ABSTRACT
The Invisible Cinema was an experimental movie theater designed by an experimental filmmaker. Devised by the Austrian avant-gardist Peter Kubelka, it served as the first place of exhibition for the Anthology Film Archives in New York. Apart from the screen (and some exit signs and aisle lights installed for safety reasons), the auditorium was kept completely in black. Its partitioned, high-winged seats had blinders at the sides and a small hood-like top. The rows were arranged stadium-like, and the viewers had to follow a number of strict behavioral rules. This unusual 90-seat auditorium only existed from 1970 to 1974, but its ideas had an afterlife in other venues such as the Austrian Film Museum.
