One of the advantages of digital media archives is that their content can be made available over the Internet anywhere and users are no longer obliged to visit the physical archive itself. All they need is a web browser (and the necessary access rights where applicable) in order to gain access to the collections. However, the lack of a bricks-and-mortar location also has the effect that the existence of such an archive is not simply obvious but has to be continuously publicized. The main aim of the online interface as the primary access route is to enable a customized experience of the archive collections, geared towards the interests and actions of the users. Even though this approach may be very valuable in an individual's own work, it does make it more difficult to gain an overall view of the contents. Because there is nowhere for shared experiences, you can't tell what other people may have seen.
The Sender project addresses these two fields of tension – the question of a physical presence and the resulting sharing of experiences – by offering a permanent installation in an actual place. It consists of a number of monitors, and it makes content from the Media Archive of the Arts and its metadata visible. It creates an alternative means of accessing the Media Archive, complementing the website as the primary interface and concentrating on the things that the latter cannot do, and does not try to do. That is why there is deliberately no interaction, because that can be achieved far better using a web browser. In format, the Sender is based on the now almost antiquated-seeming model of broadcasting, i.e. a central body that distributes content round the clock over as wide a radius as possible. The difference here is that the Sender, as an API client, draws its content from the collective holdings of the Media Archive of the Arts.
In addition to its physical presence and the opportunity for shared observation, the Sender is also intended to offer a different kind of access to the Media Archive of the Arts. Various different programmes highlight associations and at the same time demonstrate the value of the recorded metadata which is always displayed along with the media. The linking of content by keywords, authors, organizational units etc. also shows users how to look at their own material from a technical point of view and address the question of how its visibility may be increased.