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Is Slovakia The Next New Media Epicenter?

Get to know Kosice, the small city in Eastern Europe that has its eyes on the future of art

Kunsthall, Kosice. Kosice, Slovakia, may not be the first city which springs to mind for new media (in fact it was Andy Warhol, with Slovakian roots, who said "I come from nowhere"). But this steel-pumping city-–near the village where Warhol’s parents are from--is quickly becoming a hotspot for new media.

Since undergoing a cultural transformation with the help of the European Capital of Culture, the city has built an art complex on a military base and a contemporary art museum out of a public swimming pool.

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That, along with some local (and clever) new media artists, is beginning to draw international buzz to the Eastern European hub, as well as other European cities like Cluj in Romania. According to a spokesperson at Kosice 2013, the city is applying to be the ‘city of new media art’ as part of the Creative Cities Network with UNESCO for 2019.

Now that the government-funded art blitz has helped put Kosice on the map, the challenge is to keep the momentum going. Aside from the annual regulars-–like the Bazzart Design and Fashion Week, the Use the City Festival, and the Street Art Communication Festival-–the SPOTs community-building program for suburban culture is hosting their first festival next year.

But what about new media? Instead of looking back, Kosice is looking forward with a 2020 creative economy master plan which, in true Warholian spirit, feels like art world takeover.

Until Kosice becomes the next Berlin, DIG Gallery is the city’s first digital art gallery which opened last year. Co-founded by new media champions Richard Kitta and Michal Murin, among others, they promote science-meets-contemporary art initiatives, including new eco-media workshops and New Poetry Forms exhibitions. Givan Bela, a member of the Alotof collective, recently gave a lecture and workshop on solar-powered musical instruments - including amps - alongside contributors Jonas Gruska, Peter Gonda and Kubriel Pisek.

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Aside from the city’s long history with visiting faculty artists (Moholy-Nagy was among them), many of the local new media artists stem from the Department of Visual Arts and Intermedia at the Faculty of Arts TU Košice.

The program was founded by Juraj Bartusz, a pioneer of Slovakian computer art from the 1970s, whose sculptures are made from computer drawings with boundary curves generated by an HP. Among the all-star alumni includes former professor Boris Vaitovic, known for his interactive video sandpit. Kosice also saw the Urban Art collective (Anne Peschken and Marek Pisarsky) make a book called Satellite Lives at the KAIR (Kosice Artist in Residence), which adds insight into the city’s cultural fabric.

Among the new venues popping up in Kosice, the Kunsthalle is a must-see for contemporary art and new media, having just wrapped up a group show featuring Damien Hirst and the Champman Brothers for British Express. Built from literally a swimming pool which closed in the 1980s, another highlight was the Triennial of Contemporary Art this September.

Image from the Triennial Of Contemporary Art at Kunsthalle

The Kasarne Kulturpark is home to a striking set of 15 white buildings, each hosting art exhibitions, event venues, meeting rooms, and a library set in the city’s former barracks. A recent show had the photos of French photographer Antoine D’Agata on display, sharing the stories of refugees through video, photo, and audio storytelling.

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Meanwhile downtown: if you can make it up to the third floor of an obscure apartment building the Make Up Gallery is worth the adventure. The gallery shows, among other things, inter-media arts and video art. Directed by Radovan Cerevka, an artist with the shit-disturbing spirit of the Kassaboys collective, Make Up recently showed digital prints by Travis Egedy (better known as Pictureplane, who has remixed Ryan Trecartin), as well as world-renowned Beninese sculptor Georges Adeagbo.

The Kosice new media artist Jakub Pisek, known for soundbombing grocery stores with Barcode DJs (watch above), also has a multi-media project called Hallogenerator, which is a party karaoke robot from the future.

He keeps it real and remains hopeful when thinking about the future of Kosice. “People from the 'scene' are collaborating with foreign artists, visiting international events, they are known somehow,” said Pisek. “As long as these people are here--and hopefully some new ones appear--the new media scene will survive.”

An image from Jakub Pisek's Hallogenerator

Follow Nadja on Twitter at @nadjasayej