Humans always used the HiTech of their era as tool and media in art.
The mammoth-ivory Venus from Moravany, West Slovakia, more than 20 000
years old, was curved with the same instruments that were used in
fighting for survival. Some concepts, exploited in computer art, are
known since centuries. The superposition of rotational movement in
creating patterns on pottery is an analogy to the computer drum plotter.
We can find many analogical methods in artistic works and all modern
Maybe the most famous person, who lived in Bratislava and whose work
can be considered as prehistorical in this context is Johann Wolfgang
Kempelen, who experimented with mechanical sound synthesis in the
eighteenth century. His chess playing automaton (a man hidden in a box
moved chess figures with the help of teleoperator links) could be
considered as the predecessor of telepresence.
Many Slovaks or other nationalities (Germans and Hungarians) born on
the territory of today's Slovakia (until 1918 part of Austro - Hungary)
contributed to the technological progress in the field which is part of
new media (in art). We can mention Jozef Petzval who calculated and
constructed the first photo camera lens, Antonin Jedlik and Gejza
Bolemann who created Lissajouse patterns (super-position of harmonic
functions) with the mechanical "predecessor" of the computer plotter,
long before Ben Laponsky did his first oscilons with an electronic
These people worked in Budapest, Vienna, and German cities or moved
to the USA, because they could not find fruitful support at home. The
son of Slovak emigrants to the USA, Andy Warhol, used an Amiga 1000 for
image processing (1986) and designed an antropomorphic robot
(constructed by Walt Disney animator Alvaro Villa). In the town of
Medzilaborce (East Slovakia), from which Warhol's parents came, the Andy
Warhol Museum was established recently. His brother visited the Academy
of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava several times, where he discussed
the possibility of producing a video disc about Andy Warhol's works.
The proposed author was Andrej Hatala, who comes from Bratislava and is
living in Paris since 1968. He is the author of several famous
multimedia video discs and CD ROMs about art - Louvre, Musee de Orsay,
Musee de l'Homme, Picasso, Vermeer van Delft and his time, Rembrandt and
The history of computer art is connected with the developments in
former Czecho-slovakia. The first artist in this country, who used the
computer was Zdenek Sykora, whose works were a logical continuation of
his classic works. Miroslav Klivar, born in Slovakia and living in
Prague wrote the first article about using computers in art in 1962.
Jiri Valoch organized the first computer graphic art exhibition in 1968
in Brno. Then, followed exhibitions in Prague and other cities. Among
the first who exhibited in that time were Frieder Nake, Charles Csuri,
Vera Molnar, and some Czechoslovak artists - Lubomirt Sochor, who used
an analog computer in the early sixties, Zdenek Sykora, Miroslav Klivar,
Zdenka Cechova, Jan Moucka, Zdenek Frybl. The situation in Slovakia was
approximately the same, with the difference that the first "computer
artist" Jozef Jankovic became an "unwanted" sculptor in the early
seventies. Some of his sculptures were removed from public places. As he
had no more possibilities to work in this medium, he decided to
cooperate with computer scientist Imro Bertok, and did lithographies and
serigraphies, based on computer drawings. His name became a synonym for
computers in art. Still, the official art representatives did not
recognize this tool. Another sculptor and conceptual artist - Juraj
Bartuzs - started using computers in the same year as Jozef Jankovic
(1972). He used computer drawings as a template for manufacturing
rotational, metal sculptures. The initial drawings were chosen from
random series created by a computer. The painter Daniel Fischer started
using computers later. Most of his works are line drawings, morphing one
image into another. He used these drawings also for book illustrations
and at the end of the seventies made the first computer animation in
Slovakia (Altamira cave bull morphing into sign of infinity. Single
frames plotted by Calcom plotter were photographed step by step by an
animation camera). Later, Peter Slavkovsky, Peter Briatka, and Martin
Sperka created animated logos or animated illustrations for scientific
programs and Slovak Television programs. In those times it was very
difficult to get access to computers, not only for artists but also for
scientists. Later, with the introduction of the first home computers,
more artists used them. We can mention the painter and print artist
Agnesa Sigetova. She used her Atari also for animation. Animation film
artist Ondrej Slivka created a seven minute long cartoon in 1986 with
some sections animated by a computer program of Martin Sepp and Martin
Sperka. The film received awards at several international animation
festivals abroad. Most of the computer graphics artworks were exhibited
in the frame of scientific events (conferences) or at factory galleries
(better to say cultural centers).
After 1989, computers penetrated the artists' studios and schools of
art. In 1991 computer courses were initiated at the Academy of Fine Arts
and Design in Bratislava. Starting in 1993, courses of Computer
Animation were taught at the Department of Animation, at the Faculty of
Film and Television. Several international workshops on new media
(Multimedia 1992, Laser Art 1993, Video Art 1994, Multimedia CD ROM
1996) were organized or co-organized by the Kultur Axe - the
Austrian-Slovak art agency and the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in
the framework of summer schools of painting and new media at the castles
of Mojmirovce and Topolcianky in Western Slovakia. This year the second
festival BEECAMP96 (Bratislava European Electronic Computer and
Multimedia Project) will take place. This festival is not exclusivly
"electronical and computer," but is more open. The coordinator of this
event is the Centre of Electroacoustic and Computer Music (CECM),
COMPUTER ART EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions of computer art were part of scientific conferences like
SOFSEM or Computer Graphics (in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic).
Slovak computer artists exhibited at exhibitions (exclusively computer
art) in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia. When in 1991, a big
retrospective exhibition of Jozef Jankovic took place, computer graphics
were part of the whole collection.
A retrospective and international exhibition of Computer Graphics in
Fine Arts was organized in Banska Bystrica (1992), Bratislava, Trnava,
Benesov (Czech Republic), curated by Zuzana Bartkova and Martin Sperka.
Among others also the Hungarian artist Vera Molnar participated - one of
the pioneers of computer art - now living in France. Electronic Mail
Art 1, 2, 3 (1994, 1995, 1996) took place in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica
and Wroclaw (Poland), curated by Martin Sperka. At the last one,
Charles Csuri participated (his ancestors come from Györ, Hungary), one
of the few artists who has been using computers from the sixties until
Music and sound: Slovak Radio Corporation and CECM (Centre of
Electroacoustic and Computer Music, Bratislava, which is part of the
Slovak Radio Corporation), Mytna ulica. Contact person: Juraj Duris,
president of CECM. This institution is very active and one of the
best-equipped in Central Europe. For example, they organized John Cage's
visit to Bratislava. Video and TV: Slovak Television, Bratislava, Stare
grunty. Some experimental videos are stored at private archives of
artists and private studios.
Film: Slovak Film Institute - National Cinematographic Centre
(SFU - NKC), Bratislava, Grosllingova ulica 32. The basic fund consists
of 333 feature films, 3128 short films, 275 unique historical pieces
shot since 1895, and of an extensive collection of various cinema news
reels. This basic fund is supplemented with a collection of 3295 Czech
and foreign films. The Collection of the film archive is open for study,
research and information purposes, as well as to the public within the
framework of Filmoteka cinema. Contact person: Peter Dubecky, phone: +42
- 7 - 5361524
Photography: There exists a collection of photography at the
Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. Contact person: Aurel Hrabusicky.
The Foundation FOTOFO organizes the annual Month of Photography in
Slovakia (November 1991, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), with a focus on contemporary
photography in Eastern Europe. There are always several exhibitions
devoted to the history of Slovak photography. Contact person: Judita
Tel / Fax +42 - 7 - 5314231
Computer (fine) art: No archive until now. There are plans to
establish a Museum of Computers in Bratislava as part of the Slovak
National Museum in Bratislava and a Museum of Technology in Kosice
(which has a department of media and computers). Contact person: Martin Sperka.
Bertok, I., Jankovic, J.: A Collaborative Investigation of the Line:
Interactive Computer- Aided Drawings, Leonardo,19, No.1, 1986, pp. 27-30
Bertok, I., Janousek, I.: Computers and Art (in Slovak). Slovensk pedagogick nakladatelstvo, Bratislava, 1988).
Review in English was published in Languages of Design, 1,1993, No.3, p. 285.
Duris, J.: Slovak electroacoustic Music History, CECM - Centre
of Electroacoustic and Computer Music, Bratislava. URL:(http://www.
Cechova, Z.: Application of Computer Graphics in Fine Arts. In: Pocitacova grafika, Proceedings of conference, Smolenice, 1986, pp. 15 - 20
Kaduch, M.: Czech and Slovak Electroacoustic Music 1964 -
1994: Composers, Programers, Technicians, Musicologists, Music Critics,
Publicists (In Czech). Osobni slovnik, Ostrava 1996.
Sykora, Z., Blazek, J.: Computer- Aided Multi Element Geometrical Abstract Paintings. Leonardo, 3, No. 4, p. 409
Sperka, M.: Milestones of Computer Graphics in Slovakia, Profil sucasneho vytvarneho umenia, 3, No.1, 1993, 10 - 11.
Sperka, M.: The Origins of Computer Graphics in Czech and Slovak Republics. Leonardo, 27, No.1, 1994, pp.45 - 50.
Sperka, M.: Email Art 2,3. URL: (http://www.cvt.stuba.sk/art/new.html)
Strauss, T.: Slovak Variation of Modernism, Samizdat, 1978 - 79, Pallas, 1992, Bratislava.
Zajicek, L.: The History of Electroacoustic Music in Czech and Slovak Republics. Leonerdo Music Journal, 5, 1995, pp. 39 - 48.f
150 Years from Invention of Photography. Photography and Audio Visual
Works. The Main Contribution of Czechoslovakia to the Development of
Contemporary Photography in Work of Jozef Svoboda. Article about
coauthor of Polyecran (Mosaic Projection) and Polyvision at the Expo 58,
Brussels and Expo 67 Montreal.
The Czech Electronic Picture - Inner Sources. Catalogue of the Czech
(and Slovak living in Prague) creators of video and intermedia art.
Gallery Manes, Prague 1994