Viking Eggeling

Helmuth Viking Eggeling (born October 21, 1880 in Lund , † May 19, 1925 in Berlin ) was a Swedish Dadaist and experimental filmmaker .

Eggeling, a native Swede , moved to 1897 to Germany and studied for there next to his work as a librarian and art history and painting . From 1907 to 1911 he worked as an art teacher at the High Alpine Lyceum in Zuoz / Institut Engiadina (today Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz ) in Switzerland. After the First World War he went to Zurich and came into contact with the Dada movement. Friendship with Hans Richter , Jean Arp , Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco . In 1918 he became a member of the Berlin November Group . Initially he was concerned with role models , i. H. Variations of graphic elements drawn in pencil on long rolls of paper. These rolls were up to 15 m long, the viewer walked along them and could observe the changes in the geometric patterns. One such role model is the Horizontal-Vertical-Mass (1919), a picture roll of around 5000 individual drawings, from which a 10-minute film called the Horizontal-Vertical-Orchestra was later to emerge.

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Diagonal Symphony (1924)

Like Hans Richter, Eggeling was interested in film in order to create a “moving painting”, an “art of movement ” and pursued the theory that it would be easier and more memorable for the viewer if he did not move through the changes in the forms would experience the space, but rather comfortably in a relaxed seat. From 1921 to 1924 further film experiments followed and attempts to create a cinematic synthesis of rhythm , abstract images, movement and music.

In 1923, the Universum Film (UFA) - Trickfilmateliers created the work Symphonie Diagonal , a silent film in black and white with a length of 7 ¾ minutes, under his direction . He used self-designed pictures as templates, which he covered with black paper and slowly uncovered by moving the paper or cutting figures into the paper. The film was completed in 1924 and shown publicly on May 3, 1925 as part of the matinee , " The Absolute Film ". Eggeling died sixteen days later.

Due to its musical timing as well as its light-dark contrasts , changes of direction and the building-up linear form drama of curves, lines, harps and triangles, Eggeling's masterpiece exerted a great influence on artists like László Moholy-Nagy and is considered the forefather of today's music video .

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Commons : Viking Eggeling - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Eggeling, Viking
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eggeling, Helmuth Viking (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swedish dadaist and experimental filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH	October 21, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lund
DATE OF DEATH	May 19, 1925
Place of death	Berlin