Austria

Early cinema

"In the summer of 1895, a moving pictures machine was installed for the first time in Prater, an amusement quarter that continues to exist in Vienna today. Five machines were placed in 'Kinetoscope Hall', where documentary pictures from American Thomas Alva Edison and his assistants were exhibited. Prater was a popular film location during the beginnings of film history.

On 26 March 1896 Eugene Dupont, collaborator of the firm Lumiere, organized the first public performance in Austria: documentary films about Vienna were shown in the building located at Kärntnerstraße‎ 45 (later in the contiguous building number 39). The work of Charles Moisson, principal operator of Lumiere, was presented there. In the exhibition programme were the films Feuerwehr-Central am Hof, Kärntnerstraßs Le Ring, and Freudenau, Sattelraum nach dem Pisek-Rennen.

Pictures of Prater--such as Der Volksprater, Der Prater and Die Hauptalle [Main Avenue]--were among the scenes that Alexander Promio and his assistant and interpreter Alexander Werschinger were shooting in Vienna on behalf of Lumiere in mid-April 1896." (Source)

Filmmakers

• Theodor Reich [1]
• Max Glücksmann [2]
• Eugène Joachim Dupont [3]

Avant-garde film, Experimental film

Events

• Breaking Ground: 60 Years of Austrian Experimental Cinema, Anthology Film Archives, New York, 7-13 September 2012. Curated by Brent Klinkum.

Literature

• Peter Weibel, "Avant-garde Film In Austria: Current Activities", Studio International, Nov/Dec 1975, pp 214-218.
• Peter Weibel, "The Viennese Formal Film", Hayward Gallery (ed.), Film as Film, London, 1979, pp 107-112.
• Peter Tscherkassky (ed.), Film Unframed: A History of Austrian Avant-Garde Cinema, Vienna: sixpackfilm and FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen, 2012, 368 pp. [4] [5]

Computer art

Otto Beckmann, ars intermedia group (1966-1980)

Video art

• Sabine Breitwieser, "Austrian video art works / detailed chronology", 2023. (English)

New media art, Media culture

Pioneers

• early 1970s: Valie Export, Peter Weibel, Richard Kriesche; 80s: Station Rose, Monoton, Radio Subcom, Peter Kogler.

Cities

Dornbirn, Graz, Hainburg, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg, Schmiede, Schrattenberg, Vienna.

Media

mediafiles.at

Literature

• Robert Harauer, Elisabeth Mayerhofer, Helga Eberherr, "Male Gate - keepers, Female Artists and Resistance, Mechanisms of Exclusion in Serious Music and New Media Arts in Austria. Part 4: New Media Arts". 2003.
• Heidi Grundmann, "Re-Play". Catalogue text for: RE-PLAY - The beginnings of international media-art in Austria. Audio/Radio, 2000.

	Countries avant-garde, modernism, experimental art, media culture, social practice
Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Central and Eastern Europe, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosova, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States