Interview with interactive and multimedia artist Miroslaw Rogala.

- You are saying that art is about manifestation of Freedom. Do you feel that in any way you are being limited? If so how?
Miroslaw Rogala: The main concept of my work is "freedom of speech". My idea of "freedom" and "democracy" is that they are not simply about "rights" and "privileges"- traditionally known in the USA- but also about responsibility.
Interactive Media gives the audience "right" to integrate not only with the content, but also with form of the artwork. In consequence, the attention is on the user rather than on the artist himself, the relation between them changes and the audience becomes equally responsible for the artwork. Art is affirmation, and interpretation of life, it is an obsession and a language, a search for balance, and means of making a statement. When I look at a blank piece of paper, when I pick up my video camera, when I write a score, I feel my own personal freedom, unknown space. That is my freedom "to". That is my freedom "from". I am only limited by emotions and recollection, and perhaps by the present speed of the Internet...

- In other words, we are talking about your freedom of speech as an artist and the freedom of perception by the audience participating in such artwork...
MR: The latest interactive installations I have created (Electronic Garden, Divided We Sing, Divided We See), are a space of installations, which the audience, spectator, viewer or the participant enters by the interaction- with the help of interface, by his/her own gesture, presence, face mimics, and is able to experience, "touch" the sound, words, music, light and shadow. These are methods of interacting and new ways of experiencing work of art. My goal is to make these experiences meaningful and to encourage a desire to get to know a new world with the help of the next gesture. My art requires patience and time.

- That means the audience is a co-creator of your artwork. Does every time a new person, entering the artwork create something new?
MR: He creates something new for himself. What is it all about? It is about a moment of thought, a moment of emotion, recollection. Assimilation of information from many sources simultaneously what is in fact characterized by the modern world.

- What guarantees do you have, that the audience will recognize your intentions, and will they understand them?
MR: I believe in my art and the meaning of experiencing-receiving the artwork. By the pictures, sounds and gestures I picture modern realities. I believe in the present emotions and recollection in all of us and a desire of discovering something new.
I have lectured in many countries around the world about interactive experience, its elements, and structures, and I believe that the artist is responsible for himself, for his own moment of motivation. He must first inspire himself.

- Where do you get your inspiration?
MR: My inspiration comes from the surrounding world, from the details. My inspiration could be for instance; a suspended bridge seen from my studio, a can or an empty cup of coffee carried away by the wind, I follow its flight path and write the music according to the path... I look at the sun and I get inspired, I close my eyes and I see myself in my imagination by the sequence of images.
Most importantly, I think that the art must be truly honest. Real art comes out of the need. For me it is a matter of maintaining a balance. I need to create. I create alone, but I need other people for continuous dialog.

- What memories remain with someone who visits and takes part in the exhibition-show? How does it change somebody?
MR: Recollection remains. Gestures inspired by the Bible, musical phrase of a Polish ethnic hymn "Bogarodzicy" interpreted by Urszula Dudziak, sound of Michael Ibera's piano, are all inspirational. We are left with the remembrance of that experience. This is what has inspired me to work. Just as I remember my arrival to New York in 1980, my visit to the huge studio Dietera Froese and watching synchronized multi-channel video, showing different points of view. This experience deeply bewildered me. It was the beginning of the media age. I began my study at the department of video at the Art Institute in Chicago. I rented a loft workshop. I experimented with laser photography. I continued to work with many people. I would ask myself, for instance can we touch sound? We are able to experience it, but it is more difficult to imagine it. How can we touch sound?
It is possible- for example by a wand. It is connected with movement. Space is a three dimensional net, and every point is a word, sound or any kind of musical phrase. Passing through the whole space, we create our own experience. With our own gestures, we initiate sounds and individual words. It is a specific sound installation. I have presented it in Warsaw and Pittsburg. My PhD. diploma was inspired by these experiences.

- Do you in any way peek at the spectators?
MR: In the beginning I used to. I was curious, how they perceive new spaces, whether they repeat the gestures, do they change their behavior with time. Some people walked around holding the wand head high. Few people tried to bend down or jump up. Then the people observed their next gestures and returned, in other words they discovered something new and wanted to try it. I felt as if I had been provoked by the behavior of the participants. It is an interesting situation: the artist studies behavior of the participant. These observations give me ideas how to design and program interactive space. In a way a modern artist, possess characteristics of a scientist. The grammar behavior of the participants influences the form and shape of the work.

- We are talking about interactivity. Does it mean that the audience influences the final shape of the work?
MR: Yes, that is right. Without the audience, the work does not exist and it does not work. Interactivity is about gestures of participation. The work is a process, which allows for an after thought about the surrounding world and ones own identity.

- When creating, do you engage one or a group of people in the work?
MR: Can interactive art be made for the crowds? This is a new, difficult challenge. We learn to experience and recognize artistic intentions as individuals. Only then, it can be used with a bigger group. In 1995, I won a contest and was awarded to design pubic project organized by Sculpture Chicago. As a result, sound installation called "Electronic Garden/NatuRealization" was made in Washington Square Park in Chicago, known for many debates concerning freedom of speech. Four people could go inside the installation and make sounds and recordings about freedom of expression so precious to us nowadays.

- What do you think a person entering your work feels? As if he/she is being part of it or rather a spectator?
MR: Today from the perspective of time, I can say that people feel they are part of the work. However, in the beginning it was difficult. Back then, I used the terminology "Imagine that�" (Please imagine a situation that something can actually happen�). Nowadays everybody knows about computer games and Internet; through interface and the mouse, we can enter a certain dimension and change our own behavior.

- In that case, where does playing the computer end and art begin? At what point does the boundary start to fade?
MR: I think if something influences us, and has meaning to us, initiates in us a desire to learn about the essence of things- it means that it is significant. Therefore playing the computer has a greater response. It is becoming a lifestyle. It can institute and facilitate interpersonal contact. Acquiring knowledge is faster. We can think about near future and the trend of seizing of borders between reality and virtual reality.

- How did you get interested in multimedia and interactivity?
MR: It came naturally. I began by writing poetry, by becoming interested in open form, which was later present in my art and video. In Poland, I was interested in black and white photography, graphic design I have a diploma in visual arts. In 1974, I began experimenting with neon lights and sound and in 1979 I got my first Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting (Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow) under the supervision of Professor Strumillo. I also remember, walking around Krakow parks, during Pope's first visit to Poland. I was writing down every second word that came to my mind. It was sort of association of the mind, expressing my self, gesture of the word and movement. I was looking at the sidewalk, the world, I was writing "Nerwami Czas" poetry collection. I created intriguing poems that would give me inspiration for my work for the next 20 years. In the United States, I added video, theatre, and installation. I collaborated with many people: Urszula Dudziak, Carelee Schneemann, and Czeslaw Niemen. It had influenced my work. The cooperation with scientists and programmers was also important to me. I was a professor at many universities. Some of my students come back to me and work with me, e.g. Ford Oxaal, Darrell Moore, Svetlana Bukvic, and Martin Simon.

- It seems that your life is like interactive art.
MR: Yes of course!

- You have mentioned that on your artistic road you have dealt with art, photography, poetry, music and so on. Which of the art forms fulfills you the most?
MR: This question is thought provoking in terms of time. When I began dealing with video I felt like a performer, I wanted to be inside this new space, to monitor it. After some time I felt I could grip multiplicity of this subject: elaborate many subjects on different screens/monitors. I felt I could make music and cooperate with different people. My artistic evolution concerns new challenges. I have tried to be a noisy person, presenting my self, now I am trying to calm down a little and be visible in a different way, for instance by music. I can join these elements and let other people perform them. This is still part of my art.

- Do you remember the first thing you passed on to your students?
MR: I really like this question, because no one has ever asked me that. Art is not merely a craft and it is not about mastering the technique. We are constantly learning, but use only part of our skills. It is enough!
I have shown my international students my first film "Polish Dance" made in 1980. At that time, I was learning video and said that art does not match up with the English language syntax. When I arrived to the USA in 1979 I could not speak English, but I made art work, which- as it appeared- since then has been shown in museums all over the world .Therefore we are not learning how to operate the camera, how to record sound, but what we want to show. It is our own impression regardless of what medium we want to use for this purpose. I tell everyone "Be able to express yourself! Find your own form and language of your expression."

- You used to teach art, but can art be learned?
MR: Of course, the tools can be thought, but you must remember that art is changing from day to day. There are new means available, we have a new space to master- web. space, Internet, which is dominated by the English language, is transforming the way people think around the world. However, this globalization is slowly modified by translations to the local language.
When in 1994 I design my website using the new HTML1, it was one of the first in Chicago, and this was the beginning of my experience with interactive work.

- We are talking about the evolution of your work. Were Freedom Gestures a conclusion of different artistic work?
MR: Yes. These exhibitions were a great experience and a surprise for me: It is hard to imagine that 25 years of my artistic work have passed. They were very well organized and my technologically complicated installations worked until the very end, which is worth mentioning. Art critic Dr Elaine King calls my art "Rogala's Wand Theatre". When talking about Gestures of Freedom I should underline that I am opened to the world, new expressions and to new experiences. This motivates me to work everyday. Gesture has its beginning, but it does not have an ending. It is an interesting situation when the Gesture is complete physically, but emotionally is continuing inside of us.

- As an artist which of the Freedom Gestures are most significant for you?
MR: The first installation was the most difficult which I made in Poland between the years 1975-1979-Pulso-Funktory. For three years, we were building sound generators, which were very complicated and expensive. Later installations were a true continuation. They were constructed with more technological ease on a larger scale using advanced technological solutions. For me they were a way of discovering new spaces and interpretations of the world by participating in the work of art.
Which was my most interesting artwork? I am especially interested in getting to know unidentified spaces. For me the most important things are the ones, which I have not yet accomplished: video symphony, music that I write and cooperation with different people (Dieter Froese, Ford Oxaal, John Friedman, Urszula Dudziak, Ed Paschke, and my partner Lidia Greszta).
As an artist, I am a seismograph of reality. I observe the surroundings and details; I am constantly under the influence of my own feelings. My seismograph goes up and down, that is the reason why I can never completely settle. However, thanks to the variety of feelings, I must find a way of expressing myself and that is why I am not limited to one medium. Just as music being the most abstractive of the art forms, so can be gesture, but do not necessary have to, mean anything. A gesture shown in one country may mean something completely different in another. Therefore the question is "Can work of art be made universal meaningful, so that it retains its meaning? How can it be accomplished?"
I am a lucky chap; I owe it to my family, Poland, tradition because I am able to use different media, although the path is complicated and difficult. My goal is to move smoothly from one media to the other.

- You are a Pole for over 25 years creating in America. Who do you feel you are? A citizen of the world, a Pole or an American?
MR: Artist wants to create art understood globally. I feel a Pole. I feel as being part of the world landscape. Much of my inspiration comes from Krakow. Currently I feel closely attached to my studio in Chicago.
I have always admired the American landscape wonderful, panoramic, inspiring... I am grateful for all inspirations from the people I have met, partners, my collectors, and sponsors, numerous friendships, which is very important since my art is not only made in solitude.

- What are your future artistic plans?
MR: We are planning to organize an exhibition in Chicago, in the Cultural Center celebrating 30 anniversary of my work, initiated by Oskar Friedl Gallery, which in fact represents me. I would also like to realize the symphony of media in six parts, "Divided We Stand". I write new music composition, working with pianist Berlin Michael Iber. I work with Ford Oxaal on virtual reality installation. I am assembling material for the project Artificial Intelligence (working with Ed Paschke and Ken Nordine which was initiated in 1995) In the resent years I have published some books and DVD. Moreover I am intensively involved in the making a new digital photo series called "Transformed Landscape".
Anyone interested in my work is welcomed to my studio.

- Thank you for the interview.