Art in the Elvator: Peter Tscherkassky. Ballett 16

The filmmaker and film historian Peter Tscherkassky (Vienna, AT, 1958–Vienna, AT) is widely regarded as one of Austria’s leading avant-garde directors. In 1981, he, Lisl Ponger, Dieter Brehm, and Ernst Schmidt Jr. founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative. In 1993 and 1994, he was artistic director of the newly established Austrian film festival Diagonale. In his own work, Tscherkassky accentuates the medium of film as such, its materiality and technical varieties, as well as the experimental handling of lighting and sound. In the 1980s, he turned his attention to the ballet and the representation of originally flowing dance movements, which he dissected into individual elements of motion. He then arranged these frames to compose a synthetic motion sequence, which he replayed at up to two times the original speed and rerecorded on fresh stock. Ballett 16 is one in a series of films in which the avant-garde artist probes the frame as the basic element of filmmaking.

About Art in the Elevator
With kind support from the Salzburg AG, the monitors of the MönchsbergAufzug are used as an extended exhibition space. Video and film works by both internationally renowned and emerging artists are presented for three months at a time. Thematically, the program is informed by current exhibitions, while at the same time offering a glimpse into the museum’s own media collection.