After the Avant-garde: Contemporary German and Austrian Experimental FilmRandall Halle, Reinhild Steingröver New essays exploring the surging field of experimental film in today's Germany and Austria. Filmmaking in Germany and Austria has changed dramatically in the last decades with digitalization and the use of video and the Internet. Yet despite predictions of a negative effect on experimental film, the German and Austrian filmscape is filled with dynamic new experiments, as new technological possibilities push a break with the past, encouraging artists to find new forms. This volume of theoretically engaged essays explores this new landscape, introducing the work of established and emerging filmmakers, offering assessments of the intent and effect of their productions, and describing overall trends. It also explores the relationship of today's artists to the historical avant-garde, revealing a vibrant form of artistic engagement that has a history but has certainly not ended. The essays address such questions as the effects of transformations of cinematic space; the political effects of the breakdownof barriers between experimental film and advertising, and of the rise of music videos and reality TV; the effects of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the rise of capitalism, and the European movement on experimental film work; and whether these experiments are aligned with mass political movements -- for instance that of anti-globalization -- or whether they strive for autonomy from quotidian politics. Randall Halle is Klaus W. Jonas Professorof German and Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Reinhild Steingröver is Associate Professor of German in the Department of Humanities at the Eastman School of Music. |
Contents
The Future of Art and Work in the Age | 31 |
Vergleich über ein Drittes Harun Farocki 2007 | 40 |
Vergleich über ein Drittes Harun Farocki 2007 | 42 |
The Embodied Film Austrian Contributions | 50 |
Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine | 55 |
reel number 7 Peter Tscherkassky 2005 | 57 |
Preserving Cultural Traditions in a Period of Instability Thomas Draschan 2004 | 64 |
Interview with Filmmaker Birgit Hein | 69 |
Project Border Crossing Route 8 Harald Schmutzhard Social Impact 2002 | 172 |
The PostPop Hauntings of Bjørn Melhus | 181 |
Again and Again Bjørn Melhus 1998 | 187 |
Little Jimmy in Auto Center Drive Bjørn Melhus 2003 | 193 |
Schlingensiefs PeepShow PostCinematic Spectacles | 204 |
Piefkes raus in Bitte Liebt Österreich Christoph Schlingensief 2000 | 212 |
Asylsucher Peepshow in Bitte Liebt Österreich Christoph Schlingensief 2000 | 218 |
Tabu IIV Michael Brynntrup 1988 | 224 |
Baby I Will Make You Sweat Birgit Hein 1995 | 70 |
Die Unheimlichen Frauen Birgit Hein 1992 | 72 |
Videorebels Actions and Interventions of | 80 |
Media in the Interim Independent Film | 95 |
Filmmaker Gino Hahnemann ca 1986 in Jena Claus Löser | 97 |
Cover of Koma Kino Claus Löser | 99 |
Russian Super 8 Camera Claus Löser | 106 |
Blackbox GDR DEFAs Untimely AvantGarde | 109 |
Miraculi Ulrich Weiss 1992 | 121 |
Land hinter dem Regenbogen Herwig Kipping 1991 | 126 |
In Your Face Activism AgitProp and | 131 |
Kanak Attak Performance Hartmut Gerbsch dura lux Volksbühne Berlin 2001 | 132 |
Kanak Attak Poster Sandy Katenbornimageshift net Volksbühne Berlin 2001 | 138 |
Rapidly Expanding Cinema On Border Rescue | 157 |
One Safe Way into the Fortress Europe Harald SchmutzhardSocial Impact 2003 | 166 |
From the Diary to the Webcam Michael Brynntrup | 225 |
Die Statik der Eselsbrücken Michael Brynntrup 1990 | 236 |
QWERTY Cinema Christoph GirardetMatthias Müllers | 245 |
Phoenix Tapes Christoph Giradet Matthias Müller 1998 | 256 |
Erste Bilder aus Oberhausen in Dschungel Rembert Hüser 2000 | 263 |
Kirsten Winter From AvantGarde to Second Modernity | 269 |
Sydney Harbor Bridge in Clocks Kirsten Winter 1995 | 276 |
Composers Hand in Clocks Kirsten Winter 1995 | 281 |
The Representation of Space in the Films of Heinz Emigholz | 289 |
Shocking the Audience Shocking the Artist Aesthetic | 307 |
Works Cited | 325 |
| 343 | |
Notes on the Contributors | 350 |