| Woody Vasulka | |
| Birth Name: | Bohuslav Vašulka |
| Birth Date: | 20 January 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Brno |
| Death Date: | 20 December 2019 |
| Death Place: | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Nationality: | Czech |
| Alma Mater: | The Industrial Engineering School of Brno, Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague |
| Known For: | video art |
| Spouse: | Steina Vasulka |
| Awards: | Maya Deren Award (1992), Cena města Brna (2014) |
| Website: | vasulka.org |
Bohuslav "Woody" Vasulka (born Bohuslav Vašulka (20 January 1937, Brno, Czechoslovakia – 20 December 2019, Santa Fe, USA) [1] was one of the early pioneer video artist known for his solo work and collaboration with Steina Vasulka, his wife. The VASULKAs, as they are sometimes called, were experimenting since early 1960s with images, video tapes, computer graphics and Digital Video Effecter (DVE), a technique that was important for television programmes.[2]
Bohuslav Vasulka studied engineering at the Industrial Engineering School of Brno between 1952 and 1956. Later, he discovered the potential that technology could bring to art and decided to move to Prague in 1960 and study television and film production[3] at the Prague Academy for Performing Arts at the Faculty of Film and Television throughout the period from 1960 to 1965.[4] His educational background and engineering skills would later stimulate him to work in the realm of media art. In the early 1960s, Woody Vasulka met his future wife Steina Vasulka, Icelandic woman who was three years younger than him.[3] At that time she was studying languages and violin playing at the conservatory in Prague, where she was granted a scholarship. They started working together and married in 1964.
A year after they settled in New York, United States. The couple was in love with "America's boast of freedom, love of technology and promotion of independence".[5] By that time, Woody Vasulka had filmed several documentaries and after relocating worked as an editor of industrial film projects at Harvey Lloyd Productions.[3]
The Kitchen was founded by Woody and Steina Vasulka in 1971. It is one of New York City's oldest nonprofit spaces, where multidisciplinary artists working in the fields of dance, music, performance, media art can participate and exhibit their art pieces.[6] There are also literary events, artists' talks and lecture series being reguralry held.[7]