By extending the original duties of a museum, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media has become a cultural institution unique throughout the world. It is a house for all media and genre, a house for both spatial arts, such as painting, photography, and sculpture as well as time-based arts, such as film, video, media art, music, dance, theater, and performance. ZKM was founded as a museum in 1989 with the mission to perpetuate classical arts in the digital age, which is why it is occasionally referred to as „Electronic or Digital Art Bauhaus,“ an expression that can be traced back to Heinrich Klotz. Beyond that, ZKM houses institutes and laboratories that carry out scientific research, development, and production. Alongside the classic guiding principle of a museum, namely, to save artworks from disappearing, ZKM has also taken on the task of creating conditions under which works of art arise; for one, by way of guest artists, and for another, by way of the staff members. For this reason, it is called a center and not a museum.
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