Tomáš Dvořák

Project Proposal Tomáš Dvořák / floex

I would like to work on the development of the content of my current project “RGB interactive” using the locations as the sound source.

RGB interactive is concept of an interactive concert.

Basic idea is that people can participate an co-create music on the live performance in real time using colour lights emiting 3 basic colours of the light spectrum.

links:
http://www.e-mental.com/floex/english/txt_bio.html

http://www.e-mental.com/floex/english/home.html

Tomáš Dvořák : My visit of Austria in MQ


My visit in Vienna in Decembre 2003 via Museum Quartier Artist Residency Award was very important point in my "artistic life". While some aspects could be generalised some of them are rather personal.  I hope this short summary will be inspiring for the continuation of the  support of the other artists.

For me, one of the most important points in any visit of the other country is that your kind of "scale of the culturala values" is suddenly confronted with some other context.  This is very important, your works are created and determined by values which you either activelly or unwittingly create on your own in the reaction of the environment you live in. This is the way how you try to judge your and others work how you try to form your creativity. Suddenly some of the qualities you find important are just noniteresting and the oposite. Coming from outside this lets you start thinking different.

Visit of the Vienna was very inspiring by many inputs I got when I was in MQ.  As an artist who tries to balance between art and musical context I also tried to focus on this scene in Vienna.  This was intreresting to think for me about Prague and Vienna context also from the historical point of the view. When you come to Vienna feeling of the city seems to be quite similar to Prague, on the first look. The same proportion of the city, approximateelly the same ammonut of people live in, the long history we had together. There are aspects which are just different, this let me think why, and of course I should especially talk about art. For example musical scene in Prague  is I dare to say currently very developed. We have certain personalities who music goes beyond our boundaries. 

On the other hand situation of the experimental electronic music is no so good. My feeling is people just don't seem to take this seriously yet, there is also strict barrier between music and art, people just get used to take these things in different way- this is art, this is music.. Also scene has almost no contact with the musical scene from Austria or Germany, the Prague scene is much more oriented to Britain scene, as It is taken as mecca of the electronic music.  Also from the point of the Vienna scene  - no interest in Prague, this is also I think very shame. I also think only personal contact, more intensive fluctuation between cities can change it.

If you would ask why is Prague scene like this?  This is my point of the view: We don't look so much into our history reacting to our own subjects because our past subjects are in a way useless for the present. Altought I used to  be against the idea of pointing everything bad in society to the past presence of the communism - in this case I would say, yes this may be  the deal.  Of course there are also for example economical aspects which is nowadays almost  mimimalised, but the main reason is that I think that after velvet revolution artistic scene was put into totally different context.  Besides other things this meant that art lost its histroical tradition  which could react to- if we look on the art as language which develops, this language become just ruptured.

There was history but it didn't have its relevancy for the present time. This is why I think we need to look so much outside. So if I take feeling of the Vienna - my feeling was that eg. the experimental music is taken kind of much seriously than in Prague. Reason might be probably because of the strong position of the visual art which had direct impact on the development of the experimental music  (as eg. conceptual music). In Prague as I said the situation of the electronic music is that it is much more oriented to Britain with all positive or negative aspects it could have: music is more stylically defined, music of the official electronic scene directly communicates with media and also there is very small scene of the contemporary electronical experimental music.

The point in this situation is that  I really believe the fluctuation of the artist between the cities could bring a new culture flows not only to Prague but also to Vienna.
For example if I should take my personal experience. Due to MQ residency I got in touch with several people who due to this contact started communicate with Prague and oposite. One of the most important "contacts" was Transacoustic Resarch group  and also sound artist Peter Szely. The great thing was that they were very opened for the communication.  In the same time my friend Ales Cerny started organise and curate sessions of the experimental music under MUTEME label (beside others he did for example concert of the austrian musician Fennesz). This started to be first platform for the new wave of the experimental music with enjabment into new media context.  Due to my visit these people started cooperate with MUTEME label. One of the first result should be the first compilation of the experimental electronic music with the presence of people of the Austrian scene (should be released in Autumn) and also their concerts in Prague and hopefully czech concerts in Vienna. As for me personally I am very happy for the communication with Transacoustic Research group, I am especially happy for meeting with Ernsty and Nicolaus Gengsterer which I should cooperate on some future project here in Prague. 

Also my own project called RGB (interactive musical installlation) should be presented in Vienna due to my visit.

This is basically all I wanted to point out about my visit in Vienna and I hope the  residency programs are going to continue for the reasons I have already mentioned.