Bernard Szajner at AMB with Léna & Roselli Gallery

Bernard Szajner, performance artist, will be at Art Market Budapest with Léna & Roselli Gallery on 19 September 2016.

About Bernard Szajner

Bernard Szajner is a composer, musical theorist, visual artist and inventor of the laser harp. Szajner was born in Grenoble on 27 June 1944, into a family of Polish Jews who had been exiled due to the rise of Naziism in Poland. He was given the name “Wolf” and spent his earlier times hidden in a cellar. During his childhood, he’d heard of the stories of his uncle who had been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and had disappeared. His experience would go on to influence his musical composition later in life.

Between 1979 and 1983, Szajner released five albums of innovative and Avant-garde electronic music. He became renowned as a light and visual effects technician with artists such as Stomu Yamashta and The Who.

During the 1970s, he became a pioneer in the field of using laser technology as an artistic tool. As a measure of his success, he became renowned by his work with companies such as Cartier and Renault. In 1980, inspired by the novel, Nova, by Samuel R. Delany, he first created the Laser Harp. This instrument inverts the classic relationship between music and light, where the second is in service to the first. With his laser harp, music and light are effectively on an equal footing. This instrument allows a great number of octaves, as well as providing a visual performance. The combination of audio and video provide a unique inter-dependence. 

Towards the end of the 1980s and disgusted with the music industry, he chose to abandon music entirely. He shifted his focus towards digital and visual arts, and theatre. Nonetheless, his work in electronic music remains as a benchmark, and he is recognized as being a pioneer in that field. In 2012, he returned to his roots, with his association with the artist, Yro.