[spectre] exh. Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1957-1984, Lodz

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Sounding the Body Electric. Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern 
Europe 1957-1984

http://msl.org.pl/en/wydarzenia/sounding-the-body-electric/

Sounding the Body Electric. Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern 
Europe 1957-1984 is the first attempt at presenting complex relations 
between experimental music and visual arts in Eastern Europe since the 
1950s. It will present experimental films, installations, music scores 
by the most important and most innovative artists of the day.

Many important creations reflecting the marriage of music and visual 
arts in Eastern Europe no longer exist. Reconstructing its history 
demands reconstructing the works, made with fidelity in cooperation with 
the artists and with attention to initial assumptions. Muzeum Sztuki in 
Łódź presents two legendary works to the visitors: Szablocs Esztényi and 
Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Bare Transmitters (1969) and Teresa Kelm, Zygmunt 
Krauze and Henryk Morel’s Spatial-Musical Composition (1968).

The departure point of the exhibition is Experimental Studio of Polish 
Radio founded in 1957 by Józef Patkowski. It was not only a symbol of 
attitude change among communist authorities towards electro-acoustic 
music, but also an incubator of cooperation between visual artists and 
composers in attempts of reaching modernity symbolised by a total work 
of art. A new model of science-technological revolution opened the door 
to resources aimed at artistic experiments in many countries of the 
eastern bloc. The Warsaw studio became a model for other centres, such 
as: New Music Studio (Új Zenei Stúdió) and radio Belgrade Electronic 
Studio (Elektronski Studio Radio Beograda). As, apart from their 
autonomous activities, they were to serve the purpose of preparing 
soundtracks for films they obviously became meeting points for artists 
representing various areas of art. Cooperation of engineers, architects, 
artists and musicians resulted in groundbreaking monumental projects and 
not executed acoustic constructions co-designed e.g. by: Oskar Hansen, 
Alex Mlynárčik and Aleksandar Srnec. Those visionary projects were also 
an expression of belief in alliance of various arts with the support of 
the authorities of different countries east of the Berlin Wall.

Graphic scores, created under influence of John Cage, Fluxus and 
concrete poetry, were yet another expression of aspirations for 
combining music with visual arts. Aware of the aesthetic role of 
coincidence, the composers entered the world of happening, performance 
and sound installations and their attitude could be interpreted as a 
movement of democratising approach, which placed the tools for shaping a 
musical piece in the hands of performers and audiences. This tendency is 
exemplified by the works of Zygmunt Krauze, Katalin Ladik, Bogusław 
Schaeffer, and Milan Grygar presented as a part of the exhibition.
The relationship between musical and visual experiment was not always a 
result of enthusiastic approach and belief in subjectivity in people’s 
republics. Just like for concrete music composers the easily-manipulated 
magnetic tape was a symbol of an individual’s freedom, for Krzysztof 
Wodiczko transistor radio and space of radio waves were symbols of 
oppression. Thus the exhibition also presents those visions in which the 
optimism of the first wave of experiments was replaced by the pessimism 
connected with sound medium and its role in the development of socialism.

Neo-constructivist, light, kinetic art, cybernetic design, concrete and 
electro-acoustic music were areas of increased creativity and 
experimentation in Eastern European art in the 1960s and 1970s. 
Avant-garde artists and composers started examining possibilities of 
electronic equipment and magnetic tape, taking advantage of the 
loosening of control over art after the fall of Stalinism and the 
encouragement of the authorities to research cybernetics, electronics 
and computer science.

Curators: David Crowley, Daniel Muzyczuk

Artists:
Milan Adamčiak, Walerian Borowczyk, Attila Csernik, Dubravko Detoni, 
Andrzej Dłużniewski, Szablocs Esztényi, Bułat Galejew, Milan Grygar, 
Zofia & Oskar Hansen, Zoltán Jeney, Teresa Kelm, Andras Klausz, Milan 
Knížák, Kolektywne Działania, Komar & Melamid, Włodzimierz Kotoński, 
Grzegorz Kowalski, György Kovásznai, Andrzej Kostenko, Zygmunt Krauze, 
Katalin Ladik, Jan Lenica, Dóra Maurer, Henryk Morel, Andrzej Pawłowski, 
Imre Póth, Vladan Radovanović, Józef Robakowski, Jerzy Rosołowicz, 
Eugeniusz Rudnik, Bogusław Schaeffer, Aleksandar Srnec, Cezary 
Szubartowski, VAL (Ľudovít Kupkovič, Viera Mecková, Alex Mlynárčik), 
László Vidovszky, Krzysztof Wodiczko.


This book accompanying an exhibition at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź 
explores both the optimism and the anxiety that was to be found in the 
experimental zone of art and music:

http://msl.org.pl/en/wydarzenia/sounding-the-body-electric/