Founding Mission

In 1970, seeking to support projects in the emergent electronic arts movement, Howard Wise closed his New York gallery to found the nonprofit organization Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). EAI was incorporated on August 17, 1971 to “explore the potentials of the electronic media as a means of expression and non-commercial communication.” EAI’s founding mission was to advance and support experimentation in electronic art by providing artists with access to funding, technology, information, and resources, and to promote educational, art historical, and public understanding and awareness of artists and electronic art. These goals were accomplished through EAI’s administration, facilitation and management of an eclectic range of artist-based projects and programs, all of which supported the innovative production, exhibition or dissemination of new electronic art. As Wise stated in his 1973 “manifesto,” Electronic Arts Intermix: At the Leading Edge of Art, “All art was contemporary when it was created. We have faith that the potential of television as an artistic medium will be achieved. We hope you will share with us this conviction.”