Zečević, Božidar, editor, and Slobodan Mašić, designer.

[COMPUTER ART AND EXPERIMENTAL FILM IN YUGOSLAVIA] Filmforum [Film Forum].

Belgrade: Studentski kul'turni tsentar, 1971–1972. Narrow quartos (29.7 × 10.3 cm). Original printed wrappers; 27–126 pp per volume. Illustrations throughout, including photographs, reproductions of film stills, computer art. No. 3 and no. 8 with dedication inscriptions to title. Occasional light markings in pencil to some of the issues, paper toned due to stock, else very good. -- WITH: Offprint from: Reichardt, Jasia, editor. Cybernetics, Art & Ideas. The digital computer as a creative medium. Narrow quarto (29.7 × 10.3 cm). Original printed staple-stitched wrappers; [16] pp. Illustrations of computer art. Very good. Item #55875

A near complete run (nine of ten issues published) of this rare monthly film bulletin devoted to experimental film, art house cinema, and new media, published by the Student Cultural Centre (SKC) in Belgrade in 1971–1972. “From the very beginning, Filmforum at SKC established itself as a venue for screening film heritage and contemporary film productions that couldn't be seen in regular movie theatres, as well as a place for critical thought, where the average film offering was not catered to.” The volumes accompanied the film program, and are richly illustrated with film stills, computer art, and visual poetry. Contributions to the volumes include articles by major film makers such as Dusan Makavejev, and Žilimir Žilnik, as well as translations of theoretical texts by Marshall McLuhan, René Clair. One issue is illustrated with film excerpts by the leader of Yugoslav animation Borislav Šajtinec, as well as drawings and stills from the work of the American master of computer animation John Whitney Sr. The last issue is dedicated to experimental film and television.

The editor of this short-lived bulletin of the Student Cultural Centre (SKC) was Božidar Zečević (b. 1948), a film historian and later director of the film museum of the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka (Yugoslav Film Archive). “It was my responsibility to establish a first film club there, not an amateur filmmakers’ cooperative (which already existed from the early fifties in Belgrade) but a free screening and discussion tribune named Filmforum, “a free non-governmental organization for spreading film culture” which was its official title” (See: Božidar Zečević, Talason ili mala istorija zavere, u Ovo je Studentski kulturni centar, Beograd, SKC, 1996, 32). Ten issues (in seven fascicles) were published in all, with signature design by the Slobodan Mašić (1939–2016). In addition to designing posters and publications for SKC, Mašić also designed special issues of the new left student journal Susret (1968), collaborated with the avant-garde theatre Atelje 212, and the BITEF theatre festival. Celebrated as one of the “most significant artists and publishers who shaped visual communications in Serbia and Yugoslavia over the past half century”, the exhibition “Mašić: Retrospective Exhibition of Visual Communication” was held in Belgrade in 2018 and in Paris in 2021.

Includes a separately printed pamphlet for one of the issues, an excerpt from “Cybernetics, Art and Ideas”, a collection of essays from the seminal 1968 exhibition “Cybernetic Serendipity” curated by the pioneer of computer art Jasia Reichardt at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. Reichardt’s introductory essay is included in the volume along with an essay by another pioneer of digital art, Michael Noll. The accompanying brochure includes 21 annotated illustrations to Noll’s essay “The digital computer as a creative medium”.

As of August 2026, KVK, OCLC show no holdings outside of Serbia.

Price: €1,500.00

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