Heið­urs­gesta­spjall: Steina & Woody Vasulka

Steina Vasulka (born Steinunn Briem Bjarnadottir 1940) and Woody Vasulka (born Bohuslav Vasulka 1937) are early pioneers of video art. The couple met in 1960 in Prague in Czechoslovakia where Steina was studying the classical violin at Prague Conservatory and Woody was studying filmmaking at FAMU. 

In 1965 they moved to New York and soon became part of the NY art scene and eventually established the Kitchen in 1971. The Vasulkas started experimenting with the brand portable video camera and recorder. The work that the Vasulka's presented at the Kitchen´s original Greenwich Village location was: “A range of live documentary and experimental videos, live video performances, live video processing, media installations, and experiments in perception.” Many prominent artist of the time rallied around the Kitchen, to name just a few and key collaborators are Andy Mannik, Rhys Chatham and Shridhar Bapat, Andy Warhol, Philip Glass, Joan Jonas, Nancy Holt, Vito Acconci, Mary Lucier, Dara Birnbaum, Bill Viola, Gary Hill and Laurie Anderson.

Steina and Woody’s work have been exhibited at the most prominent museums, galleries and film festivals around the world. The couple moved to Santa Fe New Mexico in 1980 where they still live and work.