Orbis Fictus – New Media in Contemporary Art
30. 11. 1995 – 1. 1. 1996
exhibition place: National Gallery in Prague, Wallenstein Riding School
curators: Ludvík Hlaváček, Marta Smolíková

exhibiting artists: Lubor Benda, Veronika Bromová, David Cajthaml, Lubomír Čermák, David Černý, Federico Díaz, Vojtěch Dukát, Friedrich Forster, Michal Gabriel, Milan Guštar, Martin Janíček, Monika Karasová, Pavel Kopřiva, Tomáš Mašín, Robert Novák, Elen Řádová, Tomáš Ruller, Šárka Sedláčková, Lucie Svobodová, Zdenek Sýkora, Silver, Jan Trnka, Janka Vidová-Žáčková, Tjebbe van Tijen, Miloš Vojtěchovský

„Orbis Fictus“ was the first exhibition in the Czech Republic dedicated to new media. The exhibition took place in a prominent exhibition hall in Prague and presented 24 art projects, which used new technologies to elaborate motifs presented by life in our society, where mass communication media (TV, the Internet) has become an important and powerful subject. These projects included video and computer installations, virtual space, laser and computer-manipulated images. The interactive charakter, stimulating communication between the artist and the viewer, was an important feature of the majority of these works. An international conference, „Artificial Environment as an Artwork“, at the Goethe Institute, Prague, followed the exhibition. Ellen Řádová was awarded the Soros Fund Prize for her installation entitled „Reconciliation“, and she received a two-month residency stipend at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, USA. Part of the exhibition traveled to the towns Polička and Liberec in the Czech Republic. 

Advisory Board
Michael Bielický, Keiko Sei, Woody Vasulka

Exhibition Partners
Open Society Fund Prague, ČNTS, s.r.o. – TV Nova, National Gallery, Prague, Exploratorium, San Francisco, USA, Goethe Institut in Prague, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Open Society Cultural Link Program, City Gallery, Polička, Northern Bohemian Museum, Liberec