The imai Foundation was founded in 2006 as imai - inter media art institute. It is an institution dedicated to the preservation, research and distribution of video art and media art and associated activities. The foundation organizes workshops, conferences, screenings, exhibitions, research projects and case studies concerning the current questions of conservation and restoration of media art. It aims to develop further the possibilities of (digital) preservation, presentation and distribution of media art. History The main purpose for the founding of the imai Foundation (initially called imai - inter media art institute) was to preserve the large collection of video art tapes which the former video art distributor and media art agency 235 MEDIA held in its archive in Cologne. IMAI was set up with the support of the provincial capital of Düsseldorf and the Cologne media art agency 235 MEDIA. The preservation of the video art archive was funded by the Kunststiftung NRW (art foundation NRW – of the state of North Rhine Westphalia), the 'Kulturstiftung der Länder' (cultural foundation of the Federal states). The IMAI is located in the NRW Forum at the Ehrenhof complex, built by Wilhelm Kreis in 1925-26, close to Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the museum kunst palast in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westfalia. The institute is directed by Dr. Renate Buschmann. Archives and collections Now the archive includes approximately 3,000 artistic and documentary works from the era of the 1960s to present. The particular focus is on video art and documentaries about artists, art performances and land art. The collection includes US-American, Asian and European artists now considered some of the pioneers of this relatively young artistic genre, with a focus on works from the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. Audiovisual works, particularly single-channel works, are at the archive. This archive is constantly enriched with new media artworks by contemporary artists. Some of the artists represented by imai include: Steina and Woody Vasulka, George Barber, Dara Birnbaum, Klaus vom Bruch, Douglas Davis, Valie Export, Ken Feingold, Paul Garrin, Ulrike Rosenbach, Kirsten Geisler, Gary Hill, Dara Birnbaum, Nan Hoover, Valie Export, Jürgen Klauke, Robert Cahen, and Marcel Odenbach. Case studies During its ongoing research project to restore media art installations (since 2006), the imai Foundation uses individual case studies to test restoration methods which secured the long-term preservation of technology-based art. imai collaborates with restorers, art historians, technicians and artists. The foundation