Peter Weibel
Born(1944-03-05)5 March 1944
Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Died1 March 2023(2023-03-01) (aged 78)
Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Occupation(s)Artist, curator, theoretician

Peter Weibel (Austrian German: [ˈvaɪbl], German: [ˈvaɪbəl], 5 March 1944 – 1 March 2023) was an Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator, and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet, then later moved from the page to the screen within the sense of post-structuralist methodology. His work includes virtual reality and other digital art forms.[1] From 1999 he was the director of the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.

Biography

Weibel was born in Odesa, USSR on 5 March 1944.[2] He was raised in Ried, Upper Austria, and studied French and cinematography in Paris. In 1964 he began to study medicine in Vienna, but changed soon to mathematics, with an emphasis on logic.

Weibel's work was in conceptual art, performance, experimental film, video art, and computer art.

Beginning in 1965 from semiotic and linguistic reflections (Austin, Jakobson, Peirce, Wittgenstein), Weibel developed an artistic language, which led him from experimental literature to performance. In his performative actions, he explored not only the "media" language and body, but also film, video,[3] television,[4] audiotape and interactive electronic environments.[5] Critically he analyzed their function for the construction of reality. Besides taking part in happenings with members of the Vienna Actionism, he developed from 1967 (together with Valie Export, Ernst Schmidt Jr. and Hans Scheugl) an "expanded cinema" inspired by the American one and reflects the ideological and technological conditions of cinematic representation. Weibel elaborated on these reflections, from 1969, in his video tapes and installations. With his television action "tv und vt works", which was broadcast by the Austrian Television (ORF) in 1972, he transcended the borders of the gallery space and queried video technology in its application as a mass medium. In 1966 he was with Gustav Metzger, Otto Muehl, Wolf Vostell, Hermann Nitsch and others a participant of the Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS) in London.[6]

Weibel worked using a variety of materials, forms and techniques: text, sculpture, installation, film and video. In 1978 he turned to music. Together with Loys Egg, he founded the band "Hotel Morphila Orchester[7]" (orchestra). In the mid-1980s, he explored the possibilities of computer-aided video processing. Beginning of the 1990s he realized interactive computer-based installations.

In his lectures and articles, Weibel commented on contemporary art, media history, media theory, film, video art and philosophy. As theoretician and curator, he pleaded for a form of art and art history that includes history of technology and history of science. In his function as a university professor and director of institutions like the Ars Electronica (in Linz, Austria), the Institute for New Media in Frankfurt and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, he influenced the European Scene of the so-called computer art through conferences, exhibitions and publications.[8]

In early May 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Weibel advocated for parts of Ukraine, then under de facto Russian control, and Transnistria to be internationally recognized to allow Ukraine to reach some sort of agreement with the Russian Federation.[9]

Weibel died in Karlsruhe, Germany on 1 March 2023, at the age of 78.[10]

Research and teaching

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From 1976, Weibel taught at various institutions, including the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, in 1981[11] at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and, from 1982-85[11] at the Gesamthochschule Kassel. In 1984 he was appointed to teach for five years as Associate Professor for Video and Digital Arts at the Center for Media Study at the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York. The same year, 1984 he became Professor for visual media at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. In 1989 he was assigned to set up the Institute for New Media at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, which he headed until 1994. From 1993 to 1999[11] he curated the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, after which took on curatorship and directorship at KMZ Arts and Media Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Curatorial activities

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From 1986 Weibel worked as artistic advisor for the Ars Electronica, which he then headed from 1992 until 1995 as its artistic director. From 1993 to 1999, he curated the pavilion of Austria on the Venice Biennial. In the same period, from 1993 to 1999, he worked as chief curator at the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, Austria. Since January 1999 Peter Weibel has been Chairman and CEO of the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Decorations and awards

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ^ Weibel, Peter. 1990. Virtual Worlds: The Emperor’s New Bodies. Edited by Gottfried Hattinger, Morgan Russel, Christine Schöpf, Peter Weibel. Linz: Veritas-Verlag Linz
  2. ^ Net, Media Art (2017-04-18). "Media Art Net | Weibel, Peter: Biography". medienkunstnetz.de. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  3. ^ Net, Media Art (2017-04-18). "Media Art Net | Weibel, Peter: Epistemic Videology (I + II)". medienkunstnetz.de. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  4. ^ Net, Media Art (2017-04-18). "Media Art Net | Weibel, Peter: TV Aquarium (TV Death I)". medienkunstnetz.de. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  5. ^ Net, Media Art (2017-04-18). "Media Art Net | Weibel, Peter: The Wall, the Curtain (Border, the) technical terminology also: Lascaux". medienkunstnetz.de. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  6. ^ [1] Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS), London, 1966.
  7. ^ "Hotel Morphila Orchestra". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  8. ^ Wolf Lieser. Digital Art. Langenscheidt: h.f. ullmann. 2009. p. 38.
  9. ^ ""Emma"-Brief-Initiator Weibel: "Es ist ein Stellvertreterkrieg"". derstandard (in German). Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  10. ^ "Das ZKM trauert um Peter Weibel" [The ZKM mourns the death of Peter Weibel]. ZKM Magazin (in German). ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. 2023-03-02. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  11. ^ a b c Weibel, Peter. "CV at Peter Weibel's homepage". peter-weibel.at. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 1292. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  13. ^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 1915. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  14. ^ Nachrichten, Salzburger (8 November 2013). "Peter Weibel erhielt Ehrendoktorat der Uni Pecs". Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  15. ^ Verlag, Hatje Cantz. "Beuys Brock Vostell - Zeitgenössische Kunst - Hatje Cantz Verlag". www.hatjecantz.de. Retrieved 22 May 2018.

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