New technology is important to our society. The Ministry of Culture has a duty, therefore, to keep an eye on artistic trends in the field and to foster new developments.

For many years, my Ministry has ushered and supported the Bonn Development Workshop for Computer Media (registered society), source of so many outstanding projects. A workshop that has strived, committedly - and also voluntarily - with a very consistent approach right from the beginning to connect the arts with new media.

This institution, which has now evolved into the ANIMAX Multimedia Theatre, is unique in the cultural landscape of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The success is founded, amongst other contributing factors, on the association of fields that hitherto were not connected. One the one hand, theatre arts and new media arts are being combined, on the other hand, the areas of education and youth are also being included on a professional level.

The importance of ANIMAX is also demonstrated in the fact that it has been included in the programme of the EXPO 2000.

North Rhine-Westphalia, state of culture and media, with its many-sided range of cultural events which are presumably not to be found in such density anywhere else in Europe, has been enriched by an outstanding cultural project of high standard.

Ilse Brusis

Minister of Employment, Social Issues and City Development, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

The Bonn Development Workshop for Computer Media (registered society) (BEC) - an alliance of artists, computer scientists and engineers that has existed since 1990 - has been operating the ANIMAX Multimedia Theatre in the Kinopolis Cinema Complex in Bad Godesberg since June, 1999. It is the first Multimedia Theatre in North Rhine-Westphalia and is a registered World-wide Project of the World Exhibition EXPO 2000. The opening of ANIMAX has provided a constantly available laboratory for the exploration, further development and presentation of art with and through media and is also available to research institutions and business throughout the region as a forum for culture and media technology. It is a centre for media and culture, with roles in artistic, socio-cultural and media education areas. We are very proud to have this venue here in Bonn.

Jochem von Uslar

Head of the Department of Culture, Federal City of Bonn