Kumu Documentary: György Kepes: Interthinking Art + Science
Dir Márton Orosz
Hungary and Canada 2023, 98 min
In English, with English subtitles
Introduction by artist and art critic Raivo Kelomees
The compelling story of György Kepes, the “Father of Media Art,” which poses a thought-provoking question: “Can technology itself serve as the solution to the problems it creates?”
The Hungarian artist György Kepes (1906‒2001) is well-known for his explorations of the interconnectedness of art and science, nature and technology. As an artist, photographer, painter, film-maker, graphic designer, environmental artist, educator, thinker, architect and creator, he embraced mid-20th modernity and technology, while recognising the fundamental expressiveness of forms found in the natural world. He is known as a fundamental pioneer of multimedia art. Kepes was among the first to introduce the term “visual culture” as an independent research subject in a contemporary context, and in 1944 he wrote The Language of Vision, one of the most influential art books of its time.
Kepes was a member of the European Bauhaus before moving to Chicago, upon the invitation of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, to teach at the New Bauhaus, where he created the Light Workshop in 1937, and in 1967 he was a founding director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kepes aimed to bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences.
Gallery
