Miroslaw Rogala

Miroslaw Rogala
Born 27 March 1954
Poland
Occupation Artist

Mirosław Rogala (born 1954, in Poland) is a Polish-born American video artist and interactive artist.

He is known for performances and installations that challenge the audience/user's perceptual control and that lead into a dialogue about the nature of art and existence. Dr. Miroslaw Rogala works in a broad range of media of an experimental and transformative nature. Primarily his work has been interactive installations consisting of multi-layered, multi-channeled video displays that invite the viewer to transform the space themselves. Through several transformative systems that entail grids of sound, space, movement, light, and image, he creates a new conception of environment. He considers the closing gap between nature and urban life through the advent of new technologies, and finds a harmony in which the two interact and evolve into a cohesive new system that reflects our changing world.

His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) at Karlsruhe, Germany, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland, and the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. He has collaborated frequently with the (art)n Laboratory in Chicago.

Rogala has taught at several art universities, including the Pratt Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Columbia College, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a PhD in CAiiA-STAR Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts, University of Wales, Newport in 2000 (now known as the Planetary Collegium). He is currently a Professor and Director at Knowledge Systems Institute in Skokie, Illinois.

Collaborations

Rogala has worked with a wide array of contemporary artists, such as Carolee Schneeman, Ed Paschke, Raymond Salvatore Harmon, Zhou brothers, Michael Iber, Lee Wells, Ken Nordine, Jennifer Guo, Urszula Dudziak, Werner Herterich, among many others.

Education

Artist's Statement

A central concept of my art work is 'freedom of speech.' My understanding of freedom and democracy concerns not only "rights" and "privileges" – the traditional definition in the USA – but also responsibilities.

Interactive Media give audiences the “right” to work on the content and even on the form of the work; it also entails, in the shift of emphasis from artist to (v)user*, a shift of responsibility for the work. The participant's interactions therefore become integral to the work to the extent that the (v)user takes up that responsibility, chooses the amount of time and involvement each cares to give, and is rewarded accordingly. In this way creativity can be shared, and is integral to the work, but only when the (v)users learn, not just the interface mechanisms, but the principles of democratic responsibility for their actions as well.

This extends, in my most recent work, to have responsibility for the mutuality of social interactions, both with others in the same geographical space and now with (v)users linked via computer-mediated communication networks in remote locations. The intent of my works has grown from the individual’s responsibility for his/her experience to the social construction of the work by multiple (v)users – a more complex model of democratic artistic experience – and finally towards the practical construction of a utopian network, in which the possibilities and demands of global media democracy can be explored.

▪ (V)User is a term introduced by Miroslaw Rogala in early 1998 to discuss participants who are both viewers and users in the interaction with the artwork and between themselves.

Awards

(Selected)

Works

Some of his best known works include:

▪ Pulso-Funktory (1975-1979)

▪ Polish Dance (1980)

▪ Polish-Japanese Tape (1980) (with Shigeko Kubota)

▪ Laser Photography Projection Series (1980-1995)

▪ Questions To Another Nation (1983-1985)

▪ Remote Faces: Outerpretation (1986)

▪ MacBeth:The Witches Scenes (1988)

▪ Nature Is Leaving Us (1989)

▪ Instructions Per Second (1994) (a collaboration with Carolee Schneemann)

▪ Zhou Brothers: The New Wisdom of Energy (1994)

▪ Lovers Leap (1995)

▪ Edge Mode (1996) (collaboration with the Mordine Dance Co)

▪ Electronic Garden/Naturealization (1996)

▪ Divided We Stand (1997)

▪ PHSColograms (1997-2006) (a collaboration with ARTn)

▪ Divided We Sing (1999)

▪ Transformed City Series (2000–2011)

▪ Transformed Landscape Series (2000-2011)

▪ Divided We See (2001)

▪ Artificial Intelligence: A Tribute to Ed Paschke on YouTube (2005) (a collaboration with Ed Paschke and Ken Nordine)

▪ Transformed Garden Series (2005-2011)

▪ We Stand in Motion (2008)

▪ DEL+ALT+CTRL (2008 - in progress)

▪ Birds and Helicopters (2010 - in progress)

Rogala's first art work to receive widespread acclaim was his Pulso-Funktory, an interactive mixed media installation created between 1975 and 1979 that contained interactive components. An assemblage of six panels with neon lights and musical sound effects, it allows for up to six viewers at a time to interact with it by specifying an "off" or "on" setting. Many of Rogala's works have involved live performances. Macbeth: The Witches Scenes was part of a production of Macbeth directed by Byrne Piven in November and December 1988 at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, Illinois. Nature Is Leaving Us was a "video opera" performed at the Goodman Theater in Chicago in October 1989. It involved three 6-foot by 8-foot video walls, with a total of 48 monitors, presented in conjunction with performances by actors, musicians, and dancers.

Rogala has also been preoccupied with interactive media. In 1994-95, he received a residency from the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, in Karlsruhe, Germany. The culmination was an installation entitled Lovers Leap. Lovers Leap used two screens facing one another. The viewer's movement within the space triggered the images to change. Rogala's photographic component was of a street in Chicago that would, if the viewer provided the right conditions, jump or "leap" to footage shot in Jamaica. The piece was first exhibited at the [1] in Karlsruhe 1995.

In 1996, Rogala produced Electronic Garden/NatuRealization, sometimes known as eGarden, an interactive sound installation produced for Sculpture Chicago ’96. The work was placed in the center of Washington Square Park in Chicago, a site with historic significance as a place where soap box speakers of the early to mid-twentieth century would expound on and debate the issues of the day. By moving through a gazebo-like structure, the listener would trigger the playing of recordings of the words of both historic and contemporary speakers associated with the area. Between one and four recordings might play at a time, but they would be heard only if a visitor moved through the space.

For much of the first decade of the twenty-first century, Rogala has been involved with several series of artworks for which he has manipulated photographs using Mind's-Eye-View computer software developed by Ford Oxaal. The Transformed City series works with pictures taken in cities such as Kraków or Istanbul. The Transformed Garden series presents still lifes of fruits and vegetables fragmented into unstable, dynamic compositions. Works from the latter series was published in late 2009 in a book entitled Transformed Garden.

Video Works

POLISH DANCE '80, 1980, 2 minutes, Stereo, B/W; Sleeve Design: John Boesche. Package and contents, copyright 1988, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Video Data Bank, ArtCom, Facets Multimedia. Digital Remastering of individual works to DVD, 2008.

FOUR SELECTED VIDEO WORKS: MIROSLAW ROGALA 1980-1986; 40 minutes, Hi-Fi Stereo, Color. Selections include: REMOTE FACES: OUTERPRETATION, 1986, 12 minutes, Stereo, Color;

QUESTIONS TO ANOTHER NATION, 1985, 16 minutes, Stereo, Color;

LOVE AMONG MACHINES, 1986, 9 minutes, Stereo, Color.

NATURE IS LEAVING US Video Opera, 40 minutes, Hi-Fi Stereo, Color. Original music by Miroslaw Rogala. Vocals and improvisations by Urszula Dudziak. Dance: Amy Osgood and Lisa Howren. Performance by Lynn Book and Werner Herterich. Sound design and arrangements by Lucien Vector and Richard Woodbury. Poetry and text by Miroslaw Rogala. Contains original and documentation material from premiere performance of the Video Opera, NATURE IS LEAVING US, 1987. Sleeve Design: John Boesche. Package and contents, copyright 1988, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Video Data Bank, ArtCom, Facets Multimedia.

MACBETH : THE WITCHES SCENES Videotape. 17:38 minutes, Stereo, Color, Black and White. Original music by Miroslaw Rogala. Sound Design and Arrangements by Lucien Czyzewski Vector. Witches performed by Gloria Bond-Clunie, Amy Galper, Maya Friedler. Macbeth performed by Byrne Piven. Apparitions Voice by Larry Moran. Videotape produced in cooperation with The Piven Theater and Optimus, Inc., Chicago. Part of a live theater work "Macbeth", written by William Shakespeare, directed by Byrne Piven. Premiere performance by The Piven Theater, November 4, 1988, at Noyes Cultural Center, Evanston, Illinois, USA. Sleeve Design: Mary Johnson. Package and contents, copyright 1993, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Video Data Bank, ArtCom, Facets Multimedia. Digitally Remastered, 2008.

NATURE IS LEAVING US Video Theatre, 26:40 minutes, Hi-Fi Stereo, Color. A single channel adaptation. Original music, poetry, and text by Miroslaw Rogala. Vocals and improvisations by Urszula Dudziak. Dance: Amy Osgood, Mary Ward, and Brian Jeffrey. Performance by Lynn Book and Werner Herterich. Sound design and arrangements by Lucien Vector and Richard Woodbury. Contains original and documentation material from large-scale premiere performance of the Video Theatre work, NATURE IS LEAVING US, 1989. Sleeve Design: John Boesche. Package and contents, copyright 1994, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Video Data Bank, ArtCom, Facets Multimedia. Digitally Remastered, 2010.

NATURE IS LEAVING US Video Theatre, 60 minutes, Hi-Fi Stereo, Color. Original music, poetry, and text by Miroslaw Rogala. Vocals and improvisations by Urszula Dudziak. Dance: Amy Osgood, Mary Ward, and Brian Jeffrey. Performance by Lynn Book and Werner Herterich. Sound design and arrangements by Lucien Vector and Richard Woodbury. Contains original and documentation material from large-scale premiere performance of the Video Theatre work, NATURE IS LEAVING US, 1989. Sleeve Design: John Boesche. Package and contents, copyright 1993, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Video Data Bank, ArtCom, Facets Multimedia.

ZHOU BROTHERS: THE NEW WISDOM OF ENERGY 12: 10 minutes, Stereo, B/W and Color, in collaboration with painters Zhou Brothers. Produced by Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago, Nahan Gallery, New York and Viertel Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany. Copyright 1994, Miroslaw Rogala and Zhou Brothers. Distribution: Oskar Friedl Gallery. Digitally Remastered, 2010.

INSTRUCTIONS PER SECOND: CHAPTER ONE 10:15 minutes, color, stereo, in collaboration with installation, performance artist Carolee Schneemann. Sound design by Lucien Vector. Package and contents, copyright, 1994–95, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation Inc. Digitally Remastered, 2010.

LOVERS LEAP 7:00 minutes, color, B/W, stereo, contains documentation of Multimediale 5 interactive media installation and premiere in Karlsruhe, Germany. Includes interviews with John Sturgeon, Jeffrey Shaw, and Eddie Shanken. Package and Contents: copyright, 1996, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

ELECTRONIC GARDEN/ NATUREALZATION 9:00 minutes, color, B/W, contains documentation of site-specific free speech sound installation at Washington Square Park, Chicago, Illinois, and includes interviews by National Public Radio (1996). Package and Contents: copyright, 1996, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

DIVIDED WE SING 5:50 minutes, color, B/W contains documentation of audience (V)User interactive sound installation, commissioned by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the Digital Traces: Navigating Interactive Domains Exhibition. Package and Contents: copyright, 1999, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

TRANSFORMED GARDEN: 16:50 minutes, color, B/W. Original Music by Marek Balata. Package and Contents: copyright, 2000, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A collaborative multimedia with Ed Paschke, Ken Nordine, 20 minutes; 2004: Package and Contents: copyright, 1992-2004, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A TRIBUTE TO ED PASCHKE: A collaborative multimedia with Ed Paschke, Ken Nordine, 5:30 minutes; 2005; Package and Contents: copyright, 2005, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

WE STAND IN MOTION: 5:50 minutes, color, B/W. Hi-Definition. Original Poetry by Miroslaw Rogala Package and Contents: copyright, 2008, Miroslaw Rogala. Distribution: Outerpretation, Inc.

In The Media

2004: "Digitat Currents: Art in the Electronic Age" by Margrot Lovejoy, Rutledge Press, London, England pp. 128, 199-200. Also, on the web: www.digitalcurrents.com Digital Art Museum/DAM, Berlin, Germany, Catalogue gallery exhibition (with ARTn; virtual photography/PSCHolograms)

2005 : “Dotykajac dzwiekow i slow/ Touching sounds and words”; an interview with Miroslaw Rogala by Agnieszka Flakus, Magazyn Plus, Chicago, June 2005, the Cover Illustration and pp. 54–58 “Closed Circuit” by Slavko Kacunko, Logos Verlag Berlin, Germany (with DVD) “Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age” by Margot Lovejoy, Rutledge Press, London, England, pp. 128, 199-200. Also on the web: www.digitalcurrents.com “Mistrzowie polskiego malarstwa wspolczesnego” (Master of Polish Contemporary Painting), Dziennik Zwiazkowy, Polish Daily News, Kultura I Rozrywka, October 15, pp. 1 and 5 Nowy Dziennik/ Polish Daily, Przeglad Polski, NYC, Arts/ Sztuki Plastyczne by Czeslaw Karkowski, p. 5 “Framing the Digital-Image: Embodiment and the New Media Aesthetic” by Mark B. N. Hansen, MIT Press Digital Art Museum/ DAM, Berlin, Germany, Catalogue gallery exhibition (with ARTn; virtual photography/ PSCHolograms)

2007: “From Technological to Virtual Art” by Frank Popper, MIT Press, Boston

2009: “Art and Electronic Media” by Edward Shanken, Phaidon Press, England DVD and Book Publication: “Ukryta dekada . Polska sztuka wideo 85-95”. (Hidden Decade. Polish Video Art 1985-1995; includes Miroslaw Rogala’s 1983 -85 Questions To Another Nation) Transformed Garden: ArtWords by Miroslaw Rogala and Jim Rohn, Vitalidex Pres, Chicago "Technoetic Arts" edited by Roy Ascott, The Planetary Collegium. "Art and Electronic Media" by Edward Shanken Phaidon Press, England "Interactive Media Arts" (Interaktywne media sztuki) Edited by Antoni Porczak. Published by the Academy of Fine Arts, Kraków, Poland. Includes an essay by Miroslow Rogala: "The Virtual and the Vivid: Re-framing the Issue in Interactive Arts" .pp. 125–142

2010: “HyperAnimation: Digital Images and Virtual Worlds” by Robert Russett, John Libbey and Company, London, England Includes an Interview with Miroslow Rogala, pp. 135–139, 161-169

‘The virtual and the vivid: Reframing the issues in interactive arts’, Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 8: 3, pp. 299–309, doi: 10.1386/tear.8.3.299_1

2011: “Photography Theory in Historical Perspective” by Helen Westgeest and Hilde Van Gelder, Blackwell Publishing Interactive Media Arts; Academy of Fine Arts, Kraków "Photography Theory in Historic, Portal Perspective" by Hilde Van Gelder and Helen Westgeest, Blackwell Publishing, England and Singapore

2013: "Artists Reclaim the Commons: New Works/New Territories/New Publics ( Perspectives on Contemporary Sculpture)" Edited by Glenn Harper and Twylene Moyer, University of Washington Press, Washington.

Miroslaw Rogala: "The Breath of an Image" : Exhibition Catalogue. Essay by Krzysztof Buczkowski, Alicja Wasilewska, Miroslow Rogala, Michael Brzezinski, Ryszard Kluszczynski, Andrzej Strumillo, Lucyna Mielczarek Plock, Poland: Centre for Contemporary Art. Art. Includes an Artist Statement by Miroslaw Rogala: pp. 12–13

Recent News

Miroslaw Rogala is the newest recipient of The Helen Cobrun Meier and Time Meier Arts Achievement Award (2010) "The Meier Achievement Award provides a cash award to Chicago-area artists in music, theater, visual arts, literature, and dance who are in mid-career and have demonstrated both talent and persistence in pursuing their craft" The Meier Foundation He is also preparing an exhibition for a ten-year retrospective in Poland in April.

References

  1. ↑ MultiMediale 4: das Medienkunstfestival des ZKM Karlsruhe, 13.-21. Mai 1995.

Voedisch, Lynn. "With 'Nature' artist creates a new electronic landscape." Chicago Sun-Times, 8 October 1989.

Christiansen, Richard. "Video Opera Stars 48 TV Sets." Chicago Tribune, 19 October 1989, Sec. 5, p. 7.

Druckrey, Timothy. "Lovers Leap." Artintact 2. Karlsruhe: Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, 1995.

Alben, Lauralee. “At the Heart of Interactive Design.” The Design Management Journal (Summer 1997), 9-26. Also available at http://www.albenfaris.com/downloads/pdf/heart_of_interaction.pdf.

Lellis, George. "Miroslaw Rogala's Zhou Brothers. Journal of Film and Video 50.4 (Winter 1998-99), 49-56.

Russett, Robert. Hyperanimation: Digital Images and Virtual Worlds. (London: John Libbey, 2009)

Shanken, Edward A. Art and Electronic Media (Themes & Movements) (London: Phaidon, 2009)

Mark B. N. Hansen. "Seeing with the Body: The Digital Image in Postphotography." Diacritics 31:4, 54-82.

Westerbeck, Colin. "A New Generation from SAIC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago." "Artforum", (December 1986), 120.

External links