Frederick Kiesler

Exhibition Workshop Workshop Frederick Kiesler. The Spatiotemporal Dimension Focus on the Exhibitions. The Stage Explodes in Frederick Kiesler’s Work Frederick Kiesler’s Endless FREDERICK 3 October 2013 to 4–8 November, House 12 January 2014 from 5 pm to 8 pm Saturdays, 19 October, Areas A, B and C 16 November and 14 December, Aimed at architects, artists and from 11 am to 1.30 pm KIESLER Exhibition students of architecture and the For children ages 6 to 9 Frederick Kiesler. performing and visual arts, as well Face to Face with as anyone with a general interest in Welcome to the endless house! the Avant-Garde Kiesler’s work, this instructive and Welcome to the workshop that never 4 October–4 November 2013 participatory workshop will take par- ends, to flowing space, to the house Tower 1 ticipants on a tour of the Kieslerian without corners, to the utopia that 3 October 2013 universe, examining it from key con- Frederick Kiesler strove to make a 12 January 2014 temporary perspectives. Lectures will reality when he designed his Endless Produced with be given alongside a digital creation House, a space that goes on forever, Volume 02 workshop focusing on Kiesler’s work. with an amazing ability to adapt, with 3 euros no boundaries to limit the mind or Workshop the imagination. Artist, designer and The Meeting: With What End architect, Kiesler was a firm believer in View? in the elasticity of space, a quality 18–21 November, from 11 am that would allow it to adapt to the to 2 pm, and 22 November, changing circumstances of its con- from 6 pm to 9 pm text. What is the space around you Screening Series like? Is it flexible? Could you live 100% Cinema Drawing inspiration from the architec- in a house with infinite forms that 8 October–26 November 2013 tural work of Frederick Kiesler, who changed to suit your needs? When conceived the cinema as an “endless we begin to examine Kiesler’s ideas, house”, and in dialogue with the uto- a thousand questions arise. In this pias of Superstudio, Bruce McClure workshop we will experiment with has forged an artistic praxis in which the places where our dreams reside film comes to life. The workshop will and try to describe them. Perhaps explore cinema’s relationship with they are “endless spaces”. space and the potential of light games and sound distortion by contrasting light and shadow, noise and silence.

La Casa Encendida Opening hours facebook.com/lacasaencendida Ronda de Valencia, 2 Monday to Sunday twitter.com/lacasaencendida 28012 Madrid from 10 am to 10 pm youtube.com/lacasaencendida T 902 430 322 The exhibition spaces vimeo.com/lacasaencendida www.lacasaencendida.es close at 9.45 pm blog.lacasaencendida.es LA CASA ENCENDIDA EXHIBITIONS 100%Director Cinema Screening Series FREDERICK KIESLER. Nearly fifty years after his death, the work JOSÉ8 October–26 GUIRAO November CABRERA 2013 THE STAGE EXPLODES Curated by of Frederick Kiesler (1890–1965) allows us Tuesday,Director of8 OctoberCultural Activities Tuesday, 15 OctoberBARBARA LESÁKTuesday, 29 October Tuesday, 5 November Tuesday, 12 November Tuesday, 19 November 10LUCÍA pm. CourtyardCASANI FRAILE 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. to Screening decipher room the8 pm. keysScreening roomto contemporaneity.8 pm. Screening room Kiesler: Event Organiser/Presenter Kiesler and the Avant-GardeFREDERICK KIESLER.The Kiesler Legacy Utopian ArchitecturePioneering andAn Infinite alwaysImaginary Space innovative,Surface Games, Spatial his Games InCultural 1975 Lillian Activities Kiesler, Coordinator Frederick’s Movements FACE TO FACE WITHContinuing THE AVANT-GARDE with his series Whatever became of utopian archi- In 1970, Peter Kubelka designed For this film, Michael Snow built a widow,MÓNICA discovered CARROQUINO a series of RODRÍGUEZ can- This ambitious episodicCurated film hasby Photography and Beyond, Heinz tecture?theories What has become of have the the made Invisible Cinema him at Anthology a pivotalrobotic arm that figure would allow the isters at her country house contain- the best cast that anGERD avant-gardist ZILLNER Emigholz used images in an at- spaces dreamt up by architecture to Film Archives, a movie theatre camera to pan and swivel 360 de- ingExhibitions films by DepartmentViking Eggeling, Coordinator Hans could wish for: Max Ernst, Marcel tempt to understand and explain improvein the the lives of humanfields beings? ofbased architecture, on patterns that reflected greesscenography, in order to explore the space YARARichter SONSECA and Walter Ruttmann,MAS as Duchamp, Man Ray, Alexander Kiesler’s visionary work. To this end, The filmMinhocão , by Raphaël Kiesler’s ideas, especially his belief around it. The result is one of the well as the original copy of Ballet Calder, Darius Milhaud100% and CINEMA SCREENINGEmigholz filmed SERIES two of his projects: Grisey, explores the designPedregulho andthat “the idealexperimental cinema is a house most film.radical cinematographic MécaniqueManagement, by Fernandand Production Léger and Fernand Léger. SomeCurated of the by the scale model for his Endless Residential Complex, a subsidised of silence”. In his films, Kubelka experiments ever made, which has DudleyMARÍA Murphy. NIETO With GARCÍA the help of greatest artists of theMIGUEL twentieth FERNÁNDEZ House, LABAYEN which was never built, and housing complex designed by develops his theories about metric since become a rarely screened JonasVANESSA Mekas CASAS and the CALVO Anthology century give free reinand to theirGONZALO DEhis PEDRO Shrine ofAMATRIA the Book, located at Affonso Eduardo Reidy and built cinema; namely, that cinema is a cult film. In Snow’s own words, it Film Archives, the films were re- plastic fantasies in a series of The Israel Museum, in Jerusalem. in 1946 inLa Rio de Casa Janeiro. For his Encendida projection of static images offers and visitorsis “the conversion theof matter into storedAudiovisual and projected Programme once again. dream sequences, combining Real and projected spaces cul- part, Thom Andersen’s film features that the still is the smallest unit of energy”. On a certain level, the film ThisBEATRIZ session NAVAS is a tribute VALDÉS to Kiesler’s oneiric atmospheresPUBLICATION with land- minate in the film that Ila Bêka seventeenchance buildings and to projects review meaning. his This session life also andfeatures workundoubtedly throughties in with Kiesler’s efforts to organise film events and scapes typical of fantasyDesign or noir and Louise Lemoine dedicated to by Eduardo Souto de Moura. In one of Stan Brakhage’s most stun- theories about space and with his popularise the seventh art, and films. The film wasJOSÉ produced DUARTE one of the world’s most respected this sessionthree we encounter parallel, two ning complementary movies, a demonstration of the interest activities: in the most cutting-edge includes a collection of films that by Peggy Guggenheim’s Art architects, Rem Koolhaas, which cinematographicthe approachesexhibitions to emotional “Frederick power of music in film. Kiesler.cinematographic movements.The Kiesler arranged to have shown of This Century Corporation.Copy-Editing documents the daily work of the two impossible dreams: the dream both in Europe and in the United EXILIO GRÁFICOcleaning woman in a building de- of architecture Stage as a space Explodes” of social Adebar and “FrederickLa Région CentraleKiesler. States. Witch’s Cradle, filmed by Dreams that Money Can Buy signed by Koolhaas. transformation and the dream of by Peter Kubelka. Austria, 1957. by Michael Snow. Canada, 1971. Maya Deren at the Art of This by Hans Richter. USA,Translations 1947. film asFace a vehicle for to portraying Face the 2with min. the Avant-Garde”,180 min. and Century gallery, owned by Peggy 99 min. Original audioPOLISEMIA with Two Projects by Frederick Kiesler architectural space. Guggenheim and designed by Spanish subtitles. RICHARD WATTS by Heinz Emigholz. Germany, 2009. the screeningArnulf Rainerseries “100%Tuesday, Cinema”. 26 November Kiesler, will clinch this round (Gerd Zillner’s text) 16 min. Minhocão by Peter Kubelka. Austria, 1960. 9 pm. Courtyard of screenings. Tuesday, 22 October by Raphaël Grisey. France/Brazil, 7 min. Expanded Cinema 8 pm. Screening roomPrinted by Koolhaas HouseLife 2010. 31 min. Original audio with Kiesler often referred to cinema Der Sieger Kiesler in Film BRIZZOLIS by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. Spanish subtitles. Passage Through: A Ritual as an optical flying machine. Today, by Walter Ruttmann. Germany, As someone who was intensely France, 2008. 60 min. Original by Stan Brakhage. USA, 1990. one of the artists who are conduct- 1922. 5 min. involved in the avant-gardeISBN move- audio with Spanish subtitles. Reconversão 49 min. ing the most radical investigations ments and had a keen978-84-616-6368-2 sense of by Thom Andersen. Portugal, 2012. into the possibilities of sound and Ballet Mécanique fun, Kiesler volunteered to ap- 65 min. Original audio with light is undoubtedly the architect by Fernand Léger and Dudley pear as an actor in CocteauDL and Spanish subtitles. and filmmaker Bruce McClure. His Murphy. France, 1924. 16 min. Richter’s film alongsideM-27825-2013 other prom- performances have become brutal inent artistic figures of his day, such acts of cinematographic energy and One A.M. as Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, truly unique events. by Charles Chaplin. USA, 1916. Max Ernst and Alexander Calder. 21 min. Described by Richter himself as Performance “part Freud, part Lewis Carroll”, the The Follies: Who Will Put the Bell The Fall of the House of Usher film is an exploration of the myster- on the Cat? by James Sibley Watson and ies of the subconscious applied by Bruce McClure Melville Webber. USA, 1928. 13 min. to the artistic based on the game Cover photo: of chess. Witch’sIrving Penn, Cradle Frederick Kiesler with model forby MayaEndless Deren. House, USA, New 1943. York 12, 1958–1960 min. 8x8: A Chess Sonata © 2013, The Irving Penn Foundation. in 8 Movements The films will be projected in 16 mm by Hans Richter and Jean Cocteau. Allwith illustrations live music accompanimentreproduced in this by volume,USA, except 1957. 80 min. Original audio theAbel cover Hernández image, (Elbelong Hijo). to the Österreichischewith Spanish subtitles. Friedrich und Lillian Kiesler Privatstiftung. Frederick Kiesler. The Stage Explodes

Exhibition (3 October 2013–12 January 2014)

Kiesler was a man of many talents, whose heterodox, wide-ranging knowledge allowed him to put forward concepts linked to the scientific research of his day which have since become central to contemporary creation, such as superimposition, simultaneity and intertwining: superimposed planes in his stage designs and drawings, simultaneous spaces on the stage and in architecture, and intertwined elements culminating in a cinema that surpasses the limits of the screen.

Scale models, plans and sketches of his projects will allow visitors to step into Kiesler’s particular utopian universe.

This exhibition has been curated by Barbara Lesák and co-produced with the Austrian Theatre Museum in Vienna and Villa Stuck in Munich. The Stage Explodes 7

Kiesler’s Theatre Works: Launching into a Vast Universe

Frederick Kiesler began his career as a stage designer in 1923 and immediately pushed the boundaries of the profession, which is precisely what makes him so interesting to us today. His creative potential was multifaceted: he was a scenographer, but he was also an architect, an architectural theorist and a designer. His projects were largely developed in the visionary realm and therefore frequently misunderstood and rejected. He set new standards for exhibition design, which he regarded as the art of engineering mise-en-scène. Halfway through his life he developed a new design theory, which he called “cor- realism”. This theory brought together his highly personal views on life, art and the natural sciences of his time into a single philosophy of art and life. Finally, towards the end of his life, he also became involved in painting and sculpture. Kiesler knew how to weave all of these creative areas together in an artistic life driven throughout by two or three ideas that manifest themselves in each of his works. A universal idea can be found even in his smaller-scale creations, such as the shop window he designed in 1929 in New York for the luxury retailer Saks. Kiesler expressed this 1 Frederick Kiesler, “America universal idea in an essay that contained refreshing Adopts and Adapts the New Art observations on American consumerism. His inten- in Industry”, in Siegfried Gohr tion, he wrote, was to bring an understanding of and Gunda Luyken (eds.), Frederick the principles of modern art and aesthetics to J. Kiesler: Selected Writings mass consumers in a subliminal way as they (Ostfildern bei Stuttgart: Gerd sauntered past his modern shop window design.1 Hatje, 1996), pp. 10–14. world technical equipmentintotherealmofaesthetics. the renewalofartthroughintegrationreal- came icons,symbolising were circulatedinalloftheavant-gardemagazines timeandsoonbe umenting hisstagedesignfor sound. Orders,repliesareissuedfrommegaphones.” forward intermittently. The turbine controlrotatescontinuously. Factory sirens Tanagra deviceflipsopen,snapsshut. The seismograph inthemiddlemoves the circularsurface.The diaphragmcloses.Ontheright,builtintoprops,a eter. The diaphragm slowly opens: the projector clatters, a film is shown on they workedina1924text: “Ontheleft,alargeirisdiaphragm,1.10m indiam which wasanentirelynewapproach tostagedesign.Kieslerdescribedhow ogy. Certainpartsofthesetwereoperationalandplayedafunctionalrole, In thisway, heturnedthebackdrop intoamagnificentapotheosisoftechnol- stageonBerlin’sthe entirerearwallofsmallboulevard Kurfürstendamm. were groupedtogetherinarelief-likeimageonsinglebackdrop that tookup illustratedandrealmechanical parts and acousticinventionsofhistime:both essence oftheplayandfoundacompellingwaytorepresentoptokinetic portunity forKieslertoexpress hisfascinationwithtechnology. Hedistilledthe playwright Čapek,whoseworksconveyedafuturisticvision,wastheperfect op impressed him,intohisstagedesigns.The science-fictionstoryby the Czech the incorporationofmanytechnical achievements ofhistime,which hadso universal ideathatKieslerhadseizeduponwithgreatenthusiasmatthetime: Emperor Jones Karel Čapek’s play robot signs createdinBerlin1923and1924.Hedesignedanidealbackdrop for methodwasalreadyevidentintwoofhisearliestworks,setde Kiesler’s 8 Equipment into Realm the of Aesthetics The Integration of Real-World Technical in 1924. Both of these early stage designs were based on the in1924.Bothoftheseearlystagedesignswerebasedonthe R.U.R. R.U.R. in1923,andthesetforEugeneO’Neill’s havebeenpreserved.However, these 2 Onlyafew photosdoc 1924), p.21. (Vienna: Loecker &Woegenst, neuer Theatertechnik (ed.), morte vivante”,inFrederick Kiesler 2

Frederick Kiesler, “Delanature InternationaleAusstellung The The - - - - -

, exh. cat. the bold ideaofamechanised playsequencewasdemonstrated.Thethe bold utopian, et. Photomontagemadetheabstractionoforiginaleventpossible,and O’Neill’s tragicvillain,wastobehoundedandhuntedthrough thiseeriethick criss-crossing the stage tosimulate an African jungle. formance therewasnointerplayofshapesandforms,Kieslerusedbattens the precisesecondatwhich thesetshouldbetransformed.Both appropri performance. Alongsidethefilmframeheplacedatimeline,which indicated frame. The funnel stages were drawings and did not reflect the reality of the called “funnelstages”,placingthematthebeginningandendoffilm tos intoafilmframeandflankedthem withtwofunnel-shapedrooms, theso- all,renameit.Heassembledthefourpho photographic materialand,above the abstractandseeminglyarbitrarystagescenery, sohedecidedtoeditthe its purpose.Heonlyhadfourphotographsthatshowedthevariousphasesof nological visions,sothesethecreatedforplayhadtobeadaptedsuit This hypertrophictech time,thescenariowasnotatallconducivetoKiesler’s Berlin underthedirectionofBertholdViertel andwithsetdesignsbyKiesler. On 8 January 1924, O’Neill’s new play the originalevent,aplaycalled Mechanical StageSetting”.Hehadthuscompletelydetached himselffrom ate andprovocative,thetitlehegavetofilmframewas“Sequenceofa

Design for the first Endless Theatre, with a stage consisting of concentric annular segments (floor plan) The EmperorJones The Emperor Jones . Althoughintheactualper The Emperor Jones was performed in - - - - - ,

9 10 visionary Kiesler repeatedly sought to break through the irksome limita- Changing the Standard and 11 tions of reality so that he could realise his own visions. These two stage sets, which he frequently described as “electromechanical stages” in his writings, the Function: From the Space made him a pioneer in the field of stage design in the 1920s. Kiesler was a Stage to the City in Space master of the art of naming his creations. Finding the right catchword or, better still, battle cry, was vital if one hoped to emerge victorious from the war of ideas, of which there were more than a few in the 1920s. His innovative talents were instantly recognised by his contemporaries and success gave Kiesler the strength he needed to take more forceful action: first, a massive assault on European theatre and its traditions, and afterwards the reconstruction of European theatre from scratch. In 1924 Kiesler travelled to Vienna in order to work on a commission. Two spec- tacular stage sets and three explosive theatre manifestos published in Berlin dailies constituted the right mix of theory and practice that distin- guished Kiesler as someone capable, in the opinion of the organisers of Vienna’s Theaterfest der Stadt festival, of getting an exhibition about European avant-garde theatre off the ground. This led to the legendary Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik exhibition, held in the autumn of 1924 at the Vienna Konzerthaus.3 In performing this task Kiesler deployed his stu-

pendous creative diversity and pulled out all the stops of his craft for the first time. Specialising in a single field of design and continuously improving on it was not his way of working. He was sensitive to the fact that his time needed a new, universal design language that could only be supplied by a universalist like himself, someone who applied a viable idea to all possible fields of design. In Vienna, he developed the complete design in the spirit of constructivism: the typography of the poster and the catalogue, the leger-und- träger (L+T) freestanding exhibition display system and, above all, the Space Stage (Raumbühne).

To see the Space Stage standing in all its immensity, completely performance-ready, in the centre hall of the Konzerthaus was a shock to supporters and adversaries alike. The Space Stage rose from the floor of the seating area up to the balcony, where the audience was clustered in a U around the fly tower. With Kiesler’s Space Stage, the stage reforms of avant-garde theatre were on trial. This practical 3 For a detailed discussion of test run was extremely unusual at a time when the Internationale Ausstellung theatrical utopias were seldom realised. Fantasies neuer Theatertechnik exhibition for the Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik exhibition of unrealisable projects were all too common, and an analysis of the Space which explains why Kiesler’s Space Stage was Stage, see Barbara Lesák, so shocking. Kiesler thus jolted the timid from Die Kulisse explodiert. Friedrich

View of the Space Stage built in Mittlere Saal (now Mozart Hall) Vienna Konzerthaus their slumber by demonstrating that a new type Kieslers Theaterexperimente und of stage was possible. The Space Stage was Architekturprojekte, 1923–1925 essentially a tall tower, an unconcealed wooden (Vienna: Löcker, 1988). 12 structure with a very dynamic appearance. There was a lift in the tower’s Most theatre critics attacked the Space Stage. Karl Kraus wrote: “So you mean, 13 central supporting framework to carry the actors to the middle playing ring. Mr. Kiesler, that Gretchen races up to the stage on a motorcycle, sings the The circular upper level was reached either by climbing up two steep iron lad- song at the spinning wheel and then hurtles into the depths in the lift, while ders from the middle ring or by ascending a wide staircase from below. There Faust and Mephisto roar down the serpentine path in a small car? Rest assured, was also a spiral ramp leading to the middle ring from the ground floor below. Mr. Kiesler: I don’t think we will be performing Faust.”4 Only one production was performed on the Space Stage: In the Dark, a three- character play by Paul Frischauer in the late expressionist style, yet another The literary genre of the manifesto, an important element for the full under- of the many embezzlement dramas in the manner of Georg Kaiser. The per- standing of avant-garde art, had its heyday in the 1920s, and Kiesler was a formance of a second play, Yvan Goll’s grotesque Dada work Methuselah, master of this art. No one knew how to attack traditional theatre like he did. was cancelled just before the opening night for copyright reasons. During In his manifestos, he tackled stage and theatre reform in an even more radical the three weeks it stood in the Konzerthaus, much time was spent dancing way than he did with the Space Stage. Writing in 1924, he proposed a “Railway on the Space Stage; perhaps it was the truly ideal stage structure for modern Theatre”, a complex theatre structure in which there was also room for the Space dance, with its emphasis on gymnastics. Stage: “The Space Stage of the Railway Theatre, the theatre of the time, floating in space. . . . the auditorium revolves in loop-shaped electromotive movements around the spherical core of the stage. . . . the play of movement is poly-dimen- sional, which is to say spherical.”5 His theatre concept was full of the kinetic energy that Kiesler had observed in the imposing steel roller coasters which were all the rage at the amusement parks of his day. Since these technically so- phisticated entertainment structures came from America, they were also known as “railways” in Europe.

4 Karl Kraus, “Serpentinengedankengänge”, Die Fackel, 668–675 (December 1924), p. 39.

5 Frederick Kiesler, “Das Railway- designed to be built in Woodstock, New York designed to be built in Woodstock, Theater”, in Frederick Kiesler (ed.), Internationale Ausstellung neuer

Scale model of the large auditorium The Universal, a “twin theatre” Theatertechnik, exh. cat. (Vienna: Loecker & Woegenst, 1924), p. II. 14 In 1925, Kiesler was invited to design the presentation of Austrian con- Moving the Stage to the 15 temporary theatre at Paris’ Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, although he was not represented in the exhibition by any Department Store of his creations as a scenographer. What he created for Paris was a refined and optimised version of the Vienna exhibition design. He devised a scaffold structure that seemed to float in mid-air, originally intended for the presentation of stage models and designs by Austrian set designers. However, he gave it a second, totally new function. Like a sorcerer, Kiesler set a transformation mechanism in motion that turned his creation into something entirely different. He saw a much more comprehensive idea represented in his design: the model for a futuristic city, to which he gave the highly picturesque name “City When he proclaimed the invention of the City in Space in Paris in 1925, Kiesler in Space”. Immediately after this “flash of inspiration”, the City in Space was was discovered for America by Jane Heap, who was visiting the French capi- publicly proclaimed in a leaflet co-authored with Maurice Raynal that was dis- tal at the time. Heap was the publisher of the avant-garde literary magazine tributed among the exhibition’s visitors. Kiesler’s manifesto “Vital Structure- The Little Review and ran a gallery in New York. In 1926 she invited Kiesler City in Space-Functional Architecture” was published in the Dutch art maga- to join her in designing a third version of his theatre exhibit in New York. His zine De Stijl that same year.6 encounter with her was auspicious, as Kiesler and his wife Stefi would even- tually settle down for good in New York. Arriving in New York in the spring of The importance of the space theme to Kiesler is evident in the fact that he 1926, Kiesler designed the International Theatre Exhibition in record time, in transferred this idea to the single-family home. In 1933, he developed the his usual manner, and working with limited financial resources. Well-known Space House, a prototype of which was exhibited at a well-known New York European stage designers were represented at the exhibition, as was mod- furniture shop. The question arose as to whether the term Space House was ern American scene design, which also had its heroes, such as Norman Bel an unnecessary pleonasm. Alfred Kerr, the famous Berlin theatre critic, had Geddes and Edmond Jones. Kiesler himself not only exhibited his tried-and- already taken exception to the term Space Stage. He could not imagine a true theatrical inventions, such as the two “electromechanical stages” and “non-space stage”, he wrote in a 1924 critique.7 However, Kiesler needed the the Space Stage—only in pictures, of course—but he also introduced New term Space Stage, with its ingenious redundancy, to underscore the fact that York audiences to a completely new type of theatre, venturing deep into the this was a highly innovative type of stage. It was supposed to be a type of realm of visionary utopia. He created the “Universal or Endless Theatre with- stage that could be experienced within the “space”, unlike the traditional pro- out Stage” especially for New York, an oval-shaped theatre that he exhibited scenium-type stage, where space is a linguistic illusion. as a large plaster model with outlines and floor plans, as though construction would begin in the near future. The term “endless” was to become part of a pivotal approach for Kiesler in his architectural, theoretical and artistic creations. He most clearly pursued the notion of “endlessness” in his architectural fantasies. The group of works that we so admire today, Kiesler’s cave-like, vegetatively proliferating houses, also emerged and evolved from a spark of theatrical inspiration. He designed his first Endless Theatre in 1926 in a per- 6 Frederick Kiesler, “Manifest: fectly elliptical shape as an ideal representation of infinity—a flowing form Vitalbau-Raumstadt-Funktionelle with no beginning or end. Alongside this new type of theatre, in the exhibition Architektur”, De Stijl, 10–11 (1925). Kiesler displayed a second theatre project, which he called Railway Stage Full reprint in Amsterdam and for Department Store (The Endless Stage). This was an unbelievably provoca- The Hague, 1968, pp. 435–437. tive act. In his Endless Theatre without Stage, the oval-shaped theatre, he eliminated the stage in a destructive fury and replaced it with a secular build- 7 Alfred Kerr, “Eugene O’Neill: ing, a department store. In America, Kiesler had quickly recognised the great Kaiser Jones”, Berliner Tageblatt, theatrical potential of the magnificently staged product lines of the depart- 9 January 1924. ment store, just waiting to be exploited. Customers and passers-by made their 16 stage entrance on the spiral ramps winding around the central axis of Surreal and 17 the department store, while the merchandise provided the decorative scenery and the act of purchasing supplied the dramatic action. Thus the theatre was Galactic Worlds overtaken by reality and became superfluous. Kiesler underscored this radical approach again with a manifesto characteristically entitled “The Theatre is Dead”. 8 In the 1926 exhibition catalogue, this text was presented as the central theme of the entire exhibit.

However, his dismal financial situation would soon put an end to Kiesler’s visionary flights of fancy. Becoming more pragmatic, in 1928 he built a cinema with ideal film viewing conditions and between 1929 and 1931 he designed two After 1933, Kiesler’s artistic credo underwent a striking transformation: he aban- functionalist theatre buildings, which he called twin theatres: one for Brooklyn doned the constructivism that had influenced his designs and embraced the and the other for Woodstock. Neither was ever built. ideas of surrealism that were gaining ground in New York thanks to a wave of newly arrived European surrealist artists. In his new role as scenic director for the operas to be performed by students at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, he let the impetuous surrealistic power of imagination flow into the hitherto ultra-conservative world of opera, releasing the stage on which operas were performed from the bondage of banally realistic set designs. Examples of Kiesler’s successful stage designs inspired by surrealism include George Antheil’s Helen Retires in 1934 and Darius Milhaud’s The Poor Sailor in 1948. For the archaising theme of Helen Retires, with a libretto by John Erskine, Kiesler 8 Frederick Kiesler, “The Theatre created abstract masks to conceal the faces of the singers, as well as vegeta- is Dead”, The Little Review, Special tive, virtually Arpian forms to represent the interplay between the earthly world Theatre Number (Winter 1926), p. 1. and the underworld as an oneiric event. For The Poor Sailor, Kiesler crafted a surreal world of forms using ocean flotsam, such as shells, fish bones, roots and branches, which bore a resemblance to the worlds depicted in surrealist paint- ings. Much of the opera takes place in a fisherman’s hut, which Kiesler con- structed by creating an extremely permeable framework consisting of strange bonelike parts that resembled branches. After the series of performances was finished, he extrapolated this hut from the stage and declared it to be an autono- mous installation. He called his series of larger, expansive sculptures “Galaxies”. Once again, the original inspiration was a theatrical design that Kiesler revived, expanded upon and transformed into a new application, ultimately erasing any hint of its theatrical roots. Scale model of The Universal Theatre, 1959–1961 18 Vision and Economics Frederick Kiesler. Face to Face with the Avant-Garde

Photography exhibition (4 October–4 November) Kiesler’s last theatre work was the Universal or Endless Theatre, which he worked on from 1959 to 1961. In 1959, he and seven other artists were asked by the Theatre Guild to design an ideal theatre. The result was a major theatre An overview of the artist’s life, work and project that Kiesler laconically referred to as The Universal; numerous de- context through the photography collection signs, plans and a large aluminium model of the project can be seen today at the Harvard Theatre Collection. With this project, Kiesler managed to achieve of Vienna’s Kiesler Foundation. a perfect balance of vision and pragmatism, placing a ten-story building at the spacious, round, biomorphic back of the solitary theatre building. In the text accompanying the project,9 the utopian Kiesler wrote that it was waste- ful to design a theatre as an individual, free-standing building, as was cus- tomary. The airspace above it was much too valuable and costly. His theatre had an unusual form: a cave in the shape of a uterus. However, in terms of substance—as a multi-purpose theatre with a flexible stage—it was functional and extremely practical in every respect.

By Barbara Lesák Curator of the Exhibition

9 Frederick Kiesler, “The Universal”, in Margaret Cogswell (ed.), The Ideal Theatre: Eight Concepts (New York: The American Federation of Arts, 1962), pp. 93–94. 20 Face to Face with 21 the Avant-Garde

There are many different ways to explore witness to the nature and intensity of friend- Frederick Kiesler’s biography: through his ships and employments. As historically relevant work, through the large number of publica- documents, they also provide us with a portrait tions and articles that Kiesler authored during of the international avant-garde of the twen- his lifetime, through his impressively extensive tieth century. correspondence or through biographical documents. The latter include the diaries of Stefi Frederick Kiesler was not only a visionary art- Kiesler, the artist-architect’s first wife. These ist and architect. His personality was equally diaries record practically every encounter and modern: aware of the importance of his own every contact that Frederick and Stefi Kiesler work and of his persona, Kiesler loved extrav- had with their acquaintances, colleagues and agant appearances and playing to the crowd. friends from 1930 to 1952.1 Another way is to ex- He was friends with the “who is who” of the amine the photographic documents, of which artistic avant-gardes in Europe and New York the Kiesler estate has an abundance. Among and he was what one would today refer to as a these, the photographs of Kiesler among his “networker” or “multiplier”. He was an “artist’s artist friends form an outstanding collection in artist”, committing himself to helping his art- their own right, complemented and rounded ist friends wherever he could, and he never off by portrait photos of colleagues collected lost contact with the youngest generation of by Kiesler. A close examination of these photos artists, even in old age. He was an important shows that they are far more than mere illus- node in the network of the “aesthetic commu- trations for catalogues and biographical syn- nity”, first in Europe and later in New York. opses intended to depict Kiesler’s life. More clearly than words, they often bear eloquent

1 In the course of a research project subsidised by the Anniversary Fund of the Austrian National Bank, the Kiesler Foundation in Vienna was able to subject Stefi Kiesler’s diaries and the correspondence of Frederick and Stefi Kiesler to a scientific review. See the chronology elaborated by Dieter Bogner and Matthias Boeckl in Dieter Bogner (ed.), Friedrich Kiesler, 1890–1965 (Vienna: Löcker, 1988), pp. 9–177. 22 In 1923 Kiesler literally leapt onto the Kiesler’s next project involved designing the Opera, and Frederick Cohen, the head of 23 stage of the European avant-garde when he theatre section of the Austrian contribution to the opera section of the Juilliard School. designed the stage set for Carel Čapek’s Paris’ 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts W.U.R. for the Theater am Kurfürstendamm Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. A series Upon the outbreak of World War II and the in Berlin, which earned him the admiration of photographs of this model of the City in surrender of France, more and more intel- and friendship of Theo van Doesburg, the co- Space features one shot of him with various lectuals and artists were forced to emigrate founder of the De Stijl movement.2 Many of exponents of the avant-garde gathered in from Europe. Many of the Parisian surreal- the friends that he made during this time were Paris, including Auguste Perret, Juan Gris, ists, for example, moved to New York in the life-long. Although there is little material from Tristan Tzara and Van Doesburg. These pho- course of the 1940s.3 These circumstances Kiesler’s time in Europe, several photographic tos also show Jane Heap, editor of The Little changed the circles which Kiesler frequented. documents show Kiesler with renowned col- Review, a New York arts and literature journal, As of the 1940s, but above all after design- leagues; his friendship of this time with Hans who invited Kiesler to travel to New York in ing Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Arp, Van Doesburg and Hans Richter are par- order to design a new theatre exhibition. Gallery in 1942, his contacts with exponents ticularly well documented in photos. of the surrealist movement grew closer. Stefi The Kieslers’ first years in New York were Kiesler records a meeting with artist friends In 1924, one year after his success in Berlin, fraught with setbacks and hardships, since from this circle in her diaries almost every day Kiesler organised the Internationale Aus- the projects that Kiesler tried to carry out and there are numerous photos that testify to stellung neuer Theatertechnik exhibition as turned out to be empty promises or came Kiesler’s close contact with this group. The part of Vienna’s Theaterfest der Stadt festi- to nothing. Through the good offices of historically relevant photographs from this val. Photographs of this event show him with Katherine Dreier, however, he came in con- period include a 1945 photo of the farewell the artist and film-maker Fernand Léger, tact with Harvey Wiley Corbett, one of the dinner for the founder of surrealism, André who would première his Ballet Mécanique on most influential architects of the time in New Breton, in which we can see all the protago- Kiesler’s Space Stage in the course of this York, and began working in his architectural nists of “surrealism in exile”. Kiesler’s intimate exhibition. One picture shows him in front of firm. Kiesler also got involved in the American friendship with the surrealists is also palpable his exhibition architecture, the L+T system, Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen in a series of pictures taken at a party for the with Van Doesburg and the futurist painter (AUDAC), establishing contact, among oth- painter and sculptor Max Ernst, in which we and stage designer Enrico Prampolini. ers, with Austrian architects in exile: a portrait see Kiesler crowning Ernst with vine leaves or photo of the famous designer Paul T. Frankl joking with his son Jimmy Ernst and the art- with a dedication to Kiesler is a good example ist Dorothea Tanning, Ernst’s last wife. Other of this. He also maintained contact with other important group photos are the ones taken designers and architects whom he knew from outside the farmhouse of the surrealist art- Kiesler and Theo van Doesburg, among others, with the L+T Europe: one 1937 photo, for example, shows ists Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy, in Woodbury, system, Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik, Mies van der Rohe on the Kieslers’ terrace. Connecticut. This collection also includes por- Vienna 1924 In 1934 Kiesler began working for the Juilliard traits of friends such as Gordon Onslow Ford, School of Music. In addition to abundant doc- Roberto Matta, Breton and Arshile Gorky. 2 See “Kiesler’s Pursuit of an Idea”, Thomas H. umentation on the stage sets that Kiesler de- In 1947 Kiesler designed the Blood Flames Creighton’s interview with Frederick Kiesler, in signed during this time, there are also photos exhibition for New York’s Hugo Gallery to- Progressive Architecture, 42-7 (July 1961), p. 109; and that link him with conductors and actors, like gether with the surrealist writer and art critic Hans Richter, Köpfe und Hinterköpfe (Zurich: Arche, 1967), p. 77f. On the friendship between Theo van Dimitri Mitropoulos, director of the New York Nicolas Calas. Kiesler was particularly close Doesburg and Kiesler, see Barbara Lesák, “Friedrich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Kiesler und Theo van Doesburg–Stationen einer Künstlerfreundschaft”, in Die Kulisse explodiert. 3 See Martica Sawin, Surrealism in Exile and the Friedrich Kieslers Theaterexperimente und Architektur- Beginning of the New York School (Cambridge, projekte, 1923–1925 (Vienna: Löcker, 1988), pp 185–199. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1995). 24 to the artist Marcel Duchamp during The culmination of his collaboration with the 25 this time. In January 1945, he asked Percy surrealists was the Salle de Superstitions, Rainford to take photographs of his friend designed by Kiesler for the Exposition Duchamp at his studio, using them to illus- Internationale du Surréalisme organised by trate an article that he laid out in the form of Breton and Duchamp at the Parisian Maeght a fold-out triptych.4 gallery in 1947. A set of photographs that Kiesler had sent to him as documentation of his exhibition architecture includes several group photos of the participating artists. Also from this time are a number of interesting photos of the sculptor and lyric poet Hans Arp together with Kiesler, who visited his old friend at his studio during his stay in Paris.

Hans Arp and Kiesler in Arp’s studio, Paris, 1947

Farewell dinner for André Breton, 1945

4 See Frederick Kiesler, “Les Larves d’imagie d’Henri Robert Marcel Duchamp”, View, 1 (March 1945). Kiesler with Salvatore Scarpitta and his wife at Leo Castelli’s gallery, New York, 1963 26 Kiesler was also on good terms with the Kiesler was also an active member of Long 100% Cinema younger generation of New York artists of Island’s artist community, where he rented the 1950s and 1960s.5 Photos of Kiesler with studios, in East Hampton or Amagansett, dur- (8 October–26 November) pop artist Andy Warhol and actress Baby ing the summer months. The estate includes Jane Holzer and impressively artistic dou- photos of Kiesler on the beach, for example, The title of this screening series is taken ble portraits with the abstract expressionist with art critic Dore Ashton, gallery owner Leo Willem de Kooning, taken by Irving Penn, Castelli and artist Salvatore Scarpitta, as well from a manifesto that Frederick Kiesler and with composer Edgard Varèse, taken as with cartoonist Saul Steinberg and pho- wrote in 1928, which is included in this by Duane Michals, also date from this time. tographer Hans Namuth. Like Irving Penn, the One curious series shows Kiesler in front of famous photographer of artists Hans Namuth volume. The series is a tribute to the the animal cages at the New York zoo; the not only documented Kiesler’s work but also Viennese architect’s cinematographic abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, accompanied him with numerous portrait pho- with whom he was close friends, is men- tos during the last decade of his life. activities, from the passionate interest in tioned as the author of these portraits on the cinema that led him to orchestrate the back of the photographs. By Gerd Zillner world premiere of Ballet Mécanique in Archivist of Vienna’s Kiesler Foundation Vienna in 1924 to his later contacts with the New York avant-garde and his active participation in the film culture of his day.

The series focuses on three aspects of Kiesler’s film work. Firstly, it documents Kiesler’s activity as an event organiser, as the driving force behind the Film Guild Cinema, and even as a sporadic actor in the production 8x8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements, directed by Jean Cocteau and Hans Richter. Secondly, it reflects

Kiesler with Andy Warhol and Baby Jane Holzer, 1958 on Kiesler’s legacy and the interest of contemporary documentary film in architecture: Heinz Emigholz’s attention to the ideas and forms of Kiesler’s Endless 5 See the many anecdotes concerning his artist friends in Frederick Kiesler, Inside the Endless House. Art, House and Shrine of the Book leads us People and Architecture: A Journal (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966). to approach architects like Rem Koolhaas, Affonso Eduardo Reidy and Eduardo Souto de Moura from an audiovisual perspective. 100% Cinema Finally, the series traces a possible 1928 connection between the avant-garde film movements of the post-war era and Kiesler’s aesthetic principles. Peter Kubelka’s metric Text originally published in the magazine Close Up, 3-2 (August 1928), pp. 35–41 cinema and the cosmic experiments of Stan Brakhage and Michael Snow shed new light on Kiesler’s idea of “optophonetics”. The series will end with a live performance by Bruce McClure, an architect and filmmaker who investigates the spatial possibilities of light and sound. The Film Arts Guild, pioneers in the “little cinema movement” of America, THE CINEMA MANIFESTO whose series of presentations of foreign films as well as American films at the Cameo Theatre, New York, during 1926 and 1927, may be said to By Frederick Kiesler have formally launched the film art movement, has consummated plans for the erection of its own cinema in the Greenwich Village section of We all know that our present-day cinema, or motion picture houses, New York, which will be opened to the public during September, 1928. are not cinemas, but merely imitations of old European theatres into which a screen was hung. But not all of us know that the Film Realizing that the art film, to grow to any influential stature, must has matured enough to create its own form of architecture, which be not only individual in conception, form and content, but should be must signify—IOO per cent. Cinema. presented as well in a structure embodying a new type of architecture, and inspired by the fundamental necessities of pure cinema, Symon Gould, Our age is an optical age. The rapidity of events and their brief du- the director of the Film Arts Guild, has engaged Frederick Kiesler, of ration require a receiving apparatus which can register as speedily Vienna, Paris and New York, a noted architect and stage designer who as possible. It is the Eye. was formerly identified with the International Theatre Exposition. The speed of light waves exceeds that of all other waves. The Film Guild has given Mr. Kiesler full rein to conceive, plan and design both the exterior and the interior of the Film Guild Cinema The Film is the optical flying-machine of our era. as well as unique projection ideas invented by him. He has given the cinema and its individual needs intensive research and study since I will repeat what I published as early as 1922: The elementary dif- 1920. He has evolved a new science called “optophonetics”, which is ference between Cinema and Theatre consists in the fact that the a radical treatment of color, sound and sight from the cinema stand- Film is a play on a surface—the Theatre a play in space. point. He pays special attention to what he terms “visual-acoustics”, a screen which permits new methods of projection, a new scheme of at- This difference has not been realized concretely either in the Theatre mospheric decorations of a chameleon-nature and other ideas which architecture nor in the Cinema architecture up to the present day. emphasize radically the quintessence of the cinema. I established an ideal project for the Theatre in “The Endless Theatre”, Mr. Kiesler embodies his suggestions and ideas in the following in Paris, 1925. In contrast to it, I have now also adapted the Ideal Cinema Manifesto: Cinema to the American Building Laws, in New York, 1926.

While the ideal Theatre is dedicated to the Spoken Word, the ideal Cinema is “The House of Silence”, “The Wordless House”, or rather “The House of Sounding Vibrations”.

— 30 — — 31 — The Theatre must give up the present “Peepshow form”, which will The architectural form of the ideal Cinema, contrary to the Theatre, pass over, in a purified state, to the Cinema as the ideal picture- must vary according to the size of the audience. Every capacity im- theatre. This new form of the Cinema will give the most artistic and plies its corresponding elementary architectural form. A cinema economical possibilities, much more than in any Cinema of today. for 300 spectators will have its special form (involving, of course, the size of the building ground), which will be essentially different The constructivistic experiments in decoration of the Russians from the form of a Cinema for 1,000. The latter will differ from one (Tairoff, Meyerhold and others), the futuristic attempts of the Italians, designed for 2,000, this in turn from those designed for a capacity and the expressionistic work of the Germans (Jessner, Poelzig and of 4,000, 6,000 and 10,000. Beyond 10,000 spectators, the architec- others) have achieved no results for the new Stage, nor for the new tural form will remain the same. Architecture of the Theatre in general. They remained stuck fast in mere decoration, and after a brief existence of a few years they per- The factor of next importance is Acoustics. ished in the artistic reaction of 1926 to 1927. Mechanized music differs in its acoustic results from ordinary mu- While in the Theatre every single spectator is an atom of the mass sic. It has been proved that the Film cannot exist of itself. The “silent of spectators and loses his individuality in order to be fused into film” is a dead film, the film without music is exhausting, impossible complete unity with the actors, the Cinema which I have designed is for any length of time, especially the length of a whole evening. the ideal house of the inactive spectator, of the passive spectator, of the individual spectator, the house of absolute Individuality. The films are exhausting because they make all their demands on a single sense, the sense of sight. This is opposed to the laws of the The most important quality of the auditorium is, on the one hand, its human organism. Everyone of the five senses must be supported by power of suggesting concentration of attention. Even more impor- one of the others to attain its highest powers. We see better while tant is its power of destroying the sensation of confinement which hearing, and we hear better while seeing. We must be able to see music, may be involved in the focal concentration of the spectator upon the just as we must be able to hear a spectacle or a picture. screen. I mean that the Reflex which the film creates in the psyche of the spectator must make it possible for him to lose himself in imagi- For this reason there is a complete misunderstanding of elementary nary, endless space, to feel himself alone in universal space, even facts and artistic misconception in the complete refusal to accept though the projection surface, the screen, implies the opposite: All the sounding-film or the color-film. One must not be misled by the for one point, the SCREEN. absolutely unsatisfactory first attempts. Some day MUSIC, combined with COLOR and FILM, will be brought to a new perfect unity in a new art which I have named OPTOPHONETICS.

— 32 — — 33 — and every effect on the psyche of the spectator fails completely. All sense of illusion is lost, because the separation between nature and art is lacking.

In the Film, as in every other art, everything depends on how its me- diums (means) are utilized and not on what is employed; and in the film of the future all depends on how the black-and-white-color and sound can be fused into an optophonetic union.

The attempts at speaking-films have failed completely in the cinema. Speaking is too natural, too concretely a part of an individuality, to be changed from nature to abstract art. But singing, on the contrary, like instrumental music, will be employed as accompaniment to optical drama, for singing, the abstract form of speech, can at once be combined with the optical drama in the realm of art. The reproduction of speech, however, falls into the realm of the radio- phone and of television—a transfer into space of the material of facts (news reels).

The acoustics and the general form of the cinema depend essentially on the establishment of these facts, as do the position of the orchestra, of the organ, and all related details.

There is no doubt whatever that the film is not a final goal, but a transition to a new art which I call OPTOPHONETICS. The house of Facade of a restaurant in the Film Guild Cinema complex Optophonetics, as the ideal cinema, is the OPTOPHON. But as long as the film expresses itself in black and white, and because of the very lack of color, it is from the beginning not an imitation of nature, but a new form of artistic creation. But when the color- -film reproduces merely a photograph, a copy of scenery, the cleav- age between nature and art, between the spectator and nature, grows less; and so in a work of pure imitation, the artistic effect

— 34 — — 35 — The problems which determined my plans and which have received an entirely original solution by me were:

1. The elementary difference between Theatre and Cinema-architecture. 2. The possibilities of utilizing film theatres when there is nothing on the screen. 3. The variety of architectural forms according to the capacity of the house. 4. The problem of handling the audience in the cinema (the traffic problem in the cinema). 5. Light-intermissions (continuous and discontinuous method of presentation). 6. The Auditorium (more seats and more comfort). 7. Decoration. 8. The ideal screen. 9. The ideal projection-box. 10. The new acoustics. 11. Musicians and mechanized music. 12. The color problem. Film Guild Cinema with “screen-o-scope”, New York, 1929 13. The foyer. 14. The entrance into the auditorium. 15. The ticket box. 16. The façade. 17. The entrance.

— 36 — — 37 — 100% Cinema Screening Series 8 October–26 November 2013

Tuesday, 8 October Tuesday, 15 October Tuesday, 29 October Tuesday, 5 November Tuesday, 12 November Tuesday, 19 November 10 pm. Courtyard 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. Screening room 8 pm. Screening room Kiesler: Event Organiser/Presenter Kiesler and the Avant-Garde The Kiesler Legacy Utopian Architecture An Infinite Imaginary Space Surface Games, Spatial Games In 1975 Lillian Kiesler, Frederick’s Movements Continuing with his series Whatever became of utopian archi- In 1970, Peter Kubelka designed For this film, Michael Snow built a widow, discovered a series of can- This ambitious episodic film has Photography and Beyond, Heinz tecture? What has become of the the Invisible Cinema at Anthology robotic arm that would allow the isters at her country house contain- the best cast that an avant-gardist Emigholz used images in an at- spaces dreamt up by architecture to Film Archives, a movie theatre camera to pan and swivel 360 de- ing films by Viking Eggeling, Hans could wish for: Max Ernst, Marcel tempt to understand and explain improve the lives of human beings? based on patterns that reflected grees in order to explore the space Richter and Walter Ruttmann, as Duchamp, Man Ray, Alexander Kiesler’s visionary work. To this end, The filmMinhocão , by Raphaël Kiesler’s ideas, especially his belief around it. The result is one of the well as the original copy of Ballet Calder, Darius Milhaud and Emigholz filmed two of his projects: Grisey, explores the Pedregulho that “the ideal cinema is a house most radical cinematographic Mécanique, by Fernand Léger and Fernand Léger. Some of the the scale model for his Endless Residential Complex, a subsidised of silence”. In his films, Kubelka experiments ever made, which has Dudley Murphy. With the help of greatest artists of the twentieth House, which was never built, and housing complex designed by develops his theories about metric since become a rarely screened Jonas Mekas and the Anthology century give free rein to their his Shrine of the Book, located at Affonso Eduardo Reidy and built cinema; namely, that cinema is a cult film. In Snow’s own words, it Film Archives, the films were re- plastic fantasies in a series of The Israel Museum, in Jerusalem. in 1946 in Rio de Janeiro. For his projection of static images and is “the conversion of matter into stored and projected once again. dream sequences, combining Real and projected spaces cul- part, Thom Andersen’s film features that the still is the smallest unit of energy”. On a certain level, the film This session is a tribute to Kiesler’s oneiric atmospheres with land- minate in the film that Ila Bêka seventeen buildings and projects meaning. This session also features undoubtedly ties in with Kiesler’s efforts to organise film events and scapes typical of fantasy or noir and Louise Lemoine dedicated to by Eduardo Souto de Moura. In one of Stan Brakhage’s most stun- theories about space and with his popularise the seventh art, and films. The film was produced one of the world’s most respected this session we encounter two ning movies, a demonstration of the interest in the most cutting-edge includes a collection of films that by Peggy Guggenheim’s Art architects, Rem Koolhaas, which cinematographic approaches to emotional power of music in film. cinematographic movements. Kiesler arranged to have shown of This Century Corporation. documents the daily work of the two impossible dreams: the dream both in Europe and in the United cleaning woman in a building de- of architecture as a space of social Adebar La Région Centrale States. Witch’s Cradle, filmed by Dreams that Money Can Buy signed by Koolhaas. transformation and the dream of by Peter Kubelka. Austria, 1957. by Michael Snow. Canada, 1971. Maya Deren at the Art of This by Hans Richter. USA, 1947. film as a vehicle for portraying the 2 min. 180 min. Century gallery, owned by Peggy 99 min. Original audio with Two Projects by Frederick Kiesler architectural space. Guggenheim and designed by Spanish subtitles. by Heinz Emigholz. Germany, 2009. Arnulf Rainer Tuesday, 26 November Kiesler, will clinch this round 16 min. Minhocão by Peter Kubelka. Austria, 1960. 9 pm. Courtyard of screenings. Tuesday, 22 October by Raphaël Grisey. France/Brazil, 7 min. Expanded Cinema 8 pm. Screening room Koolhaas HouseLife 2010. 31 min. Original audio with Kiesler often referred to cinema Der Sieger Kiesler in Film by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. Spanish subtitles. Passage Through: A Ritual as an optical flying machine. Today, by Walter Ruttmann. Germany, As someone who was intensely France, 2008. 60 min. Original by Stan Brakhage. USA, 1990. one of the artists who are conduct- 1922. 5 min. involved in the avant-garde move- audio with Spanish subtitles. Reconversão 49 min. ing the most radical investigations ments and had a keen sense of by Thom Andersen. Portugal, 2012. into the possibilities of sound and Ballet Mécanique fun, Kiesler volunteered to ap- 65 min. Original audio with light is undoubtedly the architect by Fernand Léger and Dudley pear as an actor in Cocteau and Spanish subtitles. and filmmaker Bruce McClure. His Murphy. France, 1924. 16 min. Richter’s film alongside other prom- performances have become brutal inent artistic figures of his day, such acts of cinematographic energy and One A.M. as Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, truly unique events. by Charles Chaplin. USA, 1916. Max Ernst and Alexander Calder. 21 min. Described by Richter himself as Performance “part Freud, part Lewis Carroll”, the The Follies: Who Will Put the Bell The Fall of the House of Usher film is an exploration of the myster- on the Cat? by James Sibley Watson and ies of the subconscious applied by Bruce McClure Melville Webber. USA, 1928. 13 min. to the artistic based on the game of chess. Witch’s Cradle by Maya Deren. USA, 1943. 12 min. 8x8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements The films will be projected in 16 mm by Hans Richter and Jean Cocteau. with live music accompaniment by USA, 1957. 80 min. Original audio Abel Hernández (El Hijo). with Spanish subtitles. Exhibition Workshop Workshop Frederick Kiesler. The Spatiotemporal Dimension Focus on the Exhibitions. The Stage Explodes in Frederick Kiesler’s Work Frederick Kiesler’s Endless FREDERICK 3 October 2013 to 4–8 November, House 12 January 2014 from 5 pm to 8 pm Saturdays, 19 October, Areas A, B and C 16 November and 14 December, Aimed at architects, artists and from 11 am to 1.30 pm KIESLER Exhibition students of architecture and the For children ages 6 to 9 Frederick Kiesler. performing and visual arts, as well Face to Face with as anyone with a general interest in Welcome to the endless house! the Avant-Garde Kiesler’s work, this instructive and Welcome to the workshop that never 4 October–4 November 2013 participatory workshop will take par- ends, to flowing space, to the house Tower 1 ticipants on a tour of the Kieslerian without corners, to the utopia that 3 October 2013 universe, examining it from key con- Frederick Kiesler strove to make a 12 January 2014 temporary perspectives. Lectures will reality when he designed his Endless Produced with be given alongside a digital creation House, a space that goes on forever, Volume 02 workshop focusing on Kiesler’s work. with an amazing ability to adapt, with 3 euros no boundaries to limit the mind or Workshop the imagination. Artist, designer and The Meeting: With What End architect, Kiesler was a firm believer in View? in the elasticity of space, a quality 18–21 November, from 11 am that would allow it to adapt to the to 2 pm, and 22 November, changing circumstances of its con- from 6 pm to 9 pm text. What is the space around you Screening Series like? Is it flexible? Could you live 100% Cinema Drawing inspiration from the architec- in a house with infinite forms that 8 October–26 November 2013 tural work of Frederick Kiesler, who changed to suit your needs? When conceived the cinema as an “endless we begin to examine Kiesler’s ideas, house”, and in dialogue with the uto- a thousand questions arise. In this pias of Superstudio, Bruce McClure workshop we will experiment with has forged an artistic praxis in which the places where our dreams reside film comes to life. The workshop will and try to describe them. Perhaps explore cinema’s relationship with they are “endless spaces”. space and the potential of light games and sound distortion by contrasting light and shadow, noise and silence.