Michael Bielicky (Perpetuum mobile)

The German-Czech artist Michael Bielicky (b. Prague, 1954; lives and works in Karlsruhe) has been an innovator in the fields of photography, video, and web-based installation art for over four decades. In an ongoing dialogue with emerging technological developments, his works probe the history of his media from the deepest strata to the magical mathematical practices of the medieval Cabalists: idiosyncratic hybrids that straddle the boundary between the analog and digital worlds. Operating on the interfaces between real and virtual spaces, his media art prompts a critical reflection on the nature of technology, its material and immaterial significations, and the ways in which it informs our perceptions and actions. The book Perpetuum mobile is the first to offer a comprehensive survey of Bielicky’ s rich and diverse oeuvre. The layout, designed by the artist himself, integrates the experimental images into a graphic “ stream of consciousness.” With essays by Mel Alexenberg, Jorge Ferná ndez Torres, Norman M. Klein, Bettina Korintenberg, Peter Sloterdijk, Peter Weibel, and Siegfried Zielinski.