That’s the problem with CRT computer monitors, nobody wants them anymore. Computers have been transmitting their graphical data to chic modern LCD screens for some time now, and these are not only much sharper, but above all more economical with deskspace. As a result, companies no longer produce those classical heavy boxes that for decades were part and parcel of every computer. This may be completely unimportant to computer users, but for Bernhard Serexhe it is a huge problem.
It’s early October 2009 at the Karlsruhe ZKM and a somewhat perplexed man heaves a sigh. He is the museum curator, and he is preparing the jubilee exhibition entitled “Imaging Media@ZKM”, to mark the 20th anniversary of the ZKM. A lot of what was once presented in earlier exhibitions is to be shown again - in its original state - as far as possible. And that includes media art shown on old CRT monitors and not on flat screens. After all, even the Mona Lisa receives the kind of restoration that is most appropriate to her.
The ZKM is 20 years old; this globally unique cultural institution has now existed for two whole decades. The ZKM is regarded as the world’s largest centre for media art. When it was founded in 1989, its self-imposed goal was to be a “forum for the encounter between science and art, politics and economics”. And those responsible have succeeded. Since its inauguration, the ZKM, directed today by Professor Peter Weibel, has examined the theory and practice of new media, has itself developed new technologies and engaged scientifically – and critically so – with the shape of the information age. With its Museum of New Art, the Media Museum, the Institute of Image Media, the Institute of Music and Acoustics and the Institute of Media, Education and Economics, the ZKM promotes interdisciplinary projects and regularly collaborates at the international level.
A lot of what was developed in Karlsruhe is the technological standard today. A walk through the exhibition (on show until 31 December 2010) resembles a journey through time – and through the history of computer technology. Years ago, the Data Jukebox was not only a sensation, it was also the size of a wardrobe. Its 1,500 CDs are shifted to a drive by a gripper arm. Today that amount of data is simply stored on a terabyte hard drive. But beside the old, the new is also on show: room-sized cylinders enveloped in projected images, giving the visitors the feeling of being in the middle of a film. “Once this can be done cheaply, Hollywood will certainly not miss out on it,” prophesies curator Serexhe.
In the end, the inventive exhibition curator solved the problem with CRT monitors. A colleague rummaged through an Internet auction-room in search of screens and at least 1,000 are now to be bought and stored, so that visitors to the ZKM can still enjoy yesterday’s future in the years to come.
