Prague Media Symposium

The Prague Media Symposium was a series of international interdisciplinary symposia on media technology, philosophy of communication and media art organized by the Goethe-Institut Prague (Andreas Stroehl), Academy of Fine Arts (Michael Bielický), Soros Center for Contemporary Arts (Ludvík Hlaváček), Miloš Vojtěchovský and Jaroslav Anděl in Prague between 1991-2007.

Date	Theme	Program, participants
25-26 Nov 1991	Mass communication and elitist communication; Change of paradigms, Lecture of Vilém Flusser
Dec 1992	Symposium: „Vilém Flusser: Vordenker der Nachgeschichte“ (Vilém Flusser: Pioneer of Post-history; Vilém Flusser: prehistorik posthistorie)	Opening speech: Edith Flusser and Jochen Bloss. Participants: David Flusser (scholar, Jerusalem), Florian Rötzer (Munich), Friedrich Kittler (Bochum), Irmgard Zepf, Stefan Bollmann (Flusser's publisher, Düsseldorf), Peter Weibel (Karlsruhe), Petr Rezek, Raimund Stecker, Josef Moucha, Fred Forest (presented the documentary Professor's Gestures), Louis Bec (presented the video Small Zoological Walk with Vilem Flusser), Michael Bielický (presented an excerpt from the video project Piazza virtuale - Tok Viléma Flussera shown earlier at documenta 9), Ivo Janoušek, Egon Bunne. Part of the symposium was a video workshop organised by Michael Bielicky, Egon Bunne and Woody Vasulka. Initiated and curated by Andreas Ströhl (Goethe-Institut) and Michael Bielický (head of media department at AVU Prague, and former Flusser's student). Organised by Goethe-Institut Prag in cooperation with National Technical Museum, Prague; Academy of Fine Arts, Prague; Philosophical Institute Prague; Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; and Network Amis de Vilém Flusser, Angenommen/Supposé, The Hague.
1993	Symposium: „Nachbilder – Interaktion mit digitalen Medien“ (After-images - Post-images: Interaction with Digital Media)	Participants: Manfred Eisenbeis, Petr Vrána, Jeffrey Shaw, Woody Vasulka, Heiko Idensen, Stanislav Miler, Vito Oražem, Alfred Rotert, Petr Rezek, David Galloway, Antonín Kosík, Jan Bernard, Norbert Nowotsch, Michael Bielicky, Karel Dudešek, Petr Skála. Part of the symposium was the workshop by Norbert Nowotsch „Das elektronische Buch“, and presentation of video art from the Media Archiv Prag and EMF (Europäische Medienkunst Festival Osnabrück). Organised in collaboration between Goethe-Institut Prag; Academy of Fine Arts, Prague; and National Technical Museum, Prague.
1994	Symposium „Neue Medien und Ethik“ (New Media and Ethics)	participants: Jaroslav Vančát, Michael Bielicky, Keiko Sei, Peter Glotz, Miroslav Petříček, Norbert Bolz, Thomas Kaulmann, Rudi Stoert, Antonín Kosík, Jan Fikáček, Jürgen Linke, Petr Rezek, Petr Vrána.
1995	Symposium „Umělé životní prostředí jako umělecké dílo“ „Künstliche Umgebungen als Artefakte“ (Artificial Environment as Artifact)?	Participants: Ludvík Hlaváček, Michal Bregant, Jiří Zemánek, Jiří Valoch, Radúz Činčera, Gerald O’Grady, Keiko Sei, Marta Smolíková, Olga Shishko, Ekaterina Andreeva, Elena Kolovskaya, Marko Peljhan, Siegfried Zielinski, Ventsislav Zankov, Tjebbe van Tijen, Axel Wirths, Dieter Daniels, Hilmar Hoffmann, Brian Springer, Antya Umstätter, Margaret Morse, Richard Schütz, Jaroslav Vančát, Paul DeMarinis, Sergej Golowin, Antonín Kosík, Nebojsa Vilic, Petr Rezek, Chris Hill, Miroslav Petříček, Michael Bielicky. Organised by GI, in collaboration with AVU and FCCA, in the framework of Orbis Fictus exhibition of new media at National Gallery Prague.
3-5 Dec 1996	Symposium: „Kultur, Kommunikation und Neue Technologien: Medienkunst – Interkulturelle Hoffnung oder Kunst ohne message?“ Media Arts: Intercultural Hope or Art without a Message?	Participants: Michael Bielicky, Lubor Benda, Ludvík Hlaváček, Bernhard Rathmayr, Misko Pandilovski, Marta Smolíková, Claudio Gallio, George Legrady, Christian Huebler, Karel Dudesek, Paul Sermon, Nan Hoover. link
1997	Flusser Media Film	Participants: Jaroslav Vančát, Michael Bielicky, Keiko Sei, Peter Glotz, Miroslav Petříček, Norbert Bolz, Thomas Kaulmann, Rudi Stoert, Antonín Kosík, Jan Fikáček, Jürgen Linke, Petr Rezek, Petr Vrána. link
2001	Excavating the Future - media archeology symposium	Participants: Gert Aertsen, Jaroslav Anděl, Roy Ascott, Dieter Daniels, Erik Davis, Richard Grusin, Tom Gunning, Jiří Hoskovec, Ivan M. Havel, Christian Huebler, Erkki Huhtamo, Ryszard Kluszczynski, Richard Kriesche, Werner Nekes, Miklós Peternák, Rolf Pixley, Claudia Schmacke, Barbara Maria Stafford, Guy van Belle, Siegfried Zielinski. Comments: Ivan M. Havel didn't talk, Werner Nekes didn't come. Archived website.
2007	Symposium „Für eine Philosophie der neuen Zeit. Vilém Flusser und die europäische Moderne“

Literature

• Věra Jirousová, "Sympozium věnované přítomnosti myšlení Viléma Flussera", Ateliér 4, Prague, 1993, p 2. Review of 1992 symposium. (Czech)
• Miloš Vojtěchovský, "Předpoklady budoucnosti: Mediální archeologie. Archeologie a budoucnost pohyblivého obrazu (de-archivace paměťových složek)", Agosto Foundation: mediateka, Mar 2017. (Czech)
  • "Excavating the Future: An Archaeology and Future of Moving Pictures. A Case Study in (Un)Archiving Unstable Media", Agosto Foundation: mediateka, Mar 2017. (English)

See also

• Vilém Flusser