise founded Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) and acted as a facilitator who trusted artists, researchers, and administrators to define program form. EAI provided material and financial support that prioritized experimentation as media-arts funding expanded. Instead of engaging its dedicated Video Data Bank staff, SAIC crossed out a budgetary line item, divesting resources and undermining support for video art infrastructure.
Read at Hyperallergic
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