Kurt Kren was born in 1929 in Vienna, Austria from a Jewish father and a German mother. From 1939 till the end of World War II, Kren lived in Rotterdam, where he was sent to with one of the Children's Transports. In 1947 Kren returned to Vienna, and his father provided him a job at the National Bank.

He began making films in 1957. 2/60 48 Köpfe Aus Dem Szondi -Test (1960) was his first serial film and 3/60 Bäume Im Herbst (1960) confirmed this structural orientation. He realized in the 1960s his most famous films with the Viennese actionists, where his skill of short film blossomed. In 1966, he took part in the « Destruction in Art Symposium » organized by Metzger in London. In 1968 he visited the USA for the first time, showing his films in New York and St. Louis. This very year he became a founder of the Austria Filmmakers Cooperative. After a participation in a happening "Kunst und Revolution" ("Art and Revolution") at the University of Vienna in 1968, Kren's films were confiscated and he was fired from the National Bank. He participated in 1970 in the International Underground Film Festival (London) and in 1971, in the Cannes Film Festival. He then moved to Cologne for five years. Retrospectives were set up by the London National Film Theatre in 1976 and the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1979. He was also involved in the Dokumenta 6 of Kassel in 1977.

From 1978 to 1989, Kren lived in the USA and presented lectures for universities and schools. He did many jobs such as security officer in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Within this period he made his bad home movies as he used to call them inspired by his travels across the country. He finally returned to his native Vienna in 1990. He died from pneumonia in Vienna in 1998.