Kurt Kren

KurtKren (September 20, 1929 - died inVienna on June23, 1998) was an Austrian avant-garde lmmaker. He isbest known for his involvement with the Vienna Aktion-ists and the group of lms that resulted, although this ac-counts for only a part of his career, and he later returnedto the Structural roots of his third lm 3/60: Bume ImHerbst. Although not a seminal Structural lm, 31/75:Asyl is arguably one of the more satisfying lms of themovement.

1 BiographyKurt Kren was born in 1929 in Vienna, Austria to a familyof a Jewish father (a bank employee) andGermanmother.From 1939 until the end of World War II Kren lived inRotterdam, where he was sent with one of the ChildrensTransports. In 1947 Kren returned to Vienna, and hisfather provided him a job at the National Bank.He began a lm career in the early 1950s creating experi-mental short 8mm lms. In 1957 he moved to the 16mmformat.In 1966, Kren participated in the Destruction in Art Sym-posium in London. In 1968 he visited the USA for therst time, showing his lms in New York and St. Louis.After a participation in a happening Kunst und Revolu-tion (Art and Revolution) at the University of Viennain 1968, Krens lms were conscated and he was redfrom the National Bank.Kren participated in 1970 in the International Under-ground Film Festival (London, UK) and 1971 in theCannes Film Festival. He moved to Cologne, Germanyfor ve years.Retrospective screenings took place in 1976 in NationalFilm Theatre, London, 1978 in New York, 1979 inMuseum of Modern Art, New York.From 1978 until 1989 Kurt Kren lived in the USA, some-times just in a car, traveling, making presentations andlectures at universities, lm schools and the Houston Mu-seum of Fine Arts.In the early 1980s Kren alternated between living inAustin, Texas and Houston, Texas. He began frequent-ing the Texas punk rock clubs and became a xtureof the early Houston punk rock scene. Kren becamegood friends with punk rock band Really Red and oftenwould show his lms as a backdrop to their Texas shows.On their "New Strings for Old Puppets" ep Really Red

recorded a song in tribute to Kurt Kren called Ode toKurt Kren. From 1983 until 1989 Kren did work as asecurity ocer at the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston,USA).Kren returned to his native Vienna in 1989. In the 1990shis works were presented worldwide, also by the majormuseums and cinematheques. He was a co-founder ofthe Vienna Institute of Direct Art and the Austria Film-makers Cooperative.Kurt Kren died from pneumonia in Vienna, Austria in1998.

2 Filmography Das Walk (1956) Rom (Fragment) (1956) Klavier Salon 1. Stock (1956) Mobiles (1957) 1/57: Versuch mit synthetischem Ton (Test) / 1/57:

Experiment with Synthetic Sound (Test) (1957)

2/60: 48 Kpfe aus dem Szondi-Test / 2/60: 48Heads from the Szondi-Test (1960) (see Szondi test)

3/60: Bume im Herbst / 3/60: Trees in Autumn(1960)

4/61: Mauern-Positiv-Negativ und Weg (1961) 5/62: Fenstergucker, Abfall, etc. / 5/62: People

Looking Out of the Window, Trash, etc. (1962)

6/64: Mama und Papa (Materialaktion Otto Mhl)/ 6/64: Mom and Dad (An Otto Mhl Happening)(1964)

7/64: Leda mit dem Schwan / 7/64: Leda and theSwan (1964)

8/64: Ana Aktion Brus / 8/64: Ana: Action Brus(1964)

9/64: O Tannenbaum / 9/64: O Christmas Tree(1964)

10/65: Selbstverstmmelung / 10/65: Self-Mutilation(1965)

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2 3 EXTERNAL LINKS

10b/65: Silber Aktion Brus / 10b/65: Silver: ActionBrus (1965)

10c/65: Brus wnscht euch seine Weihnachten(1965)

11/65: Bild Helga Philipp (1965) 12/66: Cosinus Alpha (1966) 13/67: Sinus Beta (1967) 14/67: Kurdu (Gebetsmhle) (1967) (The DVD dis-tributor INDEX lists this lm as lost in its biographyof Kurt Kren.)

15/67: TV (1967) 16/67: 20. September / 16/67: September 20 (1967) 17/68: Grn - rot (1968) 18/68: Venecia kaputt (1968) 19/68: White-black (1968) 20/68: Schatzi (1968) 21/68: Danke (1968) 22/69: Happy End (1969) 23/69: Underground Explosion (1969) 24/70: Western (1970) 25/71: Klemmer und Klemmer verlassen die Welt(1971)

26/71: Zeichenlm - Balzac und das Auge Gottes /26/71: Cartoon: Balzac and the Eye of God (1971)

27/71: Auf der Pfaueninsel (1971) 28/73: Zeitaufnahme(n) (1973) 29/73: Ready-made (1973) 30/73: Coop Cinema Amsterdam (1973) 31/75: Asyl / 31/75: Asylum (1975) 32/76: An W+B / 32/76: To W+B (1976) 33/77: Keine Donau (1977) 34/77: Tschibo (1977) 35/77: Dogumenta (1977) 36/78: Rischart (1978) 37/78: Tree Again (1978) 38/79: Sentimental Punk (1979) 39/81: Which Way to CA? (1981) 40/81: Breakfast im Grauen (1981)

41/82: Getting warm (1982) 42/83: No Film (1983) 43/84: 1984 (1984) 44/85: Foot'-age Shoot'-out (1985) 45/88: Trailer (1988) 46/90: Falter 2 (1990) 47/91: Ein Fest (1991) 48/94: Fragment W.E. (1994) 49/95: Tausendjahrekino / Thousand-Years-Cinema(1995)

50/96: Snapspots (for Bruce) (1996)

3 External links Kurt Kren at the Internet Movie Database Sixpack Film Vienna-based distributor of Krenswork

Few lms for downloading and an essay about Kren Biography (also used as one of the sources for thisarticle)

About Kurt Kren in Bright Lights Film Journal

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