ARCHITEKTUR UND FILM: Visual Acoustics - The Modernism of Julius Shulman

In the organizer's words:

With a new season of the "Architecture and Film" series, the NRW Chamber of Architects and the Film Museum of the state capital Düsseldorf are focusing on architectural photography.

VISUAL ACOUSTICS: THE MODERNISM OF JULIUS SHULMAN

USA 2009 - 84 min - OmU

Director: Eric Bricker

An iconic work in the field of architectural photography: a modernist house in the Hollywood Hills floats above the metropolis of Los Angeles, shimmering in the night and stretching to a distant horizon. The black and white impressively emphasizes the clear contours of the architecture, the contrasts of light and dark and the reflections.

The artist behind this photograph is Julius Shulman (1910 - 2007), who, alongside Ezra Stoller, is considered one of the most important architectural photographers of post-war modernism in the USA. The "Steel House", also known as "Case Study House #22", was built by Pierre Koenig (1925 - 2004) in 1960. Shulman himself grew up in Los Angeles, observed the rapid urban development there and documented it photographically from as early as 1936. Through the lens of the camera, our gaze is directed at the modernist architecture of the Californian metropolis.

American director Eric Bricker (*1970) presents his first film here. His friendship with the photographer gave him access to a wealth of material, which he has edited into the film in a way that is both original and entertaining. Numerous interviews open up a variety of perspectives on Shulman's oeuvre. The sound of the shutter of the analog camera sets the pace in the film.