Dan Vlček + Tom Kotik are artistic collaborators whose joint sound installations are complex works of art in which individual contributions are blurred. Their trans-disciplinary art works intersect visual arts (installation, sculpture, media, painting, and textile design), music, performance, and biology—by exploring collaborative methods, physical space, and interactive experiences between sound and its visual manifestation.
The artists have collaborated since 2021. Together, they participated in the Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence program on Long Island, where they were mentored by curator Anthony Madonna as well as multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. In their interactive installation “The Sound Inside” for the Alternativa Gallery in Jihlava, Czech Republic, they turned to sound generated by a living organism, mycelium, as a metaphor of the universe.
Both artists naturally move in the field of music as well as in the field of visual art, and this intermingling of their talents leads to an organic integration of sound work into their artistic projects. While for Tom Kotik (IG: @tomkotik) the key is to reflect on the process of making music, the rhythm of alternating silence and sound, with silence driving much of his installations, Daniel Vlček's characteristic moment is one of being surrounded by sound. His fascination with electromagnetic waves is evident in his paintings, which seem to directly address this theme, as well as in his multimedia installations.
A sculptor, painter, curator, and musician of Czech origin living in New York, Kotik regularly exhibits in the Czech Republic and abroad. Central to his work is the connection between sound and image, a colorfulness that refers to synesthesia, and his interest in a wide range of materials. Since 1996, Kotik has exhibited his work nationally and internationally including solo shows at Lesley Heller Workspace (2015, 2011), Scholes Street Studios (2017), the Juan Miro Foundation in Barcelona (2010) and Kostka Gallery Prague (2014). Since 2013, Kotik has been a Curator at Large for Arts Brookfield, organizing many group exhibitions solo installations for their properties in New York. As a musician, Kotik has recorded and performed with many bands including Střešovická kramle, Sportsman's Paradise, Mighty High and Jonny Chan and the New Dynasty Six. Kotik received his M.F.A. from Hunter College in 2004 and B.S. from New York University in 1993. He has been a resident artist at Art OMI, Yaddo, LMCC Workspace, and the Bronx Museum AIM Program.
Daniel Vlček (IG: @dan.vlcek) is one of the stalwarts of the Prague music and art scene. His focus has long been on sound in the sense of electromagnetic waves and rhythm - both visual and sonic. Vlček is a multimedia artist, musician and producer best known for his geometrical paintings created by carving layer after layer of circular patterns using vinyl or CDs as stencils. He often supplements his work with sound installations and works to create both sonic and spatial interventions with his painting. Vlček also works with textiles, utilizing nearly extinct and unique methods of mechanical weaving. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic where he lives and works. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions in galleries across the Czech Republic and Canada. As a musician, he performs with the groups Guma Guar, ba:zel, and Střešovická kramle. Vlček received his education at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, Accademia di BelleArti di Brera, Milano, and Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology.
