Peter Kubelka
Peter Kubelka (born 23 March 1934) is an Austrian filmmaker, architect, musician, curator and lecturer. His films, few in number, are known to be carefully edited and extremely brief. He is known for his 1966 Unsere Afrikareise (Our Trip to Africa), and for other very short and intricately edited films.
Peter Kubelka

Franz Johann Morgenbesser from Vienna, Austria · Peter Kubelka, Kurt Schwertsik, Komponist · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Peter Kubelka
- Born
- 23 March 1934
- Birthplace
- Vienna, Austria
- Known for
- Experimental film
- Training
- University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
- Awards
- * Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2005)
- Nationality
- Austria
- Occupation
- filmmaker · director
- Education
- University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna · Experimental Centre of Cinematography
- Honours
- Austrian Decoration for Science and Art · Eckart Witzigmann Prize · Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the State of Vienna
- Languages
- German
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Documentary summary
Peter Kubelka (born 23 March 1934) is an Austrian filmmaker, architect, musician, curator and lecturer. His films, few in number, are known to be carefully edited and extremely brief. He is known for his 1966 Unsere Afrikareise (Our Trip to Africa), and for other very short and intricately edited films.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q86966 · wikipedia · Peter Kubelka
In this article
Biography
Biography
Arnulf Rainer, a short film which alternates black and clear film, and white noise and silence, is considered a seminal work inscribing the edges of film theory. Conflated with a later effort by Tony Conrad called, "The Flicker", a notion developed that "flicker films" were a subcategory of experimental or avant garde. There wasn't, and Kubelka was creating a "pure" film with only the elements of dark and light. While not ignoring Kubelka's efforts, Conrad created a similar piece with a very different concept, focused more on rhythm and perceptual distortion. Kubelka preferred the concrete. Kubelka also created two pieces Adebar (1957) and Schwechater (1958) that were commissioned by businesses (a dance club and a beer brand). While being rejected as ads, his editing and choice of images and sound is seen as almost Platonic ideals of the transposition of dynamic work to the screen in the commercial form. Kubelka designed the Anthology Film Archives film screening space in the 1970s in New York in its first iteration in the Public Theater building in New York City. The theater had individual seats blocked with visual barriers so that each audience member was totally isolated 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; the only light in the room came from the screen. The brother of the writer Susanna Kubelka. While his body of art work is limited, his influence on the European and American "avant garde" was significant, and continues to be so. That he named his minimalist masterpiece after his friend, Arnulf Reiner, is only evidence of his subtle influence. In 2005, he received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art. • Illustration — Peter Kubelka giving a master class in 2012
Peter Kubelka studied at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and Experimental Centre of Cinematography. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is experimental film. Places of work recorded in the authority are Vienna. Distinctions recorded are Austrian Decoration for Science and Art, Eckart Witzigmann Prize and Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the State of Vienna.

Peter Kubelka in Jordaan, Amsterdam, giving a master class during the Sonic Acts Festival of 2012.
Rosa Menkman · Flickr: Sonic Acts Masterclass: Peter Kubelka #SonicActs2012
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Peter Kubelka • Born — 23 March 1934 • Birthplace — Vienna, Austria • Known for — Experimental film • Training — University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia • Notable Works — Adebar (1957), Arnulf Rainer (1960) • Awards — * Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2005) • Split Film Festival Award for the Outstanding Contribution to the Artistic Development of the Moving Image (2013)
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
• Mosaik Im Vertrauen (Mosaic in Confidence) (1955) • Adebar (1957) • Schwechater (1958) • Arnulf Rainer (1960) • Unsere Afrikareise (Our Trip to Africa) (1965) • Pause! (1977) • Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth) (2003) • Antiphon (2012)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1934
Peter Kubelka born at Vienna.
1977
Peter Kubelka's Filmworks (VHSrip) (1977) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Awangarda austriacka. Peter Kubelka – kucharz filmowiec, Kwartalnik Filmowy, 2010
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2010
- L'usure, l’éclat (Peter Kubelka — Peter Tscherkassky), Austriaca, 2007
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2007
reference work
- “Peter Kubelka”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q86966: Peter Kubelka
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.frame the state of the art 20, Sommer 07, Servus Austria, S. 194–196
- 2.Eszter Kondor: Aufbrechen. Die Gründung des Österreichischen Filmmuseums, Wien: Synema 2014, S. 46ff.
- 3.Geschichte des Österreichischen Filmmuseums: Peter Kubelka
- 4.Das Unsichtbare Kino im Filmmuseum
- 5.Publikation Was ist Film
- 6.Zyklische Programme im Österreichischen Filmmuseum
- 7.DVD Fragments of Kubelka
- 8.Peter Kubelka: Restoring Ėntuziazm
- 9.Peter Tscherkassky „Die rekonstruierte Kinematografie“ – Zur Filmavantgarde in Österreich (PDF; 138 kB)
- 10.Peter KUBELKA: Die Theorie des metrischen Films (1978). In: Gabriele Jutz, Peter Tscherkassky (Hg.): Peter Kubelka. Wien: PVS 1995, S. 46–67.
- 12.Wien Geschichte Wiki Peter Kubelka
- 13.RK-Terminvorschau vom. 4. bis 12. Mai 2015. 2015-04-30.
- 14.Hommage à Peter Kubelka : Monument Film Centre Pompidou.
- 15.Viennale 2012: Monument Film
References
Citations
References
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scholarly publication
Verifiedscholarly publication
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q86966: Peter KubelkaWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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