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'''MONOSKOP<br>
+
'''MONOSKOP'''<br>
Art, culture and technology in Central and Eastern Europe'''
+
'''Art, culture and technology in East-Central Europe'''
  
 +
<blockquote>"''You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.''" (Buckminster Fuller)</blockquote>
  
== Content structure idea ==
+
MONOSKOP book project examines the social context of historical developments in media arts in East-Central Europe. Analysis of sociopoetic conditions of art and technology crossings from 1960s to 2000s draws upon the undertakings in experimental and avantgarde film, performance art, computer art, video art, experimental music, sound art, and media theory. The objective is to create an educational material for students and educators across media art and culture departments, as well as a reference network for theoreticians and critics to assist them in development of the theoretical discourse on new media art in the East-Central Europe.
  
we are working with four sections, roughly ordered by time:
+
= Content structure idea =
  
I. historical perspectives. pioneering work between art
+
; Short remarks:
and technologies. there are several blocks for various
+
* Geographical issue - should Russia/Soviet Union be included?
disciplines: early computer art, early electronic music,
+
* Not to forgot the role and influence of Soros network - active in C/E  since mid-80s (C3, Jeleni, Ex Oriente Lux, Butterfly Effect, computer donations to Soros centres, etc).
early robotic art, etc. for each block we want to select
+
* Don't forget about collaboration and artist groups.
artist and or artwork with a radical approach, being
+
* Admit "historical distance" - it's hard to write about the current decade.
an inspiration for coming generations. (mostly 1960s)
+
* Hook up study of media art with local (art/cultural) development.
  
II. intermedia art collectives. here we want to look into
+
; The aim of the publication is threefold:
collaborative strategies, having collectives consisting
+
* Present the major events in the development and historical achievements of media art in c/e Europe.  
of sculptors, technicians, painters, filmmakers, etc.
+
* Analyse pioneering experimental works via theoretical texts, interviews, artist writings, programmatic texts
this section will contain short monographies of the collectives
+
* Examine media art
from warsaw, zagreb, moscow, bratislava, arad
 
(moreless 1960s-70s).
 
  
III. media cultures. here we jump into 1990s, when technologies
+
The sections are as follows:
got much more accessible (economically cheaper and politically
+
* Introduction
neutral), thus allowing the culturalisation of the field
+
* I. Timeline of major events
of media arts: first (independent) media labs, boom of
+
* II. Pioneers
media art education, 'laptop' art (a/v projects), open source
+
* III. Conclusion
projects, media activism. it would be very hard to select
 
particular initiatives for interviews on one hand,
 
and to cover the field in essay style on the other.
 
so we are thinking about 'oral histories' approach.
 
for each block we want to ask 10-15 people from (geografically
 
and institutionally) different organisations and with different
 
perspective (artists, programmers, managers, cultural politicians,
 
public) to come up with 'oral histories', 'personal memories'
 
from their activities, in sort of anecdote style.
 
  
IV. chronologies. we want to ask individuals (theoreticians,
 
artists, curators, organisers) from each country (yes, the
 
question remains what countries should be included and which not)
 
to propose up to ten major events and phenomena from the media
 
art history of their country. these may include exhibitions,
 
conferences, workshops, publications, journals, video-journals,
 
foundations of art departments, technological inventions,
 
art servers, which they consider important. in this way we want
 
to build up the chronology of media art in CEE.
 
  
 +
= Contents =
  
 +
==Preface==
  
 +
==Introduction==
  
== Contents ==
+
We need good introduction into politics, concepts, to contextualise
 +
the field.
  
=== Introduction ===
+
Idea is not to write a comprehensive history, rather
 +
to point out the works and concepts that may not be skipped
 +
in the writing of art histories.
  
 +
The selection is eclectic.
 +
It's not academic textbook, but directed to general public.
  
===I. Historical perspectives===
+
Ref: Latour? (hybrids)
Format: selected essays / interviews.
+
 
Editor: Lenka Dolanova
+
===East-Central Europe===
====Cybernetics and computing====
+
 
Overview of developments in cybernetics and computing in CEE from 1960s to 1980s.
+
Visegrad + Baltic + Balkan countries
Articles:  
+
 
From the book “Societ Computing” by Boris Malinovsky (online at sovietcomputing.com)
+
Ref: Staniszkis, Štrauss, Piotrowski
From the book “Setun Conspiracy”
+
 
Or from computer.org/annals
+
Outline: [[East-Central Europe]]
====(?) Experimental networks====
+
 
Keywords: hypertext, internet, university networks, company networks
+
Readlist:
Computer art
+
* [http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=clanky&val=72_aj_clanky.html&typ=HTML Havel (1978) - The Power of the Powerless] [http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=eseje&val=2_eseje.html&typ=HTML (Czech)]
Keywords: computer film, interactive installations
+
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20021213085125/http://www.aspectspositions.org/essays/hegyi1.html Hégyi (2001) - Central Europe as a Hypothesis and a Way of Life]
Television / video / radio / film
+
 
Keywords: first TV broadcasts, first art pieces on radio, video art, popularisation of video technology, TV is a Russian invention, experimental film, Laterna magika at Expo 58, Josef Svoboda (Diacran, Polyecran, Polyvision), Jaroslav Frič (Polyvision, Kinoautomat, Spherorama, Vertical Cinemascope), Video Salon (Radek Pilař).
+
===Media art===
====Electronic and electroacoustic music====
+
 
Keywords: electroacoustic music studios, music synhesizer.
+
Ref: Penny, Manovich, Wilson
Consult with Milan Adamčiak (via Michal Murin)
+
 
Articles:
+
Outline: [[Media art]]
Article about Arsenyi Avramov (Murzin and Artemiev were his students) – ask Andrei Smirnov.
+
 
Interview with Eugene Murzin, inventor of music synthesizer (ANS)
+
===Media art in CEE===
Interview with Edward Artemiev (online at www.electroshock.ru)
+
Outline: [[Media art in CEE]]
====(?) Synaesthesia – image and sound interferences and audiovisual studies====
+
 
Keywords: colour piano by Zdeněk Pěšánek, Alois Pinos.
+
===Locality===
Article: select one from www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia or from www.leonardo.info/isast/spec.projects/synesthesiabib.html (any non-western things there?)
+
Ref: Appadurai, Agamben?, Grzinic?, Štrauss?
====Robotic art====
+
 
Consult with Peter Beyls (he did PhD on Ihnatowicz and attended New Tendencies)
+
 
Articles:
+
==I. Timeline==
Edward Ihnatowicz: Portrait of the Artist as an Engineer (1988). synopsis from unpublished book about “how an artist become involved in high technology”. (online)
+
 
or: Edward Ihnatowicz: Towards a Thinking Machine (1975, online)
+
Format: short descriptions of major art-related events and phenomena:
====(?) Algorithmic poetry and literature====
+
exhibitions, conferences, workshops, publications, journals,  
 +
video-journals, foundations of art departments, technological
 +
inventions, art servers, etc.
 +
 
 +
Ask artists, curators, organisers, theoreticians, engineers
 +
from each c/e european country to propose up to 10 major events
 +
from local media art history. Then scrutinize the answers and
 +
then mutually agree (board members) how to proceed.
 +
 
 +
Chronology may be visualised as the visual map.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==II. Pioneers==
 +
 
 +
Idea for this section is to present the particular pioneering
 +
experimental works, covering the spectrum of artistic forms,
 +
historical periods, and geographical regions. It is important
 +
to research the various disciplines re what to include, what are
 +
the connections, how are they linked to each other etc.,
 +
how the collaborations were established and accomodated.
 +
These works and contexts may be analysed as case-studies
 +
via theoretical texts, interviews, oral histories, artist writings,
 +
programmatic texts, etc. Have local people writing about pioneers.
 +
 
 +
Each section should contain at least two articles - one covering
 +
art criticism, another the technical background of the works.
 +
 
 +
Sections:
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Vladimir Bonacic [dynamic objects; 1960s; CR; M]===
 +
 
 +
Still in the 1960s, Croatian Zagreb, at the corner of socialist
 +
modernist Yugoslavia, was the site of the world's state-of-the-art
 +
manifestations of computer art. Series of New Tendencies exhibitions
 +
and conferences hosted artists and scientists discussing the common
 +
grounds for collaborations backed up by theories of the information
 +
aesthetics. Among many, programmed sculptures and dynamic objects
 +
by cybernetic artist Vladimir Bonacic proposed richly diverse
 +
directions for art and technology investigations.
 +
This Zagreb-based cybernetician exhibited a total of 17 works during
 +
New Tendencies 4 exhibitions in Zagreb in 1968/69. He used custom-made
 +
hardware for developing the “dynamic objects”. His work can be
 +
interpreted as a pioneering use of interactivity in computer-based
 +
artworks. He was critical of using computer as a tool for simulation
 +
of what already exists.
 +
* article 1 & 2: by Darko Fritz, [http://darkofritz.net/text/LEON4102_pp175-183.pdf] and/or [http://darkofritz.net/text/Fritz.NT_oris%2054.pdf]
 +
* ref: Miro Cmerman (programmed Bonacic's works, lives in Berlin)
 +
* ref: Fritz about Bonacic, http://darkofritz.net/text/bonacic.html
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Edward Ihnatowitz [robotic art; 1960s-70s; PL/UK; M]===
 +
 
 +
Polish cybernetic Sculptor (1940-50s lived in UK), active in the
 +
late 1960's and early 1970's. His ground-breaking sculptures explored
 +
the interaction between his robotic works and the audience,
 +
and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long),
 +
hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips,
 +
for their permanent showplace, the Evolution, in Eindhoven in 1970.
 +
The sculpture used sound and movement sensors to react to the
 +
behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled
 +
interactive robotic works of art.
 +
* article 1: Joanna Walewska, art criticism
 +
* article 2: Alex Zivanovic, about technical background of EI's work
 +
* ref: http://www.senster.com/ihnatowicz/
 +
* ref: Peter Beyls (he did PhD on Ihnatowicz and attended New Tendencies)
 +
* ref: Edward Ihnatowicz: Portrait of the Artist as an Engineer (1988). synopsis from unpublished book about “how an artist become involved in high technology”. http://www.senster.com/ihnatowicz/articles/artist_as_engineer.pdf
 +
* ref: Edward Ihnatowicz: Towards a Thinking Machine (1975), http://www.senster.com/ihnatowicz/articles/towards_thinking.pdf
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Experimental studio in Pilsen and/or Bratislava [electroacoustic music; 1960s-70s; CS; M]===
 +
 
 +
* ref: Juraj Duris
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Gabor Body and Infermental magazine [video art; 1970s-80s; HU; M] ===
 +
 
 +
Body graduated first from philosophy and later became an internationally
 +
known film and video maker. Established various experimental and
 +
avantgarde projects at BBS including the Film Language Series in 1973
 +
and the K/3 experimental film group in 1976. Producing his first
 +
video in 1976 was the first person in Hungary to work in this medium
 +
in an artistic context.
 +
Infermental, Body's annually edited international video series was
 +
widely hailed as "the art magazine" of the eighties. Collecting and
 +
collating the work of people working in remote global locations,  
 +
uniquely bridged the information gap till the new communication forms
 +
appeared. The series published featured a range of guest editors
 +
and in total included work from over 1500 artists from 36 countries
 +
and was published up to 1991.
 +
* article 1: selected by Nina Czegledy from one of Body's books, has to be translated from Hungarian
 +
* ref: http://burundi.sk/monoskop/index.php/Gabor_Body
 +
* ref: http://burundi.sk/monoskop/index.php/Infermental
 +
* ref: Vera Body (Gabor Body's ex-wife)
 +
* ref: Nina has 4 books on Body in Hungarian
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Kinema Ikon group [experimental film; 1970s-80s; RO; M]===
 +
 
 +
* ref: Raluca Velusar (curated Kinema Ikon exhibition in Bucharest few years ago)
 +
 +
 
 +
===Vuk Cosic [internet art; 1990s; SL; M]===
 +
 
 +
* ref: Vuk Cosic
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===RT-32 [electromagnetism and sound art; 2000s; LV; MF]===
 +
 
 +
Xchange net.radio network held an international symposium for sound
 +
art, radio and satellite technologies in August 2001 in the forests
 +
of western Latvia in Irbene at the site of Soviet-era d=32 meter
 +
dish antenna. Formerly used to spy on satellite transmissions
 +
between Europe and North-America by the KGB, the antenna was
 +
abandoned and nearly destroyed when the Russian Army departed
 +
in 1994. The dish was successfully repaired by VIRAC (Ventspils
 +
International Radio Astronomy Center) radio astronomers.
 +
Over the days of the symposium international team of about 30 sound
 +
artists, net and community radio activists and radio amateurs
 +
in co-operation with VIRAC scientists were exploring the possibilities
 +
of antenna: dish was used as a massive parabolic microphone to scan
 +
the surrounding environment; for snooping, monitoring and recording
 +
the satellites, mobile networks, and air traffic control signals;
 +
and also for scanning the celestial bodies.The recorded data were
 +
then processed by participating artists. (Publication and two DVDs
 +
were published.)
 +
* ref: http://rixc.lv/reader/txt/txt.php?id=320&l=en
 +
* ref: Ewen Chardronet (French sound artist, particip @Irbene)
 +
* ref: Acoustic Space
 +
* ref: Radioqualia
 +
 
 +
 
 +
still to check for this section:
 +
* DDR? (consult Golo Foellmer)
 +
* Bulgaria? (consult Ludazar Boyadev)
 +
* East Germany? (consult Stephen Kovats who did Ostranenie)
 +
* Walitsky? (Polish sound artist)
 +
* Nettime? (consult Pit Schultz)
 +
* audiovisual performances?
 +
* media art and activism?
 +
 
 +
==III. Conclusion==
 +
 
 +
We discussed that maybe it is not the best idea to attempt to build
 +
up the theory of media art within this book. Book should rather serve
 +
as the ground for such endeavors to be taken later.
 +
 
 +
Final chapter may offer the conclusion of the research, and we can
 +
invite one or more theoreticians for contribution(s). So far we thought
 +
about Tomas Pospiszyl (Czech art historian living in Prague),
 +
Bojana Pejic (Serbian art theoretician living in Berlin),
 +
Armin Medosch (Austrian writer on media art living in London),
 +
and Zoran Pantelic (Serbian artist and educator living in Novi Sad).
 +
 
 +
 
 +
= Older versions and further research =
 +
 
 +
* [[Collaborative research on media art and culture in Central and Eastern Europe]]
 +
* [[Book (2)]]
 +
* [[Book (3)]]
 +
* [[Book (4)]]
 +
* [[Book (5)]]
 +
 
 +
= Editorial board=
 +
 
 +
Please feel free to contact us.
 +
 
 +
* [[Dušan Barok]], db at societyofalgorithm dot org
 +
* [[Barbora Šedivá]], babuta at 34 dot sk
 +
* [[Guy van Belle]], xgz at societyofalgorithm dot org
 +
* [[Nina Czegledy]], czegledy at interlog dot com
 +
* [[Lenka Dolanová]], lenka.dol at gmail dot com
 +
* [[Eva Krátká]], eva.kratka at avu dot cz
 +
 
 +
=Contact=
 +
 
 +
Coordination: Dusan Barok, db at societyofalgorithm dot org<br>
 +
Wiki: http://www.burundi.sk/monoskop/<Br>
 +
Delicious: http://del.icio.us/tag/monoskop<br>
 +
Supported by Col-me, Bratislava, http://www.col-me.info, http://col-me.info/sk/node/13<Br>
 +
Partner: Wyspa Institute Of Art, Gdansk, http://www.wyspa.art.pl/<br>
 +
Partner: Nina Czegledy, Budapest<br>
 +
Partner: Mlok Association, Prague, http://mlok-org.net<br>
 +
Supported by ERSTE Foundation, http://www.erstestiftung.org<br>
 +
Supported by International Visegrad Fund, http://www.visegradfund.org<br>
 +
Supported by Academy of Arts, Banská Bystrica, http://www.aku.sk
 +
 
 +
[[Image:Erstestiftung.gif|162px]] [[Image:Logo_ivf.png|180px]]

Latest revision as of 12:59, 15 July 2011

MONOSKOP
Art, culture and technology in East-Central Europe

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." (Buckminster Fuller)

MONOSKOP book project examines the social context of historical developments in media arts in East-Central Europe. Analysis of sociopoetic conditions of art and technology crossings from 1960s to 2000s draws upon the undertakings in experimental and avantgarde film, performance art, computer art, video art, experimental music, sound art, and media theory. The objective is to create an educational material for students and educators across media art and culture departments, as well as a reference network for theoreticians and critics to assist them in development of the theoretical discourse on new media art in the East-Central Europe.

Content structure idea

Short remarks
  • Geographical issue - should Russia/Soviet Union be included?
  • Not to forgot the role and influence of Soros network - active in C/E since mid-80s (C3, Jeleni, Ex Oriente Lux, Butterfly Effect, computer donations to Soros centres, etc).
  • Don't forget about collaboration and artist groups.
  • Admit "historical distance" - it's hard to write about the current decade.
  • Hook up study of media art with local (art/cultural) development.
The aim of the publication is threefold
  • Present the major events in the development and historical achievements of media art in c/e Europe.
  • Analyse pioneering experimental works via theoretical texts, interviews, artist writings, programmatic texts
  • Examine media art

The sections are as follows:

  • Introduction
  • I. Timeline of major events
  • II. Pioneers
  • III. Conclusion


Contents

Preface

Introduction

We need good introduction into politics, concepts, to contextualise the field.

Idea is not to write a comprehensive history, rather to point out the works and concepts that may not be skipped in the writing of art histories.

The selection is eclectic. It's not academic textbook, but directed to general public.

Ref: Latour? (hybrids)

East-Central Europe

Visegrad + Baltic + Balkan countries

Ref: Staniszkis, Štrauss, Piotrowski

Outline: East-Central Europe

Readlist:

Media art

Ref: Penny, Manovich, Wilson

Outline: Media art

Media art in CEE

Outline: Media art in CEE

Locality

Ref: Appadurai, Agamben?, Grzinic?, Štrauss?


I. Timeline

Format: short descriptions of major art-related events and phenomena: exhibitions, conferences, workshops, publications, journals, video-journals, foundations of art departments, technological inventions, art servers, etc.

Ask artists, curators, organisers, theoreticians, engineers from each c/e european country to propose up to 10 major events from local media art history. Then scrutinize the answers and then mutually agree (board members) how to proceed.

Chronology may be visualised as the visual map.


II. Pioneers

Idea for this section is to present the particular pioneering experimental works, covering the spectrum of artistic forms, historical periods, and geographical regions. It is important to research the various disciplines re what to include, what are the connections, how are they linked to each other etc., how the collaborations were established and accomodated. These works and contexts may be analysed as case-studies via theoretical texts, interviews, oral histories, artist writings, programmatic texts, etc. Have local people writing about pioneers.

Each section should contain at least two articles - one covering art criticism, another the technical background of the works.

Sections:


Vladimir Bonacic [dynamic objects; 1960s; CR; M]

Still in the 1960s, Croatian Zagreb, at the corner of socialist modernist Yugoslavia, was the site of the world's state-of-the-art manifestations of computer art. Series of New Tendencies exhibitions and conferences hosted artists and scientists discussing the common grounds for collaborations backed up by theories of the information aesthetics. Among many, programmed sculptures and dynamic objects by cybernetic artist Vladimir Bonacic proposed richly diverse directions for art and technology investigations. This Zagreb-based cybernetician exhibited a total of 17 works during New Tendencies 4 exhibitions in Zagreb in 1968/69. He used custom-made hardware for developing the “dynamic objects”. His work can be interpreted as a pioneering use of interactivity in computer-based artworks. He was critical of using computer as a tool for simulation of what already exists.


Edward Ihnatowitz [robotic art; 1960s-70s; PL/UK; M]

Polish cybernetic Sculptor (1940-50s lived in UK), active in the late 1960's and early 1970's. His ground-breaking sculptures explored the interaction between his robotic works and the audience, and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long), hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips, for their permanent showplace, the Evolution, in Eindhoven in 1970. The sculpture used sound and movement sensors to react to the behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled interactive robotic works of art.


Experimental studio in Pilsen and/or Bratislava [electroacoustic music; 1960s-70s; CS; M]

  • ref: Juraj Duris


Gabor Body and Infermental magazine [video art; 1970s-80s; HU; M]

Body graduated first from philosophy and later became an internationally known film and video maker. Established various experimental and avantgarde projects at BBS including the Film Language Series in 1973 and the K/3 experimental film group in 1976. Producing his first video in 1976 was the first person in Hungary to work in this medium in an artistic context. Infermental, Body's annually edited international video series was widely hailed as "the art magazine" of the eighties. Collecting and collating the work of people working in remote global locations, uniquely bridged the information gap till the new communication forms appeared. The series published featured a range of guest editors and in total included work from over 1500 artists from 36 countries and was published up to 1991.


Kinema Ikon group [experimental film; 1970s-80s; RO; M]

  • ref: Raluca Velusar (curated Kinema Ikon exhibition in Bucharest few years ago)


Vuk Cosic [internet art; 1990s; SL; M]

  • ref: Vuk Cosic


RT-32 [electromagnetism and sound art; 2000s; LV; MF]

Xchange net.radio network held an international symposium for sound art, radio and satellite technologies in August 2001 in the forests of western Latvia in Irbene at the site of Soviet-era d=32 meter dish antenna. Formerly used to spy on satellite transmissions between Europe and North-America by the KGB, the antenna was abandoned and nearly destroyed when the Russian Army departed in 1994. The dish was successfully repaired by VIRAC (Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Center) radio astronomers. Over the days of the symposium international team of about 30 sound artists, net and community radio activists and radio amateurs in co-operation with VIRAC scientists were exploring the possibilities of antenna: dish was used as a massive parabolic microphone to scan the surrounding environment; for snooping, monitoring and recording the satellites, mobile networks, and air traffic control signals; and also for scanning the celestial bodies.The recorded data were then processed by participating artists. (Publication and two DVDs were published.)


still to check for this section:

  • DDR? (consult Golo Foellmer)
  • Bulgaria? (consult Ludazar Boyadev)
  • East Germany? (consult Stephen Kovats who did Ostranenie)
  • Walitsky? (Polish sound artist)
  • Nettime? (consult Pit Schultz)
  • audiovisual performances?
  • media art and activism?

III. Conclusion

We discussed that maybe it is not the best idea to attempt to build up the theory of media art within this book. Book should rather serve as the ground for such endeavors to be taken later.

Final chapter may offer the conclusion of the research, and we can invite one or more theoreticians for contribution(s). So far we thought about Tomas Pospiszyl (Czech art historian living in Prague), Bojana Pejic (Serbian art theoretician living in Berlin), Armin Medosch (Austrian writer on media art living in London), and Zoran Pantelic (Serbian artist and educator living in Novi Sad).


Older versions and further research

Editorial board

Please feel free to contact us.

Contact

Coordination: Dusan Barok, db at societyofalgorithm dot org
Wiki: http://www.burundi.sk/monoskop/
Delicious: http://del.icio.us/tag/monoskop
Supported by Col-me, Bratislava, http://www.col-me.info, http://col-me.info/sk/node/13
Partner: Wyspa Institute Of Art, Gdansk, http://www.wyspa.art.pl/
Partner: Nina Czegledy, Budapest
Partner: Mlok Association, Prague, http://mlok-org.net
Supported by ERSTE Foundation, http://www.erstestiftung.org
Supported by International Visegrad Fund, http://www.visegradfund.org
Supported by Academy of Arts, Banská Bystrica, http://www.aku.sk

Erstestiftung.gif Logo ivf.png