Arnulf Rainer

This is a film composed entirely of frames of solid black and solid white, which Kubelka strings together in lengths as long as 24 frames and as short as a single frame. When he alternates between single black and white frames, a rapid flicker of motion-pictures projection; during the longer sections of darkness one waits in nervous anticipation for the flicker to return, without knowing precisely what form it will take. (Fred Camper) Arnulf Rainer, an architecture built in time by cinema uses only the four essential elements of the medium: light, darkness, sound and silence. (Peter Kubelka) With Arnulf Rainer, his third metrical film, Kubelka arrived at the most elemental components of cinematography – namely light, absence of light, sound, silence. These are the four poles from which all of cinema, all of film is suspended. Stretched to their utmost limits, all illusionism is driven out. The last trace of a spatial reproduction is extinguished. And the illusion of movement based on visual similarities of sequential frames (whose minor differences disappear upon projection and thanks to the sluggishness of perception are transformed into an illusion of continuity) is also obliterated. (Peter Tscherkassky)

Orig. Title
Arnulf Rainer
Year
1960
Country
Austria
Duration
6 min 30 sec
Director
Peter Kubelka
Category
Avantgarde/Arts
Orig. Language
No Dialogue
Downloads
Arnulf Rainer (Image)
Credits
Director
Peter Kubelka
Realisation
Peter Kubelka
Concept
Peter Kubelka
Available Formats
35 mm (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,37
Sound Format
stereo
Frame Rate
24 fps
Color Format
b/w
16 mm (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,37
Sound Format
mono
Frame Rate
24 fps
Color Format
b/w