The Studio of Word, Sound, Movement of the Janáček Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Brno, Czechoslovakia

Leonardo,Vol. 5, pp. 333-335. Pergamon Press 1972. Printed in GreatBritain THE STUDIO OF WORD, SOUND, ACADEMY OF MUSIC AND DRAMATIC ART, BRNO, CZECHOSLOVAKIA MOVEMENT OF THE J A N A ~ E K Bedtich Jiihk$* If we conceive modernity in art as the artist’s creative ambition to resound in a new way to new reality, then it is the space and time of the stage that is a suitable complex medium for this purpose and that, at the same time, is an effective means for an anthropological-social response. The stage synthesizes , in the specific manner of its poly-dimensional , audio-visual activity and its immediacy of space-time impact on people, almost all of the authenticity and of the conventions of the creative arts. With the theatre’s instinctively cleancut and wisefeelingforcraftsmanship,it is a unique example not only of the very effective co-existence of the variety of artistic materials and methods and of relevant contemporary technology but also of their fertile interaction. The arts, with their deep roots in emotion and intuition, are a profoundly organic, inalienable component of the organization of this world. They are governed by the same laws of material, kind, system and behavior, structure, sign and function, communication and so forth. Just as in the natural sciences and in aesthetics, so too in artistic activity the centre of gravity is shifting to an engineering approach. It is shifting from the classical Archimedian sphere of energy and mechanics to the nonclassical and more effective Pascalian sphere of information and communication. Contemporary life has been moulded in a revolutionary way by science and technology. Cognition and action, particularly as regards the creativity of the artist, are strikingly carried on now as intellectual abstractions of life and of the universe. It is natural, therefore , that the processes of artistic creation, of the * Research worker and theoretician of the theatre, living at JanouSkova 3, Brno 14, Czechoslovakia. (Received 15 February 1972.) interpretation of the works of artists and of the perceptions and reactions to art by consumers are receivinggreat attention. The idea of the Studio is beginning to be realized at the JaniEek Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Brno, Czechoslovakia [I]. As a College of Arts, the Academy covers both practical and theoretical aspects of these arts, with special emphasis on the complexitiesof the processes of creativity and perception. In the relationships of both artistic and scientificprocesses, certain categories are dominant, such as work with word, sound and tone, with movement, with visual art elements, work with the body, the voice, musical instruments, technical apparatus and material. Associations, such as Lmun: voice-instrument-apparatus-material’, ‘body: word-movement-sound-visual art element’ and ‘action: control-self-control-inner discipline’ are making themselves felt, all capable of objective observation, fixation and reproduction. Analytic as well as synthetic cognition on a technical, physiological and psychological experimental basis here opens up entirely new and unexpected possibilities of creative work with artistic expression and material, with the ‘reason’ of its technique. Interdisciplinary co-operation is being put into practice by means of teamwork on the part of theoreticians, artists and technicians. It seeks its greatest measure of support from a complex audiovisual technique-sound and image recording and reproduction, sound and image production, stage and lighting equipment, and optico-acoustic apparatus equipment for research and experiment. This technique, applied to the methodological, pedagogical and artistic process on the scale of the whole Academy, is intended at the same time to further research activitywith priority inthe fieldof stageand platform interpretation and/or authorial art, which 333 334 Bediich JiEinsklj in this country has scarcely been touched by research. The Studio, being incorporated into the existing college building, consists of a number of specially designed and equipped rooms arranged on two internal floors(Figs. 1and 2). For stage productions, there will be available an adaptable hall space with a specially constructed stage and basic scenic equipment (Figs. 3 and 4). This will permit television production, cinematograph production of the ‘polyecran’ and ‘polyvision’ type, production of radio sound and of experimental music, either individually, in isolation or in any combination. In addition to these, there will be variable acoustic conditions...