The New Venture In Media Art

The day after September 11, 2001, the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, in the New York City borough of Queens, opened a sound installation few visitors would ever forget. In the top floor of the school-turned-gallery, in what had been a gymnasium, "The Forty Part Motet" by the artist Janet Cardiff used 40 loudspeakers in groupings around the room to represent a choir of invisible singers, with each speaker projecting a different voice.

Visitors walked among the faceless voices as they performed a choral work by 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis. Described as haunting and sublimely beautiful, and set in front of windows opening up to a Manhattan skyline now missing two of its towers, it brought many visitors to tears. A year later longtime venture capitalist Dick Kramlich was so moved by the exhibit that he immediately asked the museum’s director, "Is this for sale?" He purchased the U.K. iteration of Cardiff’s work on the spot for an undisclosed price, with the agreement that it would belong to the Tate museum.

它并不总是那么容易出售Kramlich, 74年a piece of media artwork. The co-founder of Silicon Valley– and Baltimore-based New Enterprise Associates confesses to being skeptical about the idea of collecting the genre — art that incorporates computer-based technology, audio components, video sequences or cinematic photography — when his wife first made the suggestion, in the 1980s. It was Pamela, an art enthusiast who used to be married to a French painter, who recognized a connection between his interest in fledging tech companies and the media art that was emerging at the time, Kramlich says.

所以他迈出了信仰的飞跃。Kramlichs开始与几个艺术顾问和博物馆董事密切合作，包括杰克巷，旧金山现代艺术博物馆（SFMoma）的前负责人，于1987年，他们邀请他们在卡塞尔每五年举行的一场前沿艺术秀，德国。“他们穿我，”高能量，好奇的Kramlich说，他们对他来佩服的工作和艺术家来说都是非常认真的。

Twenty years later the Kramlichs own some 60 multimedia (sound and video) installations, 200 video-only works and numerous audio-only and photographic pieces by many of the world’s most important media artists. Unlike most collectors who leave their works in institutions, the Kramlichs have taken some of their purchases home, installing video and audio pieces throughout their otherwise traditional house in the Presidio Heights section of San Francisco. They live with ten to 15 pieces at any one time, a fact that astonishes artists who occasionally visit.

When the couple throws a dinner party, Kramlich flips onThe Greeting, a Bill Viola video work inspired by the classic 16th-century Jacopo da Pontormo paintingThe Visitation。原来的着名描绘了玛丽和姐姐之间的圣经会议，伊丽莎白在玛丽了解到她怀孕后。

多年来，Kramlich已经确定了风险投资与艺术收集之间的许多相似之处。“两者都是长期的方向，很多取决于你与之合作的人的质量，而且从金融的角度来看，没有即时满足，”他解释道。“我们不是脚蹼。我们从不卖掉艺术的艺术。”

At NEA, which holds $8.5 billion in committed capital, Kramlich and his partners go for "the long pull." Take their recent success with Data Domain, a company that developed a way of storing digital data without duplication. NEA invested $250,000 eight years ago in Data Domain, which went public in 2007 at about $17 a share. NEA eventually sold its stake at $33.50 a share.

Back in the art world, the Kramlichs have launched two similar "long pull" initiatives: In 1997 they started the New Art Trust, which funds research by SFMOMA, MoMA in New York and the Tate in London into best practices for conserving media art installations. The couple is also building a 31,000-square-foot home in Napa Valley to showcase their collection. Due for completion in 2011, the house — designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architekten, the architectural firm behind Tate Modern and the "Bird’s Nest" stadium in Beijing — will double as a private study center for media artists, curators and collectors.

"I do this because I like being involved in what’s new, what’s interesting and what will hopefully have an impact on the way we live," says Kramlich, pointing out the topicality of themes covered by today’s media artists, like Shirin Neshat, who investigates the role of women in Iran. Media art, says Kramlich, is "where it’s at."