Oskar Fischinger

Amsterdam

In collaboration with the Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles, the EYE film museum currently presents Experiments in Cinematic Abstraction – a major exhibition dedicated to one of the foremost pioneers of animation and abstraction in cinema, Oskar Fischinger (1900–67). Fischinger created a new abstract film language that parallels and interacts with musical qualities. In 1920, Fischinger started developing a unique oeuvre of more than fifty films, experimenting with numerous technically advanced methods of producing his highly artistic abstract films, animations and special effects. These ranged from his very early wax-slicing animation machine, to his radical manipulation of synthetic sound in order to extract sound from images, and to live performances using his Lumigraph color-light instrument.

Fischinger was a true virtuoso in the way he created highly complex films that develop dynamic rhythms, harmonies, and counterpoints. Fischinger played an important and influential role in the development of early abstraction in film during the interwar period. In 1926, Fischinger began working with multiple projector cinema performances, creating some of the earliest cinematic immersive environments, precursors to expanded cinema.

Center for Visual Music

EYE

December 16th, 2012 – March 17th, 2013
IJpromenade 1
1031 KT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

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