Budapest bauhaus lab presents the polyfilm modulator

23 August 2009, 20.00–22.00
Budapest Kunsthalle, exhibition space

The Bauhaus, which had probably the most far-reaching influence of all 20th-century schools of art, was founded ninety years ago. To celebrate the anniversary, the cultural directorate of the city of Weimar initiated the bauhaus lab network, a cooperation of five European institutions which was to complement the events of the 2009 Bauhaus year and which was supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union. The non-localized network was to produce new artistic projects, as well as to initiate and coordinate research and events: contemporary art in this framework was to be considered a basis, a method or a technique for possible interdisciplinary cooperation practices, thereby paying tribute to the ideals of the historical Bauhaus.

The artistic research that C3 coordinates in Budapest is one among several different, self-sufficient but contacting projects, with László Moholy-Nagy’s relationship to film as its point of departure. The programme kicked off with workshops jointly organized with the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Art, chaired by Ivan Ladislav Galeta, Dóra Maurer, Hans D. Christ, Tanja Siems & Theo Lorenz (AA London – bauhaus lab) and Jan Brüggemeier (Crash!Boom!Bau! Festival).

It was from the discourse of artists participating at the Budapest workshops that the idea arose of a device that can not only project motion pictures but can simultaneously move the projections. Since the simultaneous or polyfilm idea that Moholy-Nagy discusses in his well-known Painting, photography, film features the synchronous projection of three films, we chose to build a version with three projectors, and gave it a name that refers to Moholy-Nagy’s classic Light-space modulator(Lichtrequisit, Light Prop). The polyfilm modulator is the result of genuine interdisciplinary work, and proves that real coop­eration is possible between artists, engineers, programmers and theoreticians, though specialization seems even more entrenched today than at the time of Moholy-Nagy.

The premiere in Budapest Kunsthalle also features the first films made. Three films will be shown at the same time, using projectors that can be turned by 180 degrees horizontally, and 45 degrees vertically, performing any movement within these limits. More than a device, the polyfilm modulator can be considered an “open work” that enables anyone who can handle the simple program to make and present a simultaneous (poly)film of their own.

Résztvev?k:
Gábor Áfrány*, Miklós Bölcskey, Edina Cecília Horváth, k27 group, Ádám Lendvai*, Katarina Ševi?, Beatrix Szörényi, Szabolcs Tóth-Zs.*

Concept and coordination: Miklós Peternák, Éva Kozma, Evelin Páll, Dóra Maurer

Engineering: Tibor Meszes, custom machine designer

Motor controller (CNC): PLEXIPI Prototyping GmbH

Videostream synchronization: Tamás Maurer, programmer

*the authors of the films presented