Ryszard W. Kluszczynski is professor of film and media studies, as well
as theory and the history of Art at the UNIVERSITY OF LODZ in Poland.
Also a writer and curator, Ryszard W. Kluszczynski runs the media art
department at the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.

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3

Video art in Central European countries began to develop in the 1970's.
In Poland, artists associated with the WFF (Workshop of Film Form) were
among the first to use electronic tools. Inititally, the video art from
this group was fairly analytical. In the 1980s, Polish video art became
more personal, expressive and symbolic, and was often performance-based.
Of particular importance at were works by Zbigniew Libera and Jerzy
Truszkowski. The present decade, due to artists such as Barbara Konopka,
Maciej Walczak, Jacek Szleszynski or Piotr Wyrzykowski, appears to be an
era of individualism, with an emphasis on multiple and diverse choices,
attitudes and poetics.

The beginnings of video art in Hungary are associated with Gabor Body,
who started using video in the early 1970s. In the early 80s he
co-founded "Infermental"–an international avant-garde magazine, and a
Polish-Hungarian joint venture. Video art in Hungary developed slowly:
access to video equipment was limited, and there were few places to
learn video techniques. Because of such unfavourable conditions in
Hungary, many eminent artists went abroad. While their work often
appeared in Hungarian festivals, this phenomenon constitutes one of the
most important differences between Polish and Hungarian (and probably
Yugoslavian) video art. In Poland, artists came to terms with the
limited technical resources, and managed to establish an independent
network of spaces (mainly private, although some galleries were also
included there) where video art was presented during the 1980s (see the
"Silent Movie" Festival). In Hungary, artists sought institutional
support: if not able to secure it, the most prominent of them went
abroad.

Yugoslavian achievements in video art were substantial during the 70s
and 80s. The most prominent Yugoslavain artists include Sanja Ivekovic,
Dalibor Martinis, Breda Beban, Hrvoje Hrovatic, Marina Grzinic and Anna
Smid. Considerable interest in video art was shown by television
stations in Ljubljana, Skopje, Zagreb and Belgrade (where in the years
1982-1990 Dunja Blazevic had her TV Gallery). An extension of this
Yugoslavian tradition is seen in the video art from Slovenia and
Croatia. Since the early 1980s, video art has developed quickly in the
Baltic Republics and Ukraine. The Video Centre in Riga, and the
international Arsenal Festival, whose first (and the most interesting)
presentation took place in 1988, are two insitutions that have enabled
video as an art practice in these areas.

4.

Since the early 90s in Central European countries, freed from the corset
of dependence on the falling Russian Empire, various initiatives have
been undertaken to support the development of new media culture and art.
Needless to say, the situation varies by country. Even on the basis of
the above analysis, which is by no means a detailed one, one observes
that some of the most noteworthy achievements came when artistic
activity resulted in the emergence and grounding of permanent
tendencies. Strong experimental film in Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary
created an environment from which different video trends have surfaced.
Because of the lack of such formative factors in Czechoslovakia and
Bulgaria, the development of video art in those countries was
considerably delayed. Whether the trajectory for the continuum between
video and multimedia will be similar is unclear.

At present, in nearly all countries of the former Eastern Bloc a
significant enlivening in the sphere of (multi)media culture has
occured–a variety of effective initiatives have been undertaken. For
example, in Poland in 1991, I organised a retrospective of avant-garde
cinema and video from Central European countries, "The Middle of
Europe," held in the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.
Consistently, in subsequent annual exhibitions of media art, productions
by Middle and East European artists, including Michael Bielicki, Gabor
Body, Marina Grzinic and Aina Smid, Gustav Hamos, Sanja Ivekovic and
Dalibor Martinis, met those from the rest of the world. These
"confrontations" have led me to think that historical experiences in the
sphere of media art in various countries, to a large extent, determine
today's artistic choices. For example, consider the multimedia
realisations and projects of the Polish artist, Piotr Wyrzykowski, who
combines conceptual inspirations originating in the 1970s with those of
performance art of the 1980s. This combination seems characteristic of
the most impressive Polish new media art.

Still, the growing interest in (multi)media art in Poland and the
increasing activity of artists (especially of the younger generation)
find no institutional support. There are places where such productions
can be presented, but education in this area is lacking, and there are
hardly any critics who specialise in (multi)media art, or who have
experience in this field. Indeed, the same small group of people
organise exhibitions and carry out educational activities. Institutions
are generally not willing to support (multi)media productions, which are
expensive, and demand technological resources. Independence, which often
takes the shape of private production and presentation, and which used
to be an advantage and strength of Polish video art of the 1980's, has
become, in a sense, its weakness in an era of interactive computer
installations and virtual reality. While I am not convinced that
dependence on various institutions would solve all problems and create a
perfect environment for artists, there is no doubt that the present
situation requires solutions that would guarantee artists the
possibility to carry on their work without interference.

In my view, the situation is better in Hungary, where the tradition of
institutionalised artistic activity exists. The relatively recent
history of artists going abroad (e.g. Gustav Hamos and George Legrady)
also conveys a cautionary message to Hungarian art institutions. The
scale of the latest artistic venture undertaken there, "The Butterfly
Effect," as well as events such as international seminars on art in
cyberculture, deserve attention and praise.

Of extreme importance to the present and future of multimedia culture in
the countries of the former Eastern Bloc is the network of Soros'
centres. Indeed, it was due to SCCA that the previously mentioned events
took place, as well as exhibitions and seminars (e.g. Ex Oriente Lux,
Bucharest 1993; New Media Topia, Moscow 1994; Orbis Fictus, Prague
1995-6). Financial support provided by the Soros' Centres has been
critical; however, of equal (if not primary) relevance is the SCCA's
enabling of networks of contacts, international exchange and
cooperation. Without these, little, beyond the mere presentation of
finished works would have been possible. Soros' centres have had
positive influence on the development of new multimedia culture in the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe–for instance speeding up
development in areas without well-established traditions of media art,
or supplementing underdeveloped systems of institutional support that
were incapable of satisfying artistic needs.

Obviously, a preliminary condition has been the emergence of groups
interested in the development of media art. Their existence is confirmed
by the widespread enthusiasm generated by the events described above, as
well as by the emergence of multimedia projects and achievements of
artists from countries without any particular past accomplishments in
the field of electronic artistic creation (such as Tatyana Detkyna from
Russia and Alexandru Patatics from Romania). Still, the most interesting
ideas by artists from countries of the former Eastern Bloc remain in the
sphere of conception rather than actual realisation, mainly because of
technological difficulties. Such a situation, however, will not last
long: because the growth of electronic and media industries in these
countries has been rapid, conditions favouring artistic creation are
likely to be seen soon. Last but not least, the time when the use of the
labels "the art of Central and Eastern European countries" or "the art
of the former Eastern Bloc" was justified and appropriate, has passed.
The years following the victory of the Solidarity Union in Poland, and
the demolition of the Berlin wall were a period of differentiation, when
the situation in each of these countries acquired an individual
character. Although similarities are still many, we should not be
deceived by them, as the differences are far more important. The status
of multimedia art varies in each country, and future developments will
depend on preexisting local artistic traditions, the tempo of
technological progress, support granted by state agencies and
institutions, a favourable political environment, and, most of all, on
the activity of artistic formations, groups and communities.

[Please contact the author for bibliography.]