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In the twentieth century technical media radically transformed the image. Beginning with the then scandalous medium of photography – the depiction of the world by a technical device and not by an artist’s hand – media “transformed the entire nature of art” (Walter Benjamin). Photography, film, phonography, radio, television, video, computers, and the Internet have redefined the relationship between artist, work, and viewer as well as our notions of the creative act.

Photography marked the beginning of the production of images by technical means, telegraphy their distribution by technical appliances, and film their reception via technical equipment. Through mechanical, electrical, electronic, and digital technologies, the art of the twentieth century expanded from the canvas to the screen, from the book page to the website, from the contemplation of a single object to the practices of global communication.

With the industrial revolution and the arrival of machines in the arts, the focus shifted from space to time and movement. Then, in addition to the space-based formats of painting and sculpture, time-based moving images (the illusory movement of cinematography) and objects (the real movement of kinetics) emerged. Elements of the time-based, performing arts of music and theater were incorporated into the visual arts (sound art, performance, happening). This development led from the moving images to the moving viewers, to participation and interaction.

The collection of the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe ranks among the largest media art collections in the world. It exemplifies the transformation of art in the face of changing technologies of production, reception, and distribution. The exhibition Writing the History of the Future. Signature Works of the Singular ZKM Media Art Collection presents a new model of the development of the arts. Instead of a history and genealogy of styles, the evolution of art since the 1960s is made visible by following the transformations of technical media and the emerging aesthetic and social changes, which offer artists and viewers alike ever new options. The exhibition brings together works in six sections that trace the transformation of the genre of portraiture, the representation of the body, landscape, and architecture from photography to video to interactive computer-based installations. It also provides insight into the evolution of the computer-generated arts, from early computer graphics to NFTs and artificial intelligence.

Writing the History of the Future shows how artists anticipate aesthetic, media, and social practices. They are writing the history of the future. This exhibition is a space for experiencing and thinking which intends to inspire you to also contribute to the history of the future.