Winter Semester 2021/22
Zoom Meeting-ID for winter semester 2022: https://dieangewandte-at.zoom.us/my/martin.reinhart / ID: 220 156 9842
VIEWING ROOM – for all available movies click here
☆ Eadweard Muybridge – Zoopraxographer (Thom Andersen, 1975)
The measured voice of the narrator of Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer, the American actor Dean Stockwell, makes an uncannily effective contribution, as does a haunting score by Michael Cohen. In a style that predates the works of Ken Burns and others, Andersen’s study of a 19th century eccentric’s near-obsessive work of photographing human and animal bodies is eerily hypnotic. The portrait of Muybridge that emerges marks him once again as a worthy forebear of a medium with an endless capacity to fascinate.
☆ Einstein Theory of Relativity (Max Fleischer, 1923)
In August 1922, Scientific American published an article explaining their position that a silent film would be unsuccessful in presenting the theory of relativity to the general public, arguing that only as part of a broader educational package including lecture and text would such film be successful. Scientific American then went on to review frames from an unnamed German film reported to be financially successful. Six months later, on February 8, 1923, the Fleischers released their relativity film, produced in collaboration with popular science journalist Garrett P. Serviss to accompany his book on the same topic. The Fleischers lifted footage from the German predecessor, "Die Grundlagen der Einsteinschen Relativitäts-Theorie"(1923), directed by Hanns-Walter Kornblum, for inclusion into their film. The German animated movie was made bei George Grosz and John Heartfield.
☆ Wunder der Schöpfung (Hanns Walter Kornblum, 1925)
"Our Heavenly Bodies" (German: Wunder der Schöpfung, literally: Wonder of the Creation) is a 1925 German educational film written by Hanns Walter Kornblum and Ernst Krieger which attempts to represent everything known about the cosmos at the time. It covers the origin and mechanics of the Solar System, gravitation, the stars, and the nature of galaxies. The film is a prime example of the early German "Kulturfilm", which are regarded as predecessors of the modern film documentary. It features a large variety of special effects and animations, as well as fantastical depictions of travel around the Solar System and to the stars. => Info
☆ Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Steven M. Martin, Robert Stone, 1995)
A documentary about the amazing life of Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin, the electronic musical instrument so beloved of 50s sci-fi movie music. Theremin amazed America with his instrument until his kidnapping by Soviet agents in the mid-30s. Upon his release from a labor camp, he worked on surveillance devices for the KGB. Almost 60 years later, he is brought back to America for a touching reunion with his friends and colleagues.
☆ Sisters with Transistors (Lisa Rovner, 2020)
The remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today. The film maps a new history of electronic music through the visionary women whose radical experimentations with machines redefined the boundaries of music, including Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani, and Laurie Spiegel.
☆ 2001 – A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
The film follows a space voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer HAL after the discovery of an alien monolith. It deals with themes of existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. 2001 is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. Kubrick avoided conventional cinematic and narrative techniques; dialogue is used sparingly, and there are long sequences accompanied only by music. The film is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.
☆ Frau im Mond (Lang Fritz, 1929)
In the decades following the release of Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, technological verisimilitude grew increasingly important in science fiction. Lang conceived of Woman in the Moon as the first “scientifically accurate” space flight film. In the excerpt presented here, lunar photography plays a key role in planning a crewed mission to the moon.
☆ A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès, 1902)
Le Voyage dans la Lune is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon and its 1870 sequel Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Its ensemble cast of French theatrical performers is led by Méliès himself as main character Professor Barbenfouillis. The film features the overtly theatrical style for which Méliès became famous.
☆ Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich, 2014)
A making-of special about a film that was never made, “Jodorowsky’s Dune” details the mid-1970s efforts of the Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky to translate Frank Herbert’s extravagant science fiction novel “Dune” to the big screen. “Big” being the operative word. “For me, ‘Dune’ will be the coming of a god,” recalls Mr. Jodorowsky, the very picture of a man who doesn’t easily adopt the mantle of failed midwife. Capitalizing on his subject’s mobile face, authoritative voice and glorious ego, Frank Pavich directs by ceding the stage to their owner, a handsome devil of 85 who remains convinced of the would-have-been magnificence of his forcibly abandoned project.
☆ Dreams Rewired (Martin Reinhart, Manu Luksch & Thomas Tode, 2015)
87min, English version
A montage of films from the 1880s to the 1930s, many rare and previously unscreened, it traces contemporary appetites and anxieties back to the birth of the telephone, television and cinema. Its claim: that the social convulsions of today’s hyper-mediated world were already prefigured over 100 years ago, during the electric media boom of the late 19th century. Early electric media were as revolutionary as social media are now. They sparked a fervent utopianism in the public imagination; promising total communication, the annihilation of distance, an end to war. The technologies were to serve everyone, not just the elites. Through strengthening human relationships, increasing efficiency, and predicting the future, it would become possible to build a new world for all to share.
☆ Panzerkreuzer Potemkin (Sergej Eisenstein, 1925 / 1930)
48min, German soundfilm version
With Sergei Eisenstein’s Bronenosets Potemkin (Battleship Potemkin) Soviet cinema carved its place in film history. The original musical score composed for the film’s German premiere by Viennese-born Edmund Meisel (1894-1930) was for many years considered lost. Fragments of the orchestral parts were rediscovered in 1970 and the existence of the complete piano reduction became known in 1983. However, modern reconstructions and re-arrangements for largescale orchestra bear little resemblance to Meisel’s original, which was praised by Adorno and Eisler for its “non-commercial” character. Only now – thanks to the rediscovery of the original soundtrack discs for the 1930 German sound re-release version – can modern audiences hear Meisel’s own arrangement of his highly aggressive soundtrack. In addition, the 1930 sound-on-disc (“Nadelton”) version of Battleship Potemkin represents one of the first instances of “dubbing” in German cinema: the Russian sailors now speak German; from the screen, they call out to us, “Brüder!” (Brothers!).
READING ROOM – for all available e-books click here
König, Rudolph. On Manometic Flames (1873)
Noordung, Hermann. Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums. Der Raketenmotor (1929) – German original
Noordung, Hermann. Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums. Der Raketenmotor (1929) – English translation
Servis, Garrett P. The Einstein Theory of Relativity (1923)
Dalrymple Henderson, Linda. Modern Art and Science 1900– 1940 (2012)
Wiener, Norbert. Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948)
MASTER THESIS TUTORIAL
Braga, Sofia. I stalk myself more than I should: using artistic practices to disrupt centralized social media platforms. (Master thesis, Interface Cultures, University of Art and Design Linz, 2021)
Campanile, Chiara. Colorograpy (Master thesis, Art & Science, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2021)
Ledesma Quintana, Alfredo. Walking in a Pluriverse (Master thesis, Art & Science, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2021)
Otani, María Esperanza Sasaki. Peep media in digital times: track-track: let´s follow the cat!: a reflection on children´s data processing through a microworld. (Master thesis, Interface Cultures, University of Art and Design Linz, 2021)
Piazzi, Giacomo. Thinking being – Mechanical humans, reasoning machines and the illusion of artificial intelligence. (Master thesis, Interface Cultures, University of Art and Design Linz, 2021)
Rozo Castaño, Marthin. The Bat Project (Master thesis, Art & Science, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2021)
Suarez, Mauricio. The Fortune Roulette (Master thesis, Art & Science, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2021)
Wittkowsky, Vera. The phantasmagoric dispositif – an approach to uncanniness. (Master thesis, Interface Cultures, University of Art and Design Linz, 2021)
SESSIONS and WORKSHOPS (underlined if recorded)
Oct 05, 2021 – Bodies in Motion: Of Humans and horses (PDF)
Oct 11, 2021 – Bodies in Motion: Bodiless Voices (PDF)
Oct 18, 2021 – Bodies in Motion: Zero Gravity (only 2nd half) (PDF)
Oct 19, 2021 – Round Table: Radical Matter Kick-Off
Oct 25, 2021 – Bodies in Motion: Dreams Rewired (PDF)
Nov 08, 2021 – Bodies in Motion: Relativity (PDF)
Nov 08, 2021 – 21 Skills: Model building with Wolfgang Fiel (PDF)
Nov 15, 2021 – Überleben im Bild exhibition (Excursion)
Nov 22, 2021 – Radical Matter: The Digital (PDF)
Nov 29, 2021 – Radical Matter: Gerald Nestler
Dec 01, 2021 – Visit to the Austrian Film Museum (Excursion)
Dec 06, 2021 – Radical Matter: On Quantum Physics I with Philipp Haslinger
Dec 13, 2021 – Ludwig Wittgenstein – Fotografie als analytische Praxis (Excursion)
Jan 10, 2022 – The female pioneers of electroacoustic music (Info) with Zosia Hołubowska
Jan 13, 2022 – Sounds Queer? Workshop
Jan 18, 2022 – Radical Matter: Onto-Epistemological Lessons from Quantum Physics with Tanja Traxler
Jan 24, 2022 – Feedback Session
LINKS
120years.net (A geneology of electroacustic music instruments)
Codex Huygens (Carlo Urbino, end of 1560’s)
Data Loam project webpage, Data Loam project description
Hammer Tugendhat, Daniela. Kunstgeschichte als Kulturwissenschaft (SS2018)