PRAGA CAPUT - PRAGA CAPUT MEDII

Prague does not have a consistent historical development of old/new media, but this city can be proud of some events that have been of great importance and significance for the history of media. Contemporary, modern sounding phrases such as "electronic art", "virtual reality", "interactive art" and "artifical intelligence" can be found in the past, traceable back to the middle ages. Of course these phenomena then had different definitions.

These events, which I would like to discuss, are not coincidences, but always relate to a certain time and climate in which they occur. Not least, it was the special energy of this old city which always drove people to search for the interface of the beyond. The linguists declare that the name "Prague" comes from the czech word "praha", which means "verge". There are places in Prague, where the impression of moving through different optical illusions, puts you into a twilight zone state of being. It is not by coincidence that Prague is the only city in the world with a small group of active surrealists. At the head of this group is the film animator Jan Svankmajer.

In the 16th century the famous scholar and mystic, Juda Loew ben Bezalel, known as the "High Rabbi Loew" lived in Prag. This man, who possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge, is the spiritual, as well as physical forefather of the mathematician Theodor von Karman. Von Karman saw in Rabbi Loew the first genius of practical mathematics. As we know, he is not only said to have invented the Golem, his experiments with the camera obscura also impressed King Rudolf II so much, that he became included in the circle of alchemists, artists and astronomists together with Johannes Keppler and Tycho de Brahe. Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Rabbi Loew was the spiritual forefather of two other mathematicians, Johann von Neumann und Norbert Wiener, who more than anyone else, founded the theoretical bases for mathematical magic, which produced the Golem of our days, the modern computer. In the end the Golem is nothing more than a reproduction of Adam, the first human being, a creature created by human intelligence and application.

Although under the control of its creator, fullfilling given tasks, it can develop a dangerous tendency to withdraw from this subservience and unleash destructive capabilities - just like the human being itself. That the old and new Golem have the same concept is out of question. The old Golem is based on a mystical combination of 22 letters of the hebrew alphabet, which are, at the same time, the elements and building blocks of the world.

The new Golem is based on a simpler, though much more intricate system. Instead of 22 elements, he just knows 2: The two numbers zero and one, which make up the binary number system. Both Golems need energy to move. For the old Golem this energy was language, for the new one, it is electricity. It is a fact that both Golems can increase their productivity, and both are able to store information .Today this phenomenon is called "artificial intelligence".

If we talk about virtual reality nowadays, it should be mentioned that one day Rudolf II decided to visit the house of Rabbi Loew. That night Rabbi Loew performed a miracle: he changed his house into a castle. With his camera obscura he projected pictures from the inside of the Hradschin on the walls of his house. In this way Rudolf II had the impression of being in a castle.

In the 1920's the novel "R. U. R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) from Karel Capek, a visionary of modern society, was published in Prag. The expression "Robot" Capek derived from the czech slang word "Robota" for "compulsary labour", which on the other hand comes from the Russian word "Rabota", "labour". This "science- nonfiction-horror-story" is, first of all, a warning to the technological society that it is on the verge of destroying itself. Capek's robots belong to the Golem family. These automatons do not consist of mechanical and electronic parts, but out of a sort of protoplasma. In contrary to Rabbi Loewe's Golem, the robots have an astonishing intelligence and a great memory. They do not know pain or feelings. Certainly Capek did not think, that his R. U. R.-automatons, which he called robots, would one day stand, worldwide, for artifical intelligence.

In the year 1940 "the kinetism", a book by Zdenek Pesanek, was published in Prag. Pesanek is one of the founders of light kinetic art. He built complex light kinetic objects, which were exposed in public places. It is quite certain that Pesanek had, indirectly, contact with the Bauhaus. Among others he refers to the report of the Bauhaus book #3, 1927. The book "kinetism", as Pesanek says, is based on his own manuscripts from the twenties. In these manuscripts he writes, as introduction: "we expect the decline of the manual techniques used by painters and sculpters, the entrance into new methodologies and their connection to the highest revelations of technical spirit." He continues: "the artists of tomorrow draw on paper today that which we should see floating in the room or what should be projected on the sky." "...but you, whom with progress of time, the whole world of technology and numbers, dropped into your laps, all the branches of electronics and similar lines, you pear over to the big Rembrandt and in secret you envy his fruitful success. You are not conscious, that he can be surpassed, because your tools, which are in your reach, will help you to fulfill miracles. You try to follow the traces of old masters, but you forget that they would do it differently, being in your position today. Different than they were able to do it." This, nearly 70 year old text, sounds more modern than many reports from media theoreticians today.

In the year 1958, in the Czech pavillion at the Expo in Brussels, a small sentation was created: the "Laterna Magica". The film director Alfred Radok managed to produce the interface between theater and film. On the theater stage were all sorts of different film projecting screens. The actors vanished within them and the only way to see them was in the projected film. Then suddenly, they would jump out of them onto the stage. This fluent movement, between the material and immaterial world, this back and forth between reality and dream, still charmes many people today in Prag.

Nine years later, during the Expo in Montreal, there is another fascinating suprise on top of the "Laterna Magica": "the Cinema- automat", the creation of Cincera and Svitacek, it was the world's first interactive cinema. During the presentation the film was stopped several times, and somebody would step out onto the stage to ask the spectaters how the film should continue. Two alternatives were offered. At each seat of this specially equipped cinema, a button had been installed, with which the spectaters could express their choice. The votes would be counted, and the version for which the majority of spectaters voted for, was shown. This active participation in film can be seen as a milestone in the history of interactive art. The "Cinema-automat" found it's place in Prag after the Expo, but shortly following the 1968 invasion by Warsaw Pact troops, it was closed. Perhaps the former rulers were afraid, since the the experience of the "Cinema- automat" followed democratic principles, that a way of democratic thinking could develop.

In the 70's and 80's it was quiet around the media scene in Prag. Briefly before the Warsaw Pact troops invaded, some people formed a group called "Videosalon", led by the painter and film animator Radek Pilar. They had close ties to the famous film animation of Czech film, which was influenced by Jiri Trnka, Karel Zeman and Jan Svankmayer.

In 1991 I was called by the Prag Academy of Art to found and lead a section for new media. Nam June Paik donated quite a large amount of money for the equipment. As well, other (private) people from Germany supported this project. Thanks to the DAAD in Bonn, a longterm instructer for my department was made available for several years. The department is situated in a Cubist influenced villa. The first students reacted very individually in their way of using the new technology. From videotapes to video installations, interactive video sculpters, live video performances to communication art, they use their new techniques in a serious, but detached way.

During their first international experiences, they received acknowledgement for their work. The communication project "I.P.I." during the "Seagraph" in Chicago in 1992, and the "Piazetta Prag" at the "Piazza Virtuale" (Van Gogh TV) during the "Dokumenta 92" or the project "Electronic Cafe" (235-Media K@\224ln) were interesting experiences but posed many questions for the students. Two years ago the "Mediaarchiv" was founded by, among others, Woody Vasulka and Petr Vrana. Today, the leading expert in the East European media scene, is the Prag and Bucharest residing Japanese writer on public affairs and organiser of "special events", Keiko Sei, who engaged herself in Eastern Europe before the wall fell. Robert Musil wrote: "Prag is the point of intersection - the interface - of the old world axes." I would like to add: Prag is the point of intersection/interface between yesterday and tomorrow, and at the same time between now and never.

Bibliography: Gershom Scholem, "Judaica 11", Suhrkamp, Frankfurt

am Main 1970:

Angelo Maria Ripellino, "Magisches Prag", Wunderlich, Tuebingen 1982:

Zdenek Pesanek, "Kinetismus", Prag 1941:

The book "Kinetismus" has been translated into German in autumn 1993 by Merve, Berlin.

Michael Bielicky