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
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Peter Kubelka. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q86966 · wikipedia · Peter Kubelka
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Statements marked “Documentary record” are set in the article beside the passage they confirm. Each is read from the authority records of the institutions named here; select “Prove” to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)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.
Documentary record
Places of activity recorded by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek: Taufkirchen an der Pram, Frankfurt am Main and 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)
Documentary record
Peter Kubelka, recorded as a filmmaker, director and film director, was born on 23 March 1934 in Vienna. The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
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
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Peter Kubelka, revision 1340615078 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q86966: Peter KubelkaWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witness
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.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
38,713 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Peter KosminskyPerson
- Peter KrausPerson
- Peter KremerPerson
- Peter KriegPerson
- Peter KunhardtPerson
- Peter KurthPerson
- Peter LaduePerson
- Peter LandesmanPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Peter Kubelka?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.