Viking Eggeling

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

Eggeling, born in Sweden, moved to 1897 to Germany, where he studied alongside his work as a librarian and art history and painting. After the First World War, he went to Zurich and arrived there with the Dada movement in contact. Friendship with Hans Richter, Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco. In 1918 he became a member of the Berlin November Group. At first, he dealt with role models, ie drawn with pencil variations of graphic elements on long rolls of paper. These roles were up to 15m long, the observer walked along them and was able to observe the changes of geometric patterns. Such a role model is horizontal-vertical Fair ( 1919), a picture scroll from approximately 5000 individual drawings should arise later a 10-minute film called Horizontal - Vertical Orchestra from.

As Hans Richter Eggeling was interested in the film, about a "moving painting", a create and pursued the theory that it would be easier and more memorable for the viewer as it passes through the changes in the forms not in motion " art of movement " the room would know, but quite comfortable in a more relaxed setting. 1921 to 1924 was followed by further experiments with film attempts a cinematic synthesis of rhythm, abstract images, movement and music to create.

1923 originated in the Universum Film ( UFA) animated film studios under his direction the work Diagonal Symphony, a silent film in black and white with a length of 7 ¾ minutes. Here, he used self-designed images as templates that it covered with black paper and slowly uncovered, by shifting the paper or figures cut into the paper. The film was completed in 1924 and, listed on 3 May 1925 at the context of the Matinee " The absolute film" in public. Sixteen days later Eggeling died.

Because of his musical timing as well as his on light-dark contrasts, direction changes and the constituent linear form drama of curves, lines, harps and triangles practiced Eggeling's masterpiece great influence on artists such as Laszlo Moholy -Nagy, and is regarded as the forefather of today's music videos.