Peter Kubelka

Biography

Peter Kubelka (born 23 March 1934 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian experimental filmmaker, architect, musician, curator and lecturer. His films are primarily short experiments in linking seemingly disparate sound and images. He is best known for his 1966 avant-garde classic Unsere Afrikareise (Our Trip to Africa).

Kubelka made 16mm films, mostly shorts, and is known for his 1960 film Arnulf Rainer, a "flicker film" which alternates black and clear film that is projected to create a "flicker" effect. Kubelka also designed the Anthology Film Archives custom film screening space in the 1970s in New York. The theater had highly raked (tiered) seating with a cowel over each seat and visual barriers between each seat so that the audience member was totally isolated visually from other patrons. The theater was painted black and the seating was covered in black velvet. The only light in the room between film showings came from a spotlight aimed at the screen, thus ensuring that the only light in the room came from the screen. The design is illustrative of the purist aesthetic of the Avant Garde film movement of that era.

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