The E.A.T. archive surveys E.A.T. as an organizer, fund-raiser and facilitator of collaborations between artists and engineers, dating from 1966-1993 (bulk 1966-1973). The material was generated and collected by Billy Klüver, President, Julie Martin, Klüver's assistant and second wife, and other E.A.T. staff members. The collection does not contain correspondence with Robert Rauschenberg, Chairman, but does make many references to the artist and includes numerous photographs of him performing and three posters by him.

E.A.T., an organization devoted to promoting the interaction between art and technology, developed from the philosophies of Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller. E.A.T. founders, Billy Klüver, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman and Fred Waldhauer, believed that artists and scientists working together would greatly benefit society as a whole. The organization was created after the landmark event "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering," 1966, and sought to continue the artist/engineer relationship forged during those performances. E.A.T.'s primary goal was to give artists access to new materials, such as plastics, reflecting materials, resins, video, and technologies, such as electronics and computers, which would have been otherwise inaccessible. Staff and participants explored or experimented with these and the precursors of many technologies that are now commonplace: chat lines, fax machines, lasers, cable television, and digitized graphics.9 Evenings: Theatre and EngineeringA series of performances held in October 1966 at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City, by John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Öyvind Fahlström, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, David Tudor and Robert Whitman. The artists worked in collaboration with more than 40 engineers and scientists from Bell Telephone Laboratories to develop technical equipment that was used as an integral part of the performances. The original intent was to participate in a Stockholm festival of art and technology, but the Armory site was selected when negotiations with Stockholm organizers collapsed.

Ca. 205 linear ft. (237 boxes, 2 tubes, 8 flat file folders)

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