HeinzCibulka
Biography
Heinz Cibulka is an Austrian photographer interested in the evocative forces of images. He works with photographic cycles, creating visual poems produced by the juxtaposition of different images. From 1957 to 1961, he attended the Institution for Graphic Education and Research (die Graphische) in Vienna. Since 1965, he has participated as a passive actor in the actions of Rudolf Schwarzkogler and Hermann Nitsch, and from the 1980s onwards became involved in documenting many Orgies Mysteries Theater performances. During the 1960s, he frequently visited Austrian film museums, fascinated by older experimental films. His later montages take on cinematic aspects that also refer back to Peter Kubelka’s production of short videos and intricate effects. Cibulka assembled his artworks by combining reminiscent pictorial elements. Displacing his photos on a grid-of-four collage, his visual poems—or “Bildgedichte”—insist on synesthesia and perception. He creates associative spaces and a wide diversity of relations within each collage. Notable examples include Stammersdorf (1974) and Gemischter Satz I (1982), as well as the series focusing on cities such as Vienna (1984), Berlin (1985), and Naples (1986). Since the 1990s, Cibulka has also worked with digital collages, creating works such as Geschichtes Gedicht (2000) and obraz (2004). In addition to photography, Cibulka has collaborated with various other artists on projects involving performances, soundtracks, conceptual writing, and lyrical poetry. Cibulka co-founded the Austrian Photo Archive in 1982 and the Fluss – NÖ photo initiative in 1989, which he chaired until 2000. He was awarded a scholarship from the DAAD in Berlin (1985), the Gold Medal of the Photographic Society of Vienna (2006), and the Austrian Award of Appraisal for Photography (1997). The works of Cibulka have been displayed in museums all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna (1983), the Antwerp Museum of Photography (1993), and the MZM Hermann Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach (2012).
