Finnish Cultural Foundation has granted 160.000 € to the ambitious media art history project MEHI. The 3-year-project aims to weave media art into national cultural infrastructures by developing terminology and databases, documenting pioneering artists and works, and sharing the results in seminars as well as online and print publications.
The project is realised in a consortium formed by the Finnish Media Art Network and its member organisations. Key partners of the extensive cooperation include the National Gallery and the Finnish Museums Association. Focusing on the "First Century of Finnish Media Art", the project spans a time period from the early inventors of audiovisual techniques to the hybrid art world of the 2020s.
Funded by Oskar Öflund's foundation, the preliminary phase of the project was coordinated by a group of media art experts with Minna Tarkka (Media Art Network, m-cult) as chair and Tuuli Penttinen-Lampisuo (Poike Productio) as producer.
While the consortium is waiting for further funding decisions, the Cultural Foundation grant is an important step towards starting the project in April 2021.