Symphonie diagonale

Germany

1924

8 Min

Black and White

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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DIR Viking Eggeling

Synopsis

A tilted figure, consisting largely of right angles at the beginning, grows by accretion, with the addition of short straight lines and curves which sprout from the existing design. The figure vanishes and the process begins again with a new pattern, each cycle lasting one or two seconds. The complete figures are drawn in a vaguely Art Deco style and could be said to resemble any number of things, an ear, a harp, panpipes, a grand piano with trombones, and so on, only highly stylized. The tone is playful and hypnotic. —IMDb

Director

Viking Eggeling

Viking Eggeling (21 October 1880, Lund – 19 May 1925, Berlin) was a Swedish artist and filmmaker. His work is of significance in the area of experimental film, and has been described as absolute film and Visual Music.

At the age of sixteen, the orphaned Eggeling moved to Germany to pursue an artistic career. He studied art history in Milan from 1901 to 1907, supporting himself with work as a bookkeeper. He lived in Paris from 1911 to 1915; he was acquainted with Amedeo Modigliani, Hans Arp, and other artists of the time.

In Zurich in 1918, he was introduced to Hans Richter by Tristan Tzara. Richter wrote that “The contrast between us, which was that between method and spontaneity, only served to strengthen our mutual attraction…for three years we marched side by side, although we fought on separate fronts.” In 1920 they began experimenting with film. In collaboration with Erna Niemeyer, Eggeling made a film called Symphonie Diagonale, which was completed in 1924 and first… read more

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Vaxdockan

28Mar13

Om det vore möjligt skulle jag tatuera in hela diagonalsymfonin över min kropp.

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Aguaespejo

8Mar13

For me one of the most successful experiments in visual rhythm which also en passant explores the way space is constructed and our rage for meaning from permutation. All the while retaining a tongue in cheek quality that I find completely lacking for intance in Richter's Rhythmus 21 or Duchamp's Anemic Cinema...