Thomas Kuchenbuch-Henneberg

Thomas Kuchenbuch-Henneberg

Thomas Kuchenbuch-Henneberg (born October 5, 1940 in Karlsbad , Czechoslovakia ) is a German media scientist , filmmaker and former university professor .

Life

Childhood and school attendance

Thomas Kuchenbuch was born on October 5, 1940 in Karlsbad (Czechoslovakia). His father Eugen Herbert Kuchenbuch was senior director at the time. He and his wife Julia, daughter of a Hindemith assistant, met in Ankara. A number of German artists and scholars who avoided the Nazi regime had accepted Ataturk's offer within the framework of the German-Turkish cultural agreement.

In 1942, his father was appointed professor of drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar (then part of the academy, now the University of Music and Fine Arts Vienna ), so that Thomas Kuchenbuch spent most of his childhood in Vienna.

After his father moved to the Munich area in 1947 , Thomas attended schools in Oberstdorf (Waldorf school), Munich-Pullach (elementary school), Icking (secondary school), and occasionally in Küsnacht near Zurich (canton school).

Seafaring and emigration to Spain

Before graduating from high school, Kuchenbuch interrupted his school career and, after completing an apprenticeship at the seaman's school in Hamburg Blankenese , hired on ships of the Schröder and Hanseatic-Lloyd shipping companies. These were used on Mediterranean and Black Sea cruises as well as on routes to the African coast and the Canary Islands. After a year of traveling, he decided to continue his school career in Spain, as his parents had meanwhile moved to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; his father had old connections in the local colony of Scandinavian film actors. With his Abitur in Madrid he was able to catch up with the year of his seafaring time again - due to the shortened school time at German schools abroad.

Education

In the winter semester of 1960/1961, Kuchenbuch first studied classical philology and German at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg , and later also Romance studies and art history. From the fourth semester onwards, he received a scholarship from the Volkswagenwerk Foundation . After further semesters at the University of Zurich and the University of Marburg , he completed his studies in 1969 with a doctorate in New German Literary History. The dissertation was “Perspective and Symbol in Theodor Storm's short story. On the problem and technique of poetic reality reflection in poetic realism. ”Minor subjects were linguistics and classical philology.

Debut as a teacher, television activity and TV survey

After a brief activity as a teacher for German, English and Latin at Nordeck Castle near Marburg, a private boarding school, Kuchenbuch worked as a freelancer for NDR television (occasionally also for other broadcasters), where he directed various films in the fields of current affairs and politics as well as the environment , art and culture . The offer to take part in a larger study on the subject of "School and TV" under Wolfgang Klafki from the University of Marburg brought him back to the university. During this time (1969) she married Sibylle Dunkmann and divorced again in 1975.

College career

Subsequently (from 1972) Kuchenbuch became a research assistant at the newly founded theater, film and television studies at the University of Cologne , then a lecturer at the Institute for Theater-Film and Televisiewetenschap at the University of Utrecht, which was also to be newly established . He had held this position in a permanent position since 1976 and was head of the film and television department and deputy director of the institute. During this time he married Marianne Henneberg (since then he has officially been given the double name Kuchenbuch-Henneberg).

During his employment in Utrecht he was hired for life as "Hoofdmedewerker / Hoofdocent" (today's nomenclature after Associated Professor) (comparable to the German position senior councilor / C3 professorship, with the right to award doctorates and seat on the university's science committee, certificate 1979). The basis was an examination procedure within the faculty, which was officially equated with the German habilitation procedure according to international standards. The theme of the underlying research related to the relationship between film theory formation and film analysis.

Despite the prospect of further managerial tasks at the University of Utrecht, Thomas Kuchenbuch then preferred the offer of taking part in the development of a production-oriented course as a professor at the current Hochschule der Medien (HdM) in Stuttgart from 1982 . This teaching activity, intended only as a short break, should then, however, extend over several years. During this time, in addition to the establishment of the university's internal film department, there was constant collaboration with various departments of SDR television (later SWR ) and corresponding training departments. In this context he founded the film festival Forum Hochschulfilm (1995–2001) with SDR employees and initiated the television program Perfo of the regional program, in which short films by debutants were shown.

His scientific work was continued through the continued contact with the Universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam and his participation in the international Erasmus project Theatrical Arts and Media with continuous development work, international annual conferences and research reports in the multi-partner project Media Comparison . The Theatrical Arts and Media working group then found its way into a larger context and was replaced by the Intermediality Research Program of the IFTR ( International Federation for Theater Research ), in which Thomas Kuchenbuch was also involved (see the corresponding publications in the list). In 1994 he was appointed German member of the international examination board for cultural studies subjects in the Dutch language area.

His internationally-oriented teaching and research activities were repeatedly continued through visiting professorships at foreign universities (Utrecht, 1989/90, Vienna from 1999) as well as through the promotion of scientific contact and student exchanges between the HDM and foreign universities (including the universities of Seville and Málaga). In the last years of his apprenticeship and also after his retirement , Thomas Kuchenbuch was connected to the University of Vienna through visiting professorships, research projects and reviewers. In addition to seminars and lectures on various personalities and epochs of film history, as well as teaching and research seminars on “Theory and practice of the comic and its manifestation in early film” are to be mentioned here. One result of this research was reflected, among other things, in a special publication by the Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna ( Mask and Kothurn as the publication organ ), which is dedicated to the international work of the French film star Max Linder. (See in the literature list: Max Linder. An early star, etc. Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2005).

Under the direction and editing of Thomas Kuchenbuch, the research was carried out by authors from the universities of Bonn, Göttingen, Utrecht, Vienna, Zurich and the film archives in Paris, Düsseldorf and Hilversum. Today Kuchenbuch lives privately near Tübingen and in Spain (Ibiza) every quarter or six months, where he has a political-organizational function as chairman of a local neighborhood institution (asociación de vecinos). He is active in various ecological projects in connection with BUND and other environmental associations.

Research, teaching and practice

Thomas Kuchenbuch's academic career has been described on various occasions as atypical for German conditions due to its interweaving of media practice, research work and teaching. In this regard, he repeatedly pointed out that his career was by no means unusual for French or even American university careers and could not be unusual in the pioneering phase of the newly founded film and television science institutes in the German-speaking area. The inclusion of the moving image media in the canon of philological subjects (even on the part of theater studies) came late and with considerable catching up to do. Personal experience in these media was therefore almost a prerequisite for research and teaching. He himself described the associated problems in the foreword to his commemorative publication published by colleagues and former students as follows:

"The most dangerous, but also the most exciting thing about my career, which is not understandable to all, was: I always allowed myself to commute between theory and practice - stumbling included."

- Thomas cake book

Despite the boundary migration between theory and practice, a number of publications (cf. literature list) have emerged which reflect certain stages of German-language film studies, especially in its pioneering phase, and which in some cases also accentuated them

• the introduction of systematic film analysis
• likewise the expansion of film studies in a general media history context
• the thematization of the film under the aspect of media comparison and intermediality through the investigation of intermediality contexts in film history as well as his participation in the intermediality research of the FIRT
• At the same time, he was interested in examining trend-setting, accentuating individual styles and appearances by individual filmmakers, including those of Max Linder, Luis Buñuel, Cecile de Mille, George Lukas, Stanley Kubrick and Peter Greenaway. In his opinion, these poetologically and aesthetically-oriented works on filmmaker personalities would not have come about without the stimulating view of production practice,
• just as little cooperation with film / television practitioners

In teaching, too, he tried to mediate between practical teaching and media theory and history. In this sense, he described the “most gratifying thing” of his career as the fact that some of his “students have achieved something in research and teaching, and also in production, and that more than remarkable.” This aspect of his work have highlighted and recorded former students (some of them now professors) as well as colleagues and former project partners in the commemorative publication on his retirement.

Works

Publications on media theory and history (excerpt)

• with J. Büthe, G. Lihr, F. Roth, JT Prikker, A. Weber, R. Weber: Der Arbeiterfotograf. Documents and articles on worker photography 1926–1932. Cologne 1977.
• Film analysis. Theories. Models. Criticism. Cologne 1978.
• Henny / Sonja de Leeuw (eds.): Aspects of an effect-related film dramaturgy. The Oberhausen Film Talks 1980–1982. Oberhausen 1982.
• Wil Hildebrandt (Hrsg.): Aspects van het empirisch receptieonderzoek: Theater, Film, Televisie. Het Utrecht Symposium 1980. ( Aspects of empirical reception research: theater, film, television. The Utrecht Symposium 1980. Utrecht without a year)
• The world around 1900. Entertainment and technology culture. Metzler, Stuttgart 1992.
• Picture and narration. Stories in pictures. From the early comic strip to a television feature. MAKS, Münster 1992.
• Film analysis. Theories. Models. Criticism. 2nd completely revised edition. UTB Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2005.

Collaboration on edited volumes

• Bible and History - to the religious film, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1957). In: Werner Faulstich / Helmut Korte (eds.): Fischer Filmgeschichte, Vol. 3: In search of values ​​1945–1960. Frankfurt am Main 1990.
• Artistic avant-garde and film. AN ANDALUSIAN DOG (1928). In: Werner Faulstich / Helmut Korte (eds.): Fischer Filmgeschichte, Vol. 2: The film as a social force, 1925–1944. Frankfurt am Main 1991.
• Film analysis from a production aesthetic point of view. In: Helmut Korte / Werner Faulstich (ed.): Interdisciplinary film analysis. Contribution to a symposium at the University of Fine Arts Braunschweig. With a foreword by Helmut Kreuzer. Göttingen 1991.
• Critical to society dimensions in melodramatic form. “Donauwalzer” by Xaver Schwarzenberger. In: Gottfried Schlemmer (Ed.): The new Austrian film. Vienna 1996.
• The adventure and other genre-specific narrative patterns in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DEATH (1984). In: Helmut Korte / Werner Faulstich (Hrsg.): Action and storytelling. Steven Spielberg's films. Frankfurt am Main 1987.
• Numerous other publications u. a. in German studies , writings of the Theodor Storm Society , Medium (EPD), Medienpraxis EPD , Scenarium (Amsterdam), Der Literat .

Film festivals and TV shows

• Together with Guntram von Ehrenstein and Rainer Wagner, SDR, founded the series Perfo (SDR3) and the film festival Forum Hochschulfilm (biennially 1995–2001).

Filmography or mediography (excerpt)

• 1968 Report on Documenta 68 in Kassel, broadcast in 1968 on SRF Zurich. Camera and production: Urs Thönen. (16 mm, 15 min.).
• 1968–70 experimental films: (partly together with Studiobühne Uni. Marburg and art students from KA Kassel and the Marburger Filmclub). Among other things, Idol , Wann , Pygmalion , Second Hand , Ready made , Study I etc. (16 mm, between 6 and 10 min.).
• 1970–72 NDR realizer of short reports (including train accident in Celle , new production methods in Wolfsburg , old people's homes , further contributions for reports from the day , etc.)
• Longer documentation and features for the NDR such as
  • Dümmersee in danger ,
  • AWO children's home scandal ,
  • Monika Seiffert's 'Kidnapping' .
• Editorial work and contributions for the department of art a. Culture under the editing of Günter Tovar, including museum openings, exhibitions, preparation of a feature about Christo's project Valley Curtain, etc.
• 1971–72 Films and empirical studies in the school-internal television project , Giessen, funded by the VW Foundation (overall management Heribert Heinrich, scientific advice Wolfgang Klafki, Marburg).
• Film director of the television project between Hessischer Rundfunk and the Institute for Ethnosociology / Folklore, Marburg, supervision of the film series Christmas traditions in Hessen and Hessentag .
• 1980 Documentation (direction) about the theater work of the Amsterdam group Varend Varieté . (16 mm, S8, video, 45 min.). Production: OMI / RU, Utrecht.
• 1980 Theater recordings / conception, direction:
  • Woyzeck by Georg Büchner - stages of the city of Arnhem (video, 90 min.). Production: OMI / RU, Utrecht.
  • Marat / Sade by Peter Weiss - Schauspielhaus Utrecht, theater direction Paul Binnerts. (Video, 90 min.) Production: OMI / RU Utrecht.
• 1981 Documentary for the WDR (conception and direction) Living on the water - origin, everyday life, and political struggle of the houseboat inhabitants in Holland (16 mm, 45 min.)
• 1985 Direction and edition of the recording of the rock opera H - wie Heroin (by Ralph-Günther Mohnnau / Matthias Raue), theater director: Hansgünther Heyme. Camera and production: team-film, Rolf Neddermann. Sent in SDR. (Video, 60 min.).
• 1990 Industry and research film: Steel in Fire , project of the university's material testing institute. Stuttgart for the Federal Ministry of Research. Director u. Camera together with Rolf Neddermann. Production: FHD transfer center. (16 mm, 30 min.).
• 1991–92 conception and film educational support for the one-year project of Mercedes-Benz AG Sternzeichen Automobil. Apprenticeships at Mercedes . (Head of the video group, supervision of the production of 7 commercials for apprenticeships at Mercedes, direction of the video productions, theater educational director: Mark Vereek, director of film production and documentation Rolf Neddermann).
• 2001–02 Conception and establishment of a multimedia program for the Tübingen City Museum (film, animation, slides, AV loops) The city historical walk. Tübingen town history from the 15th to the 19th century , (together with Claudine Pachnike, Rolf Neddermann).
• 1982–2005 supervision and editing of student semester and festival films at the Hochschule der Medien , Stuttgart, and corresponding TV, industrial and feature film productions in the diploma area. Film prizes for the work of HDM production at various festivals.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Online Festschrift for Thomas Kuchenbuch. Ed .: Stephen Lowry and Hans J. Wulff.
2. ↑ Film analysis. Theories models, criticism etc. Cologne 1978: Film analysis - theories methods - criticism, Vienna a. a. 2005, a complete revision that shows Kuchenbuch's closeness to the neoformalism of the Wiskonsin School even more clearly than the 1978 version.
3. ↑ The world around 1900. Entertainment and technology culture. Stuttgart 1992.
4. ↑ see picture and story. Munster 1992.
5. ^ Project Intermediality in Theater and Performance. Amsterdam / New York 2006.
6. ↑ Aspects of an effect-related film dramaturgy / Oberhausen film talks. Oberhausen 1982.
7. ↑ Kerstin Lauer: Thomas Kuchenbuch retired

Web links

• Literature by and about Thomas Kuchenbuch-Henneberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Thomas Kuchenbuch in the Internet Movie Database (English)