he began experimenting with super 8 film while at highschool
where he also exhibited his first film, a super 8 loop (see above).
after highschool and community service in an institution for the mentally ill he went to marburg to study art, music and media at phillips universität. one year later he changed to the städelschule in frankfurt in order to study film with prof. peter kubelka. there he started working with 16mm film.
shortly after his studies at the städelschule he made 'blutrausch / bloodlust' which not only got him a lot of attention but also the ann arbor filmcoop award.
since 2001 thorsten fleisch is a member of the board of artistic directors of the international experimental cinema exposition.
he received several grants among them a grant from the filmbüro nw and a grant from the museum of contemporary cinema.
for 'gestalt' he received an honorary mention at the prix ars electronica the number one festival for computer related art.
he now lives and works in berlin.
read an interview conducted by jen talbert here
another interview conducted by carlos adriano here
some opinions on his films:
...
this beautifully crafted and shaped film is an exhilerating piece of visual
music. the images speak poetically of a merging of technology, projected
light, and the human body. the extreme close-ups remind us of the fragility
and beauty which covers our bodies.
[david finkelstein on 'hautnah']
...
everyone in the jury did agree that gestalt displayed a spectacular
use of fractal set techniques. fleisch shows exceptional deftness in assembling
a series of algorithmic transformations that are beautiful and really
visually interesting.
[jury of the prix ars electronica 2003 on 'gestalt']
