From 16 mm to World Wide Web

The present paper tries, based on the testimonies of its founder, Gheorghe Sabau, to retrace the history of the (almost) underground experimental group Atelier 16 / Kinema Ikon, from Arad, Romania, founded in 1970 and active to this day. It also attempts to sketch its doctrine, an eclectic one, permanently adjusting to a changing context, from experimental movies, influenced by structuralism and poststructuralism in the eighties, to a short period of social activism in the early nineties, followed by multimedia and installations, then, from the mid-nineties, focusing on computer-art, expanded online with the advent of the World Wide Web. Also, a characteristic of the group is its passing from an underground, fringe one, during communism, to an almost mainstream status: representing Romania at the Venice Biennial (2003), an exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, and, in December 2012, and a permanent room at the Arad Art Museum.