Austrian Cultural Forum
4–30 April 2002

Umelec, magazine for central European art and culture was in residence at ACF.
go to Umelec Lounge

What started as a small one-language magazine with a dedicated following of Czech contemporary art fans, has grown into a sleek comprehensive means for discovering what the region of Central and Eastern Europe offers to art lovers.

Umelec International actively encourages the highest level of conceptual risk-taking and initiates critical debates in art, design, architecture, music and fashion. Our devoted subscribers now come from every corner of the globe.

Thanks to the generous support of our contributors and patrons, the magazine is able to come out every two months in two language versions: Czech and English. Our main focus lies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, especially Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Umelec offers lively interviews, in-depth profiles of artists, info on trends in the most current media, introduces young up-and-coming artists, and reviews exhibitions in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

In addition to covering contemporary art, the magazine also explores unusual aspects of contemporary culture and life. Topics in previous issues have included Nikola Tesla, the controversial inventor; the bizarre inner world within the secret art society called B.K.S. (The End of the World Is Coming); hip-hop; political protest; and the intimate biographies of unlikely cultural heroes and heroines.

The magazine is published by Divus, a free-spirited establishment that has sponsored a number of other multicultural projects including book and catalogue publishing, the Divus Review, exhibitions and other art-related events (TRAINSTATION, Bazaar, the International Day of Unrealized Ideas, No Sex Until Marriage).

Established: 1997, Published by Divus, Format: 100 pages, color, in two separate English and Czech versions, Circulation: 2,000

Umelec on the web: http://www.divus.cz/umelec

Contact Tomas Pospiszyl (say Tomash Poshbeeshil)

Tomas Pospiszyl is a curator and writer. Born in Prague, educated in New York, fired from several jobs. Regularly writes for Umelec, Czech magazine on art, culture and bad taste. Edited upcoming anthology of Eastern European writing on art that is to be published by MoMA and MIT Press in November 2002.

Back in Prague: Borivojova 49, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 2 2271 9229, -6677, -0709, -4574
Fax: +420 2 2272 1240
e-mail: umelec@mail.divus.cz