Peter Weibel
Encyclopedia
Peter Weibel is an artist, curator and theoretician.
Raised in Upper Austria he started to study French
and cinematography
in Paris. In 1964 he began to study medicine
in Vienna, but changed soon to mathematics
, with an emphasis on logic
.
Peter Weibel’s oeuvre can be described in the following categories: Conceptual Art
, Performance
, Experimental Film
, Video art
and Computer art
.
Starting from semiotic and linguistic
reflections (Austin
, Jakobson
, Peirce, Wittgenstein
, ...) as from 1965 Peter Weibel developed an artistic language, which led him from experimental literature to performance
. In his performative actions he explores not only the "media" language and body, but also film
, video
, audiotape and interactive electronic environments. Critically he analyzes their function for the construction of reality. Besides taking part in happenings with members of the Vienna Actionism he develops as from 1967 (together with Valie Export
, Ernst Schmidt jr. and Hans Scheugl) an "expanded cinema". It is inspired by the American Expanded Cinema
and reflects the ideological and technological conditions of cinematic representation. Peter Weibel elaborates these reflections as from 1969 in his video
tapes and installations. With his television action "tv und vt works", which is broadcast by the Austrian Television (ORF
) in 1972 he transcends the borders of the gallery space and queries video
technology in its application as a mass medium.
Peter Weibel follows his artistic aims using a large variety of materials, forms and techniques: text, sculpture, installation, film and video. In 1978 he turns to music. Together with Loys Egg he founds the band "Hotel Morphila Orchester". In the mid 1980s he explores the possibilities of computer
aided video
processing. Beginning of the 1990s he realizes interactive computer-based installations. Here again he addresses the relation between media and the construction of reality.
In his lectures and articles Weibel comments on contemporary art
, media history, media theory
, film
, video art
and philosophy
. As theoretician and curator he pleads for a form of art and art history that includes history of technology
and history of science
. In his function as a university professor and director of institutions like the Ars Electronica
, Linz, the Institute for New Media in Frankfurt
and the ZKM Karlsruhe
he influenced the European Scene of the so called Computer art
through conferences, exhibitions and publications.
in Vienna
, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
und the Gesamthochschule Kassel. In 1984 he is appointed to teach for five years as Associate Professor for Video and Digital Arts at the Center for Media Study at the State University of New York
in Buffalo, New York
. The same year, 1984 he becomes Professor for visual media at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna
, where he is teaching until today. In 1989 he is assigned to set up the Institute for New Media at the Städelschule
in Frankfurt, which he heads until 1994.
, which he then heads from 1992 until 1995 as its artistic director. From 1993 to 1999 he curates the pavilion of Austria
on the Venice Biennial. In the same period, from 1993 to 1999, he works as chief curator at the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz
, Austria. Since January 1999 Peter Weibel is Chairman and CEO of the ZKM.
Raised in Upper Austria he started to study French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
in Paris. In 1964 he began to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
in Vienna, but changed soon to mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, with an emphasis on logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
.
Peter Weibel’s oeuvre can be described in the following categories: Conceptual Art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, Performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
, Experimental Film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
, Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
and Computer art
Computer art
Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...
.
Starting from semiotic and linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
reflections (Austin
J. L. Austin
John Langshaw Austin was a British philosopher of language, born in Lancaster and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford University. Austin is widely associated with the concept of the speech act and the idea that speech is itself a form of action...
, Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
, Peirce, Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
, ...) as from 1965 Peter Weibel developed an artistic language, which led him from experimental literature to performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
. In his performative actions he explores not only the "media" language and body, but also film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, audiotape and interactive electronic environments. Critically he analyzes their function for the construction of reality. Besides taking part in happenings with members of the Vienna Actionism he develops as from 1967 (together with Valie Export
Valie Export
Valie Export is an Austrian artist...
, Ernst Schmidt jr. and Hans Scheugl) an "expanded cinema". It is inspired by the American Expanded Cinema
Expanded Cinema
Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood , the first book to consider video as an art form, was influential in establishing the field of media arts. In the book he argues that a new, expanded cinema is required for a new consciousness...
and reflects the ideological and technological conditions of cinematic representation. Peter Weibel elaborates these reflections as from 1969 in his video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
tapes and installations. With his television action "tv und vt works", which is broadcast by the Austrian Television (ORF
ORF
ORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
) in 1972 he transcends the borders of the gallery space and queries video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
technology in its application as a mass medium.
Peter Weibel follows his artistic aims using a large variety of materials, forms and techniques: text, sculpture, installation, film and video. In 1978 he turns to music. Together with Loys Egg he founds the band "Hotel Morphila Orchester". In the mid 1980s he explores the possibilities of computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
aided video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
processing. Beginning of the 1990s he realizes interactive computer-based installations. Here again he addresses the relation between media and the construction of reality.
In his lectures and articles Weibel comments on contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, media history, media theory
Media influence
Media influence or media effects are used in media studies, psychology, communication theory and sociology to refer to the theories about the ways in which mass media affect how their audiences think and behave....
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. As theoretician and curator he pleads for a form of art and art history that includes history of technology
History of technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist...
and history of science
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
. In his function as a university professor and director of institutions like the Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica is an organization based in Linz, Austria, founded in 1979 around a festival for art, technology and society that was part of the International Bruckner Festival. Herbert W. Franke is one of its founders. It became its own festival and a yearly event in 1986. Its director until 1995...
, Linz, the Institute for New Media in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and the ZKM
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
he influenced the European Scene of the so called Computer art
Computer art
Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...
through conferences, exhibitions and publications.
Research and teaching
As from 1976 Peter Weibel teaches at numerous universities, among others at the Universität für Angewandte KunstUniversity of Applied Arts Vienna
The University of Applied Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970.-History:...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
und the Gesamthochschule Kassel. In 1984 he is appointed to teach for five years as Associate Professor for Video and Digital Arts at the Center for Media Study at the State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. The same year, 1984 he becomes Professor for visual media at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where he is teaching until today. In 1989 he is assigned to set up the Institute for New Media at the Städelschule
Städelschule
Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.- History :The Städelschule was established by a foundation set up by the Frankfurt merchant Johann Friedrich Städel in 1817...
in Frankfurt, which he heads until 1994.
Curatorial activities
Since 1986 Peter Weibel works as artistic advisor for the Ars ElectronicaArs Electronica
Ars Electronica is an organization based in Linz, Austria, founded in 1979 around a festival for art, technology and society that was part of the International Bruckner Festival. Herbert W. Franke is one of its founders. It became its own festival and a yearly event in 1986. Its director until 1995...
, which he then heads from 1992 until 1995 as its artistic director. From 1993 to 1999 he curates the pavilion of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
on the Venice Biennial. In the same period, from 1993 to 1999, he works as chief curator at the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Austria. Since January 1999 Peter Weibel is Chairman and CEO of the ZKM
- 2008 "youniverse", International Biennal of Contemporary Arts, Sevilla
- 2005 "Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht" (with Gregor Jansen), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 2005 "Making Things Public" (with Bruno LatourBruno LatourBruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...
), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe - 2003 "M_ARS: Kunst und Krieg" (with Guenther Holler-Schuster), Neue Galerie, Graz
- 2002 "Future Cinema" (with Jeffrey Shaw), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 2002 "Iconoclash" (with Bruno LatourBruno LatourBruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...
), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe - 2000|01 "Olafur Eliasson: Surroundings surroanded", Neue Galerie, Graz and ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 2000 "Net_condition" (with Walter van der Crijusen, Johannes Goebel, Golo Foellmer, Hans-Peter Schwarz, Jeffrey Shaw, Benjamin Weill) ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 1999|2000 "Der anagrammatische Körper" Kunsthaus Muerz, Muerzzuschlag | Neue Galerie, Graz and ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 1999 "Open Practice", 48th Venice BiennaleVenice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
- 1998 "Jenseits von Kunst", MUHKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen; Neue Galerie, Graz; Ludwig-Museum, Budapest
- 1996 "Inklusion: Exklusion", Steirischen Herbst 96, Graz
- 1993 "Kontext Kunst", Neue Galerie, Graz
- 1991 "Das Bild nach dem letzten Bild" (with Kaspar König), Galerie Metropol, Vienna
- 1990 "Vom Verschwinden der Ferne" (with Edith Decker), Postmuseum, Frankfurt on the Main
- 1987 "Logokultur", Universitaet fuer angewandte Kunst, Vienna
- 1976 "Oesterreichs Avantgarde 1908-38" (with Oswald Oberhuber), Galerie naechst St. Stephan, Vienna