Difference between revisions of "Book"

From Monoskop
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(26 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
'''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>
 
<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>
  
MONOSKOP book project examines the social context of historical developments in media arts in Central and Eastern 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 Central and Eastern Europe.
+
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 =
 
= Content structure idea =
Line 49: Line 49:
 
Visegrad + Baltic + Balkan countries
 
Visegrad + Baltic + Balkan countries
  
Ref: Štefánik, Bjornson, Staniszkis
+
Ref: Staniszkis, Štrauss, Piotrowski
  
 
Outline: [[East-Central Europe]]
 
Outline: [[East-Central Europe]]
 +
 +
Readlist:
 +
* [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)]
 +
* [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]
  
 
===Media art===
 
===Media art===
Line 93: Line 97:
 
programmatic texts, etc. Have local people writing about pioneers.
 
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.
  
Ref:
+
Sections:
 
 
 
 
===Eugene Murzin / Edward Artemyev [electronic music; 1960s; RU; M]===
 
 
 
The 1960s witnessed rather dramatic technological shift in the arts.
 
Many experimental artists referred to ideas of the 1920s avant-garde.
 
In Moscow, Eugene Murzin constructed one of the world's first
 
synthesizers. He named his invention, ANS synthesizer, in honor of
 
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, as the ANS worked on the principle
 
of the transformation of light waves into electronic soundings.
 
The compositions created on the ANS in the Moscow Studio of
 
Electronic Music played the major role in the development of
 
electronic music in USSR. In the 1960s, the ANS was the only
 
synthesizer in the Union, and became the training ground of a great
 
number of young composers, including one of the most dedicated
 
experimenters in the field of electronic music, Edward Artemyev.
 
Artemyev's compositions are characterized by a constant search
 
for new sounds and by a desire to obtain maximum timbre modification
 
from minimal sound material. In the music for A. Tarkovsky's film
 
Solaris (1972), Artemyev discovered an entire realm of unusual
 
(for that time) sound effects; he founded a new trend in electronic
 
music that musicologists have named 'space music'.
 
* ref: about Artemyev: http://www.electroshock.ru
 
* ref: Andrei Smirnov (Theremin Centre, Moscow)
 
 
 
 
 
===Josef Svoboda [multi-media environments; 1960s; CZ; M] ===
 
 
 
Artistic use of technologies became the political motor for promotion
 
of the cultural achievements of the communist regimes at the Expo
 
world fairs. Brussels' Expo 58, the first after World War II, was
 
staged as the arena of the cold-friendly East-West confrontations.
 
And that is were Josef Svoboda won three medals for his experimental
 
multi-media works, and later had his other works among the most
 
popular at Expo 67 in Montreal.
 
He began a series of experimentations in Prague's May 5 Theatre with
 
the director Alfréd Radok, the result of which was the founding
 
of the Laterna magika (combining ballet, theatre, film, and sound),
 
and the creation of the Polyekran (largescale a/v installation
 
with multiple screens for Expo 1967 Montreal). With Jaroslav Fric
 
he made Polyvision (short film about every day life in the czech
 
industries life film- and slide-projected onto rotating screens, 1967).
 
* ref: http://burundi.sk/monoskop/index.php/Josef_Svoboda
 
  
  
Line 156: Line 119:
 
artworks. He was critical of using computer as a tool for simulation  
 
artworks. He was critical of using computer as a tool for simulation  
 
of what already exists.
 
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
 
* ref: Fritz about Bonacic, http://darkofritz.net/text/bonacic.html
* ref: Darko Fritz
 
  
  
Line 171: Line 135:
 
behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled  
 
behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled  
 
interactive robotic works of art.  
 
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: http://www.senster.com/ihnatowicz/
 
* ref: Peter Beyls (he did PhD on Ihnatowicz and attended New Tendencies)
 
* 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: 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
 
* 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
  
  
Line 192: Line 163:
 
and in total included work from over 1500 artists from 36 countries  
 
and in total included work from over 1500 artists from 36 countries  
 
and was published up to 1991.
 
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/Gabor_Body
 
* ref: http://burundi.sk/monoskop/index.php/Infermental
 
* ref: http://burundi.sk/monoskop/index.php/Infermental
Line 198: Line 170:
  
  
===András Monory Mész [cyberpunk film; 1980s; HU; M] ===
+
===Kinema Ikon group [experimental film; 1970s-80s; RO; M]===
  
Meteo, 1989. One year after Blade Runner (1988) this is the Hungarian
+
* ref: Raluca Velusar (curated Kinema Ikon exhibition in Bucharest few years ago)
cyberpunk classic (termed part of the 'new impressiveness' movement
+
by film historians). A feature fiction film, a sci-fi (/cyberpunk)
 
movie about three characters in a postapocalyptic world. The 'hacker'
 
character is a meteorologist and he uses a computer to calculate
 
the winning algorithm for horse races. He does this is Turbo Pascal. :)  
 
Starring famous now-nationalist actor Eperjes Károly, the visual
 
is all there, what is missing is the existential borderline
 
problematic that is a key element of cyberpunk works, and what
 
was exemplified by the human vs. machine dichotomy in BR which
 
is deconstructed by the concept of the cyborg. Similarly to BR
 
the location is a factory sector which is about to be blown up.
 
* ref: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097875/
 
* ref: http://port.hu/meteo/pls/fi/films.film_page?i_film_id=1644&i_city_id=3372&i_county_id=-1&i_where=2&i_topic_id=2
 
  
 +
===Vuk Cosic [internet art; 1990s; SL; M]===
  
===Olia Lialina [internet art; 1990s; RU; F]===
+
* ref: Vuk Cosic
 
 
Lialina studied film theory in Moscow. She was related to Cine-Fantom
 
experimental film group.
 
Her piece "My Boyfriend Came Back From the War" (1996) is the
 
landmark in the history of net.art. Lialina tells a story with
 
gif about a couple and what occurred when the male came back
 
from a war. The female talks about cheating, and there is some
 
talk about marriage. The whole piece is in black and white and
 
the story progresses as one clicks on the different words.
 
The work has been remixed and redone by many artists.
 
* ref: http://myboyfriendcamebackfromth.ewar.ru/
 
  
  
Line 250: Line 200:
 
were published.)
 
were published.)
 
* ref: http://rixc.lv/reader/txt/txt.php?id=320&l=en
 
* ref: http://rixc.lv/reader/txt/txt.php?id=320&l=en
* ref: Ewan Chardonnay (French sound artists, particip @Irbene)
+
* ref: Ewen Chardronet (French sound artist, particip @Irbene)
 
* ref: Acoustic Space
 
* ref: Acoustic Space
 
* ref: Radioqualia
 
* ref: Radioqualia
Line 256: Line 206:
  
 
still to check for this section:
 
still to check for this section:
* Kinema Ikon? (Romanian media art group, functioned 1970-2005 in Arad)
+
* DDR? (consult Golo Foellmer)
 
* Bulgaria? (consult Ludazar Boyadev)
 
* Bulgaria? (consult Ludazar Boyadev)
 
* East Germany? (consult Stephen Kovats who did Ostranenie)
 
* East Germany? (consult Stephen Kovats who did Ostranenie)
 
* Walitsky? (Polish sound artist)  
 
* Walitsky? (Polish sound artist)  
 +
* Nettime? (consult Pit Schultz)
 
* audiovisual performances?
 
* audiovisual performances?
 
* media art and activism?
 
* media art and activism?
 
 
  
 
==III. Conclusion==
 
==III. Conclusion==
Line 279: Line 228:
  
  
= Timeline =
+
= Older versions and further research =
  
* February/March 2009: setup the board
+
* [[Collaborative research on media art and culture in Central and Eastern Europe]]
* 15 March: deadline for IVF Standard Grants
+
* [[Book (2)]]
* 22 March: editorial board meeting #1 in Prague (during COOP workshop)
+
* [[Book (3)]]
* early June:         editorial board meeting #2 (Prague/Bratislava/Budapest)
+
* [[Book (4)]]
* early July: editorial board meeting #3 (Budapest?)
+
* [[Book (5)]]
* 1 September: editing finished
 
* 1 October: translation and proof-reading finished
 
* 1 November: layout and design finished
 
* 1 December: book is printed
 
* December: distribution
 
* 2010: presentations (Bratislava, Gdansk, Prague, Budapest)
 
  
= Editors=
+
= Editorial board=
  
 
Please feel free to contact us.
 
Please feel free to contact us.
  
 
* [[Dušan Barok]], db at societyofalgorithm dot org
 
* [[Dušan Barok]], db at societyofalgorithm dot org
 +
* [[Barbora Šedivá]], babuta at 34 dot sk
 
* [[Guy van Belle]], xgz at societyofalgorithm dot org
 
* [[Guy van Belle]], xgz at societyofalgorithm dot org
 
* [[Nina Czegledy]], czegledy at interlog dot com
 
* [[Nina Czegledy]], czegledy at interlog dot com
Line 307: Line 251:
 
Coordination: Dusan Barok, db at societyofalgorithm dot org<br>
 
Coordination: Dusan Barok, db at societyofalgorithm dot org<br>
 
Wiki: http://www.burundi.sk/monoskop/<Br>
 
Wiki: http://www.burundi.sk/monoskop/<Br>
Log: http://www.burundi.sk/monoskop/log<Br>
 
 
Delicious: http://del.icio.us/tag/monoskop<br>
 
Delicious: http://del.icio.us/tag/monoskop<br>
Supported by Col-me, http://www.col-me.info, http://col-me.info/sk/node/13<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 ERSTE Foundation, http://www.erstestiftung.org<br>
 
Supported by International Visegrad Fund, http://www.visegradfund.org<br>
 
Supported by International Visegrad Fund, http://www.visegradfund.org<br>
 
Supported by Academy of Arts, Banská Bystrica, http://www.aku.sk
 
Supported by Academy of Arts, Banská Bystrica, http://www.aku.sk
  
[http://www.aiesec.pl/Portals/aiesecproject/visegrad%20fund.jpg]
+
[[Image:Erstestiftung.gif|162px]] [[Image:Logo_ivf.png|180px]]
 
 
= Older version and further research =
 
 
 
* [[Collaborative research on media art and culture in Central and Eastern Europe]]
 
* [[Book (2)]]
 

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