Series Site
Astonishingly prolific both as a photographer (under the name Friedl Kubelka) and a filmmaker (as Friedl vom Gröller, since 2009), Friedl Kubelka vom Gröller has been active since the 1960s, but the majority of her moving-image work has emerged in the years since 2000, with a nonstop flood of short films whose refreshing but deceptive brevity (they rarely exceed 3 minutes in length) belies their formal variety, thematic richness, and vibrant spontaneity. Though her films encompass a wide range of ideas and approaches, they very often gravitate around the practice of portraiture. Indeed, even if she had never made a motion picture herself, Kubelka vom Gröller’s photographic body of work would be vitally important within the realm of experimental cinema thanks to her commitment to producing extraordinary portraits of many of the most important avant-garde filmmakers of her time, including her ex-husband Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Kenneth Anger, Hollis Frampton, Shigeko Kubota, Stan Brakhage, Ken & Flo Jacobs, George Landow, and many others (as well as numerous artists, friends, and strangers).
But of course, Kubelka vom Gröller has made many films of her own – in fact, more than 120 and counting. Though these works have cropped up in various short film festivals and showcases of new avant-garde cinema in the U.S. over the years, they have rarely, if ever, been showcased all together. Long overdue, this five-program survey of her work will take place in conjunction with her month-long residency at the Deutsches Haus at NYU, a component of the ExtraVALUE Award that was bestowed on her film L’AVENIR? DE F.V.G? at the 2019 Viennale film festival.
The series – which will combine her films with slides of selected photographs from throughout her career – has been guest-programmed by Dietmar Schwärzler, Austrian artist film distributor, representative of the distribution company Sixpack, and editor of the book Friedl Kubelka vom Gröller – One Is Not Enough. Photography & Film II (Buchverlag Walther König & Index 2018). Both Kubelka vom Gröller and Schwärzler will be here in person to present each program.