Film and More, Exhibition, Mumok, Vienna: 12 July 2018-3 February 2019

This is archived material. It is for reference purposes only.

The Mumok gallery is delving into its archives to revive the avant-garde cinema of the post-war era by displaying the correspondence, sketches, notes and footage belonging to Austrian film-makers Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt Jr.

The Mumok gallery is transforming itself into the experimental and unconventional world of avant-garde cinema with an exhibition on renowned Austrian film-makers Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt Jr. Kurt Kren (1929-98) is best known for his involvement with the Vienna Aktionists, and the films that resulted from it; such as ‘10b/65: Silber - Aktion Brus’ (1965) and ‘16/67: 20. September’ (1967). Enrest Schmidt Jr. (1938-1988) is most remembered for directing ‘Die totale Familie’ (1982), ‘Farbfilm’ (1967) and ‘Denkakt’ (1968).

On the surface these two film-makers may seem dully similar. They were both film-makers, they both adopted the Avant-garde mode of film-making, they were both working in Austria during the post-war era. Yet the exhibition proves, with the tools of notes, letters, sketches and film clips from the Mumok’s archives, that they were not identical. Although they began from the same starting point of similar ideals, methods and interests (instilled by their analogous backgrounds), the end results, or rather their films, were artistically diverse.

Kren’s unique method to constructing a film was his eye for structure and the visual image, which is best highlighted by the displayed notations. Contrastingly, Schmidt jr. focused more on the language of his work, regardless of whether he was adopting the mind-set of an author, critic, editor or artist. To be more specific, he was not only concerned with language, but the concepts that these words evoked and conveyed. The exhibition just goes to show that Kren and Schmidt Jr. were “same- same but different”.

Mumok 

Museumsplatz 1, A-1070 Wien, Vienna

Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok
Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok
Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok
Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok
Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok
Ausstellungsansicht/Exhibition View/ From the Archives of Kurt Kren and Ernst Schmidt jr., 12.7.2018-3.2.2018/ Photo: Lisa Rasttl, © mumok

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