Michael Bielický

Born in 1954 in Prague to Jewish parents. He considers himself an artist-illusionist, creating in the tradition of his Czech predecessors in the field of interactive art (the Kinoautomat project) and 3D (Marold’s panorama). He is an afficionado of Karel Zeman films. He explores the creation of space illusions and the connection of physical and virtual worlds. He is the creator of video-sculptures (since 1987), videotapes and „video-poems“ (1994-1991). He later worked on projects using navigational systesm and telecommunications technologies, specifically those addressing the crossing of borders and connecting various parts of the world. He gets his inspiration from Jewish history and philosophy. He often uses basic Jewish symbols and draws inspiration from Jewish historical legends, which he once again makes relevant by using current technologies.

In 1968 he and his brother emigrated with his parents to Düsseldorf. After briefly studying medicine, he was accepted in 1984 to the Düsseldorf Academy, where he first studied photography under the tutelage of Bernd Becher (his fellow students included Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, and Thomas Ruth). After a year he began to study under the „father of video-art“ Nam June Paik. In the late 1970s / early 1980s he lived mainly in the USA, where he devoted his time to photography. After his studies he worked shortly as Paik’s assistant. In fact, it was Paik, who influenced his „sculptors“ version of video-art. His early works were also influenced by the video-installation Nude Descending a Staircase (Akt sestupující po schodech) by Shigeko Kubota. Joseph Beuys, who founded the Freie Internationale Universität (FIU) as an alternative to the academic structure, also inspired the artist’s open approach to media.

Bielický is the creator of experimental video-documentaries on Nam June Paik and on Vilém Flusser (Paik, 1986, Vilém Flussers Fluss, 1994), of a video installation on Joseph Beuys called Die Fettecke, 1987, of video-sculptures (among others Menora, 1987, Der Name, 1990), a virtual tele-performance Exodus (1995), or the installation Tento rok v Jeruzalémě (This Year in Jerusalem), which in 2006 connected Prague and Jerusalem in real time. The internet installation, Falling Times, transforming real-time news headlines into the form of generally-understandable pictograms, came about as the collective work of internet users.

In 1991 he accepted an offer to build the New Media School at the Prague School of Art (AVU). He led this school until 2007. At present he serves as professor of media art at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Germany’s Karlsruhe.

Bielicky (text Michaela Hájková), výstavní katalog, Praha : Židovské muzeum v Praze, 2005

K. Gerbel – P. Weibel (ed.), Intelligenge Ambiente. Ars electronica 94, Linz 1994

K. Gerber-P. Weibel (ed.), Endo und Nano. Ars electronica 92, Linz 1992

Moving image, electronic art (výst. Katalog). Fundacio Joan Miró, Barcelona 1992

K. Nicodemus, Flimmernde Kupfe, Tip 1993, č. 12

D. Golloway, M. B. Artnews, N.Y.C., duben 1991