Unveiling the early film and video experiments at MIT

MEDIA AVANT-GARDES: GYÖRGY KEPES AND CAVS/MIT
The Anthology Film Archives, New York
October 12–13

The Anthology Film Archives presents works by CAVS Fellows from the era of György Kepes and Otto Piene

More than four decades after the legendary CENTERVIDEO exhibition that was featured at the Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne, Germany in 1981 (curated by Otto Piene with Elizabeth Goldring and Vin Grabill) The Anthology Film Archives in New York will show the first comprehensive programming in the United States of experimental films and videos created by Fellows working in the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at MIT, from its foundation year (1967) up until the early 1980s. CAVS, as the predecessor of ACT (MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology) made room for the display of the first projection mapping exhibit, the world’s first artistic video synthesizer housed here; and hosted artists who developed the first interactive video discs. CAVS also became a laboratory for research on the aesthetic applications of virtual reality, holography, and laser-based immersive environments.

The two-day program at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, curated by Márton Orosz (director of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest) consists of 4 segments.

CAVS, founded by György Kepes in 1967 at MIT, became one of the most internationally significant workshops for experimental filmmaking and early video art.  Many prominent figures in the field, such as Peter Campus, Juan Downey, Antoni Muntadas, Nam June Paik, Stan VanDerBeek, and Aldo Tambellini, either worked there or were associated with it.  Kepes’ program promoted the innovative use of technologies that altered human perception and introduced new sensory experiences, thereby enhancing the interaction between art and its audience.

The opening film of the program is Márton Orosz’s feature-length documentary film titled “György Kepes. Interthinking Art+Science,” which is the first assessment of Kepes’ animated life,  introducing him not only as a shapeshifter of modernism but also as a visionary thinker whose legacy served as a beacon in the history of new media art.

The second segment of the program focuses on films that Kepes made in collaboration with László Moholy-Nagy in Europe and at the Chicago School of Design, known as the “American Bauhaus.”  It also features works by students who directly or indirectly reflect Kepes’ structuralist approach to the aesthetic principles of visual storytelling. Many of these works are distinguished by their use of mechanically controlled light or optical modulation through lenses, prisms, and mirrors, and combined them with hand-drawn animated special effects. Among the noteworthy pieces are the experimental films by Millie & Morton Goldsholl, who founded one of the leading corporate design agencies in the Midwest. In this part of the lineup, we can also witness a unique selection of works by Frank Eidlitz, a pioneer of Australian media art. These films, marked by fast-paced visual transitions, often comprise montages that reinterpret Kepes’ photographs and paintings. The program also includes several of Kepes’ own experiments that explore the transformative nature of artificial light.

The third segment of the event features films produced under Kepes’s directorship in CAVS at MIT. Most of these works expanded the boundaries of media aesthetics. It includes early television art by Ted Kraynik, which introduced a “manifesto on synergetic art,” video works, and “video actions” that combined live events with novel electronic imaging techniques by Douglas Davis, as well as Otto Piene and Aldo Tambellini, who were involved in the revolutionary art television program “A Medium Is The Medium” (1969). Additionally, it presents early computer animations by Stan VanDerBeek, created through the poetic metamorphosis of digitally generated images. Some of the works highlight early cybernetic installations developed under the auspices of CAVS, including Wen-Ying Tsai’s kinetic symphony, which combines engineering and art, and Kepes’ own programmed installation, “Flame Orchard,” which explores the synesthetic relationship between music and imagery through light as a metaphor for participatory art.

The final screening in the lineup highlights works created in the late 1970s and early 1980s when CAVS became one of the world’s foremost hubs for video and experimental film under the Zero and Sky Art protagonist, Otto Piene’s directorship. In these years, CAVS opened new frontiers in video application with multimedia performances, including the kinetic-environmental sculpture created for the 1977 documenta 6 in Kassel, which is the subject of Richard Leacock’s & Jon Rubin’s movie. The work of the Fellow often explored the structural characteristics of moving images (Peter Campus, Marc Adrian, Vin Grabill) or engaged in post-conceptual, socio-political analysis (Antoni Muntadas). Other works utilized non-linear narratives or semiotically driven visual associations (Juan Downey, Betsy Connors).

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György Kepes. Interthinking Art+Science in the PST ART: Art & Science Collide program
October 6

Event details:
Art Center, Pasadena, Ahmanson Theater
October 6

Márton Orosz’s documentary film “György Kepes. Interthinking Art+Science” was recently also invited to Los Angeles, where the Art Center in Pasadena will host a special screening on Sunday, October 6 at 2 PM as part of the Getty-sponsored PST ART: Art & Science Collide program.
The Los Angeles premiere of the documentary film is a collaboration between ArtCenter’s Williamson Gallery and Fulcrum Arts. The event also includes a post-screening discussion between the director, Márton Orosz, and ArtCenter faculty Ramone Muñoz.

For more details, including upcoming screening dates, please visit the film’s official website: www.kepesfilm.com

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György Kepes (1906–2001) was a Hungarian-American painter, photographer, designer, theorist, educator, and impresario, recognized today as a largely overlooked precursor of media art. He is widely credited with popularizing the concept of “visual culture” during the Mid-Century era. Kepes’ name became synonymous with the intersection of art, science, and technology, largely due to his visionary program developed in the 1960s at MIT, where he founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS). This institution encouraged collaborative creations between artists and scientists, fostering teamwork between humanists and natural scientists. Kepes coined the term “interthinking” to describe his innovative approach, which brought together artists and engineers to address pressing public issues like ecological awareness, augmented reality, and adaptive design—concepts that were in their nascent stages at the time. His influence extended far beyond his artistic endeavors. From his early days working alongside Bauhaus protagonists in Europe to his significant role in U.S. art world (Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Boston), Kepes was an “enabler,” a catalyst who empowered others to pursue shared goals. As an “active humanist,” he spent his life advocating for media aesthetics grounded in the democratization of images. (Márton Orosz)