Friedl Kubelka

Friedl Kubelka (née Bondy, née vom Gröller) (born 1946) is an Austrian photographer, filmmaker and visual artist born in London, England in 1946. Her photographic practice has been attributed to a 20th-century movement known as Feminist Actionism or Viennese Actionism. Kubelka's photographic works sometimes focus on accentuating temporality, seriality and the body.

Biography Friedl Kubelka was born in London, England as Friedl Bondy, she then relocated with her family to East Berlin and later to Vienna, where she spent most of her childhood. Her parents were forced to leave Austria due to their political views. After obtaining a diploma in commercial photography in 1971, she opened a professional photo studio that operated in Vienna until 1997. Friedl's films often include a cast of family members, friends, colleagues and sometimes male strangers. "Vom Gröller is a professional image-maker, not a commercial one, yet professional in the sense that she is and has been a photographer and filmmaker for over 40 years, not to mention one of Austria's great, if profoundly unrecognized, artists. Traditionally one would say, vom Gröller's work specializes in portraiture, but more accurately the artist's prolific practice is one of intimate encounters, which capture and seize upon elongated moments and brief experiences that refuse to relinquish their fleetingness." – Andréa Picard Kubelka was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize for Artistic Photography, Austria's most prestigious photography award in 2005, along with the Austrian State Prize for film in 2016. She has had solo exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Fotogalerie in Vienna and the Netherlands Photo Museum in Rotterdam. the only festival to exhibit artists' film on both sides of an international border.

Kubelka's portrait photography has included artists and filmmakers such as George Maciunas, Jack Smith, Nam June Paik, Jonas Mekas, Gunvor Nelson, Michael Snow, Mike Kuchar, and George Kuchar.

Friedl divorced Peter Kubelka in 2001, and married Georg Gröller in 2009. She then changed her name to Friedl vom Gröller

The School for Photography and Film in Vienna In 1990, Kubelka founded the Friedl Kubelka School for Artistic Photography in Vienna. The School featured guests and teachers including Wolfgang Tillmanns, Hito Steyerl, Jakob Lena Knebl, Annette Kelm, Prinz Gholam and Maren Lübbke-Tidow. The School is since 2010 directed by artist Anja Manfredi.

In 2006, she founded the School Friedl Kubelka for Independent Film, dedicated to the art of analog filmmaking. The School for Independent Film has featured guests and teachers including Ken Jacobs, Robert Beavers, Peter Weibel, Oona Mosna, Kenneth Anger, Peter Tscherkassky, Eve Heller, James Benning, and Mark Webber. Since 2014, the school has been artistically directed by Austrian filmmaker and artist Philipp Fleischmann.

Major works Photography Jahresportraits (Year's Portraits). (1972/73-2012/13). Pin-Ups. (1973–1974). Reise (Voyage) Bed Series. (1974). Tagesportraits (One-Day-Portraits). (1974–1976). Passstücke (The Adaptives), Franz West. (1975). Lebensportrait Louise Anna Kubelka (Portrait Louise Anna Kubelka). (1978–1996). Das tausendteilige Portrait (One Thousand Changing Thoughts). (1980).

Filmography Erwin, Toni, llse. (1968–1969). Graf Zokan (Franz West). (1969). Peter Kubelka and Jonas Mekas. (1994). Eltern (Parents): Mutter (Mother), Vater (Father). (1997 & 1999). Spucken (Spitting). (2000). Psychoanalyse ohne Ethik (Psychoanalyses without Ethics). (2005). Heidi Kim at the W Hong Kong Hotel. (2010). La Cigarette. (2011). Ich auch, auch, ich auch (Me too, too, me too). (2012).