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Programs shown in the framework of the festival
Montevideo/TBA	The Kitchen	interSpace
[ bg ]	[ english ]

Media Art Program in the framework of 1^stYoung Film Festival
^{Sofia 15-20 June 1999}

Project Organizer^{: Centre for Media Arts "InterSpace" Project
Duration: 7 days}
^{Project Venue: Film House, Sofia}

Partners:
^{Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo/TBA - Amsterdam, the Netherlands;}
^{“ The Kitchen” , New York, USA}

The Partners:

^MonteVideo ^{was founded in 1978 as a exhibition
place for video art and over the years has developed as the center for media arts in
Holland Time Based Arts was founded in 1983 en operated as presentation- en
distribution place for video- and acoustic art. Since 1993 both foundations merged.}

The foundation now called MonteVideo/TBA committed itself to facilitate services to artist on the subjects of production, post-production, research, distribution and presentation. Besides this it operates a documentation center for media art.

^{The development of specific hard and software for artists
has been steadily increased over the last years and finally will result in a European
Laboratory for the Arts, where artists from different countries and disciplines with
interest for electronic media can be served in terms of production, post production,
advice, technical support, research, presentation and distribution.}

^{MonteVideo/TBA facilitates a considerable amount of presentation
equipment to realise media art exhibitions. Therefore a substantial part of the activities
is curating expositions in The Netherlands and abroad.}

^{Foundation MonteVideo/TBA

^{Netherlands Media Art Institute}

^{Keizersgracht 264}

^{1016 EV Amsterdam}

^{tel: 020-6237101}

^{fax: 020-6244423}

^{e-mail: [email protected]}} ^{^{More than twenty-five years ago, The Kitchen was founded in
order to carve out a place for artists working along the boundaries of new media and
performance. The foresight and the passion of that original vision have provided some of
the most potent material in new performance and launched the careers of many influential
artists. In keeping with this history, The Kitchen continues as a cultural center where
emerging artists can challenge and expand the accepted definitions of performance, and
experienced artists can test out new directions for an adventurous audience.}

Founded in 1971 by two video artists, Woody and Steina Vasulka, The
Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country for
over two decades. Focused on the creation and promotion of the cultural vanguard, The
Kitchen has helped foster the careers of international artists such as Philip Glass,
Laurie Anderson, Eric Bogosian, David Byrne with the Talking Heads, Steve Reich, Robert
Longo, Glen Branca, Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, Peter Greenaway, Nam June Paik, Meredith
Monk, Brian Eno, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Bill Viola, LaMonte Young, and Robert
Wilson.
For the ten year period that followed, The Kitchen became a sort of
hotbed of artistic activity. By this point in time, The Kitchen was also presenting
performance and dance as part of its season, as well as film. Within the confines of a
beautiful, columned, gallery-style loft space, this new Kitchen presented work that was
both daring, non-traditional, and cutting edge.

The Kitchen

^{512 West 19th Street}

^{New York, NY}

The Event:
From 15-20 June 1999 the Film House in Sofia hosted the first of its
kind in Bulgaria Young Film Festival, featuring films by young European film-makers.
The intention of the organizers of the Media Art Program was to
incorporate screenings of an area of contemporary visual arts that is still new and
unknown to Bulgarian audiences and is on the border of cinema, visual arts and technology.
It is an area of ultimate interdisciplinarity and by this is emblematic of the trend of
development of the contemporary arts over the past few decades. This genre has not been
widely presented in Bulgaria yet, though the country already has its few media artists.
There is no training or literature provided, and systematic knowledge is scarce.
By screening parts of some of the most important collections of media
arts in the world (respectively of Europe and the US), the organizers wanted to overcome
the lack of information specialists and broad audiences experience. This moreover is
essential now, when media arts all over the world claim a foremost position in visual
culture and are becoming increasingly popular with their adequacy to the social,
technological and cultural environment of the modern world.
We are convinced that the program has not only added to the film
festival within the framework of which it was shown, but that it also contributed to the
formation of a more colourful cultural landscape of Bulgaria's capital city, and provoked
anyone who is tempted by modernity.
The Program
The video screenings at the Film House included:

collection of the Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo/TBA
collection of the works of Dutch artist Eddie D
collection of The Kitchen - New York
presentations & discussions on history and current context of media
arts - Jan SchuIjren and Eddie D
Bulgarian video-art screenings

A very positive development of the week of the video screenings was the
opportunity for extensive discussions with the representatives of Montevideo, including
plans for further collaboration.
The first part of the project has given us as organizers incredible
motivation to continue to promote and discuss media arts in Bulgaria, and therefore we had
even higher expectations for the second part - Project End (22 Sept.-23 Oct.).
The media were also interested for we were constantly invited for
television and radio interviews, for newspaper coverage and discussions.
It is our pleasure to thank the Dutch Embassy for the support and trust, and also for
the extremely flexible and understanding approach and collaboration}