Bohuslav Vasulka (Woody) was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, on January 20, 1937. From 1952 to 1956, Woody Vasulka studied metallurgy and mechanics at the industrial engineering school in Brno, where he earned his degree in 1956. Settling in Prague in 1960, he graduated from the faculty of cinema and television at the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU). While pursuing his studies, Woody also wrote poetry, played jazz trumpet and produced short films.

Steinunn Briem Bjarnadottir (Steina) was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, on January 30, 1940. Already as a child, she studied violin and music theory, and in 1959 received a scholarship from the Czechoslovak Ministry of Culture to attend the State Music Conservatory in Prague, where she studied until 1963, then continuing with independent studies , first in New York and then in Paris in 1967.

Woody and Steina married in Prague in 1964, and shortly thereafter she joined the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. In 1969, Woody conducted his first experiments with electronic images and put aside cinematographic forms in favor of video. During that time they also began experimenting with equipment (modulators, video synthesizers, keyers, sequencers) that enabled them to isolate the elements of a visual vocabulary and to build a syntax specific to electronic images.