Departure into Reality: Films by Günther Hörmann - 60 years of the Institute for Film Design at the Ulm School of Design
The HfG Archive/Museum presents the exhibition “Departure into Reality: Films by Günther Hörmann – 60 Years of the Institute for Film Design at the HfG Ulm”, featuring a selection of films created at the Institute for Film Design at the Ulm School of Design. The occasion is the handover of the working archive of HfG graduate Günther Hörmann (born 1940). He studied “Visual Communication” at the HfG Ulm from 1961 to 1967. From 1968, he was a member of the management team at the Institute for Film Design Ulm. The exhibition focuses on six films and accompanying material and provides an initial insight into the work of this department at the legendary university.
The Film Department
In 1962, the Ulm School of Design established the Film Department as the fifth of its four existing departments. Alexander Kluge (born 1932) and Edgar Reitz (born 1932) headed this department together with Detten Schleiermacher (1927-2004). In terms of cinematic aesthetics and content, the initiators were guided by the “Oberhausen Manifesto,” which they had co-signed in 1962. The most important cinematic innovations of this department were considered to be the parameter theory of the camera (Edgar Reitz) and the miniature principle.
The Institute for Film Design
In 1965, the film department became independent from the Ulm School of Design as the Institute for Film Design Ulm e.V. and therefore survived the dissolution of the HfG in 1968. The association’s statutes defined its mission as “research and development in the field of film.” The institute was closed in 2016.
The exhibition presents a selection of documentary films by Günther Hörmann and other colleagues. These include the film about the political events in Berlin in June 1967 entitled “Ruhestörung – Ereignisse in Berlin 1967” (Disturbance of the Peace – Events in Berlin 1967) (1968), made in collaboration with Hans Dieter Müller. Hörmann repeatedly dealt with the labor movement, for example in “Die Vulkanwerft im Metallerstreik” (The Vulkan Shipyard in the Metalworkers’ Strike) (1974) and again in “Der Untergang der AG Weser” (The Downfall of AG Weser) (1984), together with Thomas Mitscherlich and Detlef Saurien.
The exhibition will not be accompanied by a publication this time.
The HfG Archive Ulm would like to thank HQ Print and Harder Logistics GmbH & Co. KG for their support.
