Birgit Hein (born 6 August 1942) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, producer,

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist,

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

who has made

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

s since 1960s, with her then husband Wilhem Heim.Foster, p.176

Biography

Hein was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1942. With her structural films (since 1966), performances, documentary film essays and film study publications, she is considered one of the decisive pioneers of German underground and

s. In 1964, she married Wilhelm Hein (Separated in 1988, divorced in 1995), with whom she collaborated on several experimental film projects. In 1968, she co-founded XSCREEN, an exhibition space in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. In 1993, Hein won the German Film Critics Association Best Experimental Film Award for her film '' Die Unheimlichen Frauen''. Hein studied art history and theater studies at the University of Cologne in the early 1960s. From 1966 to 1988 she worked with Wilhelm Hein producing films and working on performances with him. She was represented with two film works, together with Wilhelm Hein within Documenta V in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

in 1972, a worldwide exhibition of influential art after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Their combined work was presented in different retrospectives, e.g. in the Anthology Archives, New York (1974), in the Filmmuseum Frankfurt (1985) as well as in Cologne (1988) and in

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(1989). In the 1970s they organized and curated of several exhibitions on experimental film, e.g. Art Remains Art (Cologne 1974), Film As Film (Cologne, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart 1977) and Film As Film (London 1979). For the Goethe-Institut they toured in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (1987) and took part in the International Experimental Film Congress Toronto (1989). In Cologne she was art founder of XScreen for subculture performances and program work for diverse cinemas. In the 1970s, she taught film art assignments at various universities (including the Cologne factory schools). She undertook a number of important curatorial projects, including the groundbreaking film section at Documenta VI. Birgit Hein has been a professor at the Braunschweig University of Art since 1990, retiring in 2007. Many premieres of her films at the Forum des Junge Films,

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

(1986, 1992, 1995) as well as television broadcasts (e.g. Baby, I Will Make You Sweat, 1997) and acquisitions of film collections (e.g. Musée d'Art Moderne - Center Pompidou, 1999). She has had several exhibitions of her works, e.g. Montreal 2000, Rotterdam 2000, Madrid 2002 and the Arsenal Berlin 2003. Since 2007 she has been a member of the

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

Berlin, and since 2012 she has been deputy director of the visual arts section.

Filmography

*1967: '' S & W'' *1968: '' Rohfilm'' *1969: 625, 16 mm, 34 Min *1978–82: Superman und Wonderwoman, Filmperformance *1982: '' Love Stinks'' *1986: Verbotene Bilder, 16 mm, 87 Min *1986: ''Washing of The Feet (episode) in Jesus – Der Film'' *1987–88: Die Kali-Filme, 16 mm, 70 Min *1992: '' Die Unheimlichen Frauen'' *1995: '' Baby, I Will Make You Sweat'' *1997: Eintagsfliegen, Video, 24 Min *2000: ''

La Moderna poesia LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' *2006: Kriegsbilder, Video, 10 Min *2013: Abstrakter Film, Video, 10 Min

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hein, Birgit 1942 births Film people from Berlin Academic staff of the Braunschweig University of Art Living people Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin German women film editors German women film directors German women film producers German women artists German film editors German film directors German film producers German performance artists