Collection / Archive / Library research

The history and legacy of Montevideo/Time Based Arts/ Netherlands Media Art Institute lives on in the collection, activities, services and ideology of LIMA. These institutes played a pioneering role in the development of media art in the Netherlands. LIMA takes care of their collections and the collections of other institutions including the Lijnbaan Center and De Appel. Varying from performance to media installations and video art. LIMA actively distributes works from these collections, making the works internationally accessible and visible through screenings, festivals and exhibitions. By researching and presenting media art works (from the collection) on a continuous basis and for various projects, LIMA activates (archival) works in its collection. 

The major part of the LIMA collection you can find online. Offline at the LIMA research center, housed at LAB111, you can find our archive, library and more artworks we have in custody for research purposes. A unique special facility is the catalog providing access to the artworks, including works by melanie bonajo, Broersen & Lukács, Julika Rudelius, Giovanni Giaretta and Zeno van den Broek to pioneers like Marina Abramovic, The Vasulkas, UBERMORGEN, Nan Hoover, Livinus van der Bundt and Ulises Carrión. This archive also contains the archive and recordings of special events held in conjunction with exhibitions and other activities at Montevideo/Time Based Arts/ Netherlands Media Art Institute in Amsterdam since the late 1970s.

Another noteworthy feature of the Study Center is a set of special archives related to the oeuvres of artists such as Nan Hoover, SERVAAS, VASULKAs and Ulises Carrión.

The LIMA collection, archive and library is open for research and frequently used. Research results will be shared through public programs, writing and lectures. For enquiries on collection research please contact Manique Hendricks: maniquehendricks@li-ma.nl. 

Sex Object, Lydia Schouten, 1979, 18'41''

Please read the essay ‘Look at me: Representation, gender and the body’ by Manique Hendricks here. 

In 2020 Manique Hendricks was appointed junior curator at LIMA. As part of her tasks she researches LIMA’s collection. On topics like: What works have been collected and distributed over the years? Which themes do they touch upon? And what works, themes or artists might be missing when looking at the history of media art? 

Her research and related screening program, LIMA Presents: Representation, Gender and the Body that was presented in LAB111 on the 27th of October, 2021, addressed the question to what extent ideas about body, gender and representation continue to resonate in a digital context of the 21st century. Both highlighting works from the distribution collection and a number of works by (international) contemporary artists on the theme of representation, gender and the body. The LIMA collection includes media artworks dating back to early video and performance art from the 1960s to the present day and includes many works on the theme of female sexuality, the body and the position of women in art and society. The stories and perspectives on the body and gender theme of, for example, queer artists of color are not (yet) represented in LIMA’s collection. This now has gotten specific attention when selecting new works for the distribution collection. For many decades, female, queer and non-binary artists have challenged gender norms and ideas about the female, femme, queer and non-binary body. They are questioning views on representation, questioned body ideals and beauty standards and disrupted binary ideas about gender in many powerful manners.