CYLAND is a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 by independent artists and curators. For over 15 years, CYLAND has been dedicated to supporting the production of and exhibiting New Media Art. We are promoting the emergence of new forms of art and high technology interactions, developing professional connections between artists, curators, engineers and programmers around the world and exposing wide audiences to the works in the field of robotics, video art, sound art and net art. Emerging or established, local or international — selected artists are provided with resources from technicians to
equipment and professional development.
Over the years, CYLAND has held the annual CYFEST, organizing and participating in various exhibition projects around the world, working on sound and video art archives.
«Probably, the simplest way to explain CYLAND is picturing it as the space where the science laboratory and the art studio merge together. It is here that the two sides (scientists, engineers, technicians — artists, art historians, curators) meet to share knowledge, carry out experiments, exhibit, teach, and talk to and with the public. At the end of the day, the two parts of this combination have a lot in common. After all, art and science are two difference approaches to the same end, understanding the way that the world we live in functions.» — Antonio Geusa, curator, art critic
The CYLAND Video Archive has been in operation since 2008. The archive’s basis was composed of video works of the artists who participated in CYFEST festivals that had been held by CYLAND MediaArtLab since 2007.
The video archive was conceived as a platform for networking and interaction of artists, computer programmers, videographers, engineers, art teachers and curators from various countries. Its main objectives are to become a vehicle for the exchange of professional information and to provide artists with an opportunity to promote their works. The collection of CYLAND MediaArtLab includes video art, experimental films, computer graphics, 3D animation, stop-motion animation, poetic video, video documentation of art and education projects in the field of cutting-edge technologies. Currently, the collection comprises over 400 videos by approximately 100 artists and art groups. Exhibitions and screenings of programs from CYLAND Video Archive have been held in Great Britain, France, Brazil, Turkey, America, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Eastern Europe.
CYLAND works with sound separately and as an element of artworks in various genres — installations, objects and performances. Starting from the first exhibition projects, the laboratory faced the challenge of presenting “pure” sound in exhibition venues along with other more “material” contemporary art works. Media players, directional sound sources, lounges for listening to works — the laboratory went through all of these stages in just over a decade.
At the same time, there was discussion about creating an archive for the classification and preservation of sound art. The result was the CYLAND Audio Archive (CAA), launched in 2013. The project is curated by Sergey Komarov.
Among the artists who have participated in the project are: Hans Tammen (USA), Kurvenschreiber (Russia), dropouT (Russia), Don Slepian (USA), Mark Hannesson (Canada), Quiet Zone (International), Laurie Spiegel (USA), Nick Edwards (UK), Dmitry ::vtol:: Morozov (Russia), Alex Pleninger (Russia), Peter Vogel (Germany), Art Electronix (Ukraine), Pete Um (UK), Jonáš Gruska (Slovakia), Yoshio Machida (Japan), Anthony Bisset (USA), Vasily Stepanov (Russia), Sashash Ulz (Russia), Georgy Bagdasarov (Earth), Max Kuiper (Austria), Thorsten Soltau (Germany), Akira Rabelais (USA), Todd Barton (USA), Zimoun (Switzerland), Alexey Grachev (Russia), ZOV (Olga Kokcharova, Gianluca Ruggeri; Switzerland), Bred Blondie (Russia), A. Nigh Herndon (USA–Mexico), Rumore Bianco (Italy), Esther & Nikolaj Søndergaard (Denmark), Nikita Bugaev (Russia), Glia (Jonathan Ntuk; USA), Ilya Belorukov (Russia), Elena Filatova (Russia), Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (India), Ruslan Usipov (Russia), Stas Shariffulin (Russia), Luke Lund (Finland), Roman Golovko (Russia), Nao Nishihara (Japan), Sam Conran (UK), Monica Vlad (Austria), Sergey Kostyrko (Russia), Makiko Yamamoto (Japan), Alan Margolis (USA).
Our mission is to create an archive of contemporary sound art as well as early experiments, and to exhibit sound along with other art forms.