Curated
by Gabriele Jutz and Eva Maria Stadler
Installation by Katrin Brack and Konrad Brack
Films by Mary
Ellen Bute, Viking Eggeling, Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann
“Absolute” – detached
and removed from everything, the powerful term suggests the possibility of unconditionality. The abstract films of Viking
Eggeling, Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter and Walter Ruttmann that are being shown as part of the series Abstraction and
Economy were driven by the desire for purist self-restraint and differentiation from other art forms.
Their goal was the creation of “absolute film” (absoluter Film). Ruttmann, Eggeling
and Richter created their films frame-by-frame on the animation table. Fischinger opted for a more experimental mode of production
with his wax experiments. The German films of the 1920s are complemented by a short abstract film from the 1950s
by the American artist Mary Ellen Bute, who visualized music with the aid of an electronic instrument, the oscilloscope.
The
renowned stage designer Katrin Brack and Konrad Brack have designed a set that focuses in particular on the production methods
of these abstract films. With literal translations of machine-like and painterly movements into spatial images, their work
confronts the claim to purity of the absolute by challenging the economic laws of rationality and efficiency.
Opening
hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 2pm to 6pm
