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Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BÜHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BÜHLER
Брандербургский технологический университет, Котбус, Германия Академический сотрудник отделения прикладных исследований медиа
Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Media Studies d. buehler@b-tu. de
НОВАЯ ЭСТЕТИКА И ПРОВЕРЕННОЕ ВРЕМЕНЕМ ПОНЯТИЕ «ПРАВДИВОЙ РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИИ». ПОСТ-ФОТОГРАФИЧЕСКАЯ СЪЁМКА НА МОБИЛЬНЫЙ ТЕЛЕФОН И ДОКУМЕНТАЛЬНЫЕ РАБОТЫ ХИТО ШТЕЙЕРЛЬ
Статья посвящена двум утверждениям медиа художницы и философа Хито Штейерль. Первое было сделано в связи с прямым включением с мобильного телефона в новостях CNN: описывая новую форму документальности, Хито Штейерль назвала её «абстрактным документом» (abstract documentarism). Второе утверждение Штейерль -что документальные изображения не просто репрезентируют реальность. Документальные изображения продуцируют реальность. Таким образом, они должны представлять то, что может существовать в лучшей версии будущего. Автор статьи поддерживает заявления Штейерль и рассматривает их с другой точки зрения, обращаясь к тезису исследователя медиа Фолькера Вортманна. Вортманн утверждает, что достоверные репрезентации - суть культурные паттерны действия. Они связаны с теми понятиями или моделями, которые показали устойчивость на протяжении истории. При этом формы и эстетика, посредством которых эти модели реализуются, могут меняться на протяжении истории. Автор статьи утверждает, что «абстрактный документ» (abstract documentarism) Хито Штейерль - это новая реализация двух проверенных временем моделей достоверной репрезентации. Далее, автор утверждает, что документальные работы Штейерль - новая реализация другой проверенной временем модели, модели «постоянного сомнения» (constant doubt).
Ключевые слова: "abstract documentarism", мобильные телефоны, "constant doubt", разделение чувственного, документалистика, Fox News, Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc., исторически устойчивые модели, эстетика медиа, постфотография, репрезентация, истина.
NEW AESTHETICS AND LONG-STANDING NOTIONS OF TRUTHFUL REPRESENTATION: ON POSTPHOTOGRAPHIC CELL PHONE IMAGES AND HITO STEYERL'S DOCUMENTARY WORK
This paper examines two claims made by media artist and philosopher Hito Steyerl. First, in relation to a CNN cell phone live broadcast, Steyerl describes a new form of documentary. She calls it abstract documentarism. Second, Steyerl argues that documentary images do not simply represent reality. Documentary images produce reality. For that reason, they should present what could be in a better future. The author supports Steyerl's claims and considers them from a slightly different angle. He does so by introducing a thesis of media scholar Volker Wortmann. Wortmann argues that truthful representations are cultural patterns of action. They are related to notions or models that are historically consistent. What changes historically are the forms and aesthetics through which these models are realized. The author suggests that abstract doc-umentarism is a new realization of two long-standing
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| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
models of truthful representation. Furthermore, he argues that Steyerl's documentary work is a new realization of another long-standing model, the model of the
constant doubt.
Key words: abstract documentarism, cell phone, constant doubt, distribution of the sensible, documentary, Fox News, Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc., historically consistent models, media aesthetics, postphotographic, representation, truth.
I
n two publications from 2007 and 2008, -media artist and philosopher Hito Steyerl describes a live broadcast by a CNN correspondent. It was the first days of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The correspondent was riding in an army vehicle. He was jubilant, Steyerl writes. He stuck his cell phone camera out of the moving vehicle and exclaimed: "[N]ever before had this type of live broadcast been seen. And [Steyerl continues] that was indeed true. Because there was hardly anything to see on these pictures. Due to the low resolution, the only thing to be seen were green and brown blotches, slowly moving over the screen".1 We do not know for sure whether the stills in Figures 1-3 are from the video that Steyerl describes. However, they can give an idea of the type of image Steyerl is referring to. I will elaborate on them in the following. The video from which the stills were extracted was a live broadcast by Fox News via a mobile Inmarsat terminal using a videophone while approaching Baghdad in 2003.2
In this paper, two claims are discussed that Steyerl makes in the aforementioned publications.
1 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 303.
2 Fox News, "OP Iraqi Freedom. Reporting: Greg
Kelly with US Army 3rd Infantry." YouTube, 01:30
min., posted June 4, 2012. Web. October 5 2018 URL: https: //www.youtube. com/watch?v=ICYzFZdbdP 8.
OP IRAQI FREEDOM REPORTING: GREG KELLY WITH US ARMY 3RD INFANTRY
Fig. 1: Green and brown blotches, slowly moving over the screen. Fox News. "OP Iraqi Freedom. Reporting: Greg Kelly with US Army 3rd Infantry." YouTube, 01:30 min., posted June 4, 2012. Web. October 5 2018 https: //www.youtube. com/watch?v=ICYzFZdbdP 8, via a mobile Inmarsat terminal using a videophone while approaching Baghdad, 00:19 MIN.
First, Steyerl claims the CNN video is a new form of documentary. She calls this form abstract documentarism.3 I will support Steyerl's claim and consider it from a slightly different angle. I will do so by introducing a thesis by media scholar Volker Wortmann. Second, Steyerl argues that documentary images do not simply represent reality. Documentary images produce reality. For that reason, they should not represent what already exists, but
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3 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 303.
| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
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WAR MUM
KUWAIT CHOPPER CRASH KILLS 4 U S, 8 BRITISH MARINES
WAR AIJ-RT KUWAIT CHOPPER CRASH KILLS 4 U.S, 8 BRITISH MARINES
Fig. 2: Green and brown blotches. Fox News. "OP Iraqi Freedom. Reporting: Greg Kelly with US Army 3rd Infantry."
rather present what could be in the future. I will reflect on Steyerl's attempt to achieve the latter in her own work in relation to the form of abstract documentarism. I will do so in light of Wort-mann's thesis. By using Wortmann's media analytical framework, my goal is to understand better Steyerl's work and contemporary documentary practice in general. Let me begin with Steyerl's first claim.
Abstract Cell Phone Images: New Realizations and Long-Standing Models
Steyerl describes the CNN video as an example of a new form of documentary. She states, there is no longer a resemblance between reality and the image.4 Accurate mimetic representation is not of importance in this form. Thus, - according to common definitions - it should not be considered a documentary form. However, we can
Fig. 3: Green and brown blotches. Fox News. "OP Iraqi Freedom. Reporting: Greg Kelly with US Army 3rd Infantry."
still speak of truth with regard to these images, 29 precisely because of their blurriness. The truth of the unfocused and blurred cell phone images does not lay in the way they represent, but in the way they express. In fact, Steyerl says, the closer they get to reality, the less intelligible they become.5 The images express the truth of the situation and of social circumstances in general much better than any objectivist report could. They express it through abstraction. Thus, Steyerl calls this form abstract documentarism.
Steyerl relates the form of abstract docu-mentarism to an uncertainty in contemporary documentary practice. First, she says, there is uncertainty about the production of documentary images. Today, it is no longer certain how documentary works can be produced. Concepts like truth, reality, objectivity, and so forth, lack clear definitions and documentary works never meet those stand-
4 Hito Steyerl, Die Farbe der Wahrheit. Dokumentar-ismen im Kunstfeld (Wien: Turia + Kant, 2008), p. 7.
5 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 303.
| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
ards. Second, Steyerl relates abstract documentar-ism to the state of contemporary politics and social circumstances. According to her, they have moved beyond representation. She explains, "[p]olitics as such are increasingly shifting into the realm of pure perception. They are not only aestheticized. They have become aesthetical as such".6 Steyerl calls both aspects "the uncertainty principle of modern documentarism"7. She says, the CNN images are an accurate expression of this uncertainty that is characteristic of contemporary documentary theory and practice and of our contemporary world in general - socially, politically, and economically. For her, "[t]hey [the CNN images] are perfectly true documents of that general uncertainty".8
In order to understand better the form of abstract documentarism, I will consider Steyerl's claim from a slightly different angle. For this purpose, I will introduce a thesis by media scholar Volker Wortmann. Wortmann addresses documentary forms, in contrast to Steyerl, from a media historical point of view. On the one hand, he says, the truth of a representation is nothing objectively given. Truth, objectivity, authenticity, and other related concepts are not characteristics of a medium or of a form of representation. Instead, according to Wortmann, the truth of a representation is culturally produced and, subsequently, attributed to a form of representation. Thus, truthful representation should be considered a cultural pat-
tern of action9, that is, a distinguishable pattern of repeated actions in a culture. On the other hand, Wortmann proposes that these cultural patterns of action are connected to certain notions or models that are historically consistent. The notions or models do not seem to change in the course of history. What seems to change are the forms and aesthetics through which these models are realized. Let me give an example.
Following Wortmann, I would like to summarize a Christian legend from the 12th centu-ry10. The legend was reported by Nicolaus Mani-acutius. It claims the authenticity and truth of an icon of Jesus Christ. The Pope had been carrying this icon in a recurring procession from the Lateran to the church S. Maria Maggiore in Rome since 30 the 8th century: After the Ascension of the Lord, the Holy Apostles were descending from the Mount of Olives together with the Virgin Mary. At the foot of Mount Zion, they gathered for the Sacrament. Since they knew that many believers felt a strong desire to see revered countenance of the Saviour - at least as an image, they decided to paint the Lord's portrait as long as they remembered it. They thought it appropriate to approach the renowned master of painting, St. Luke, for this purpose, but the saint declined. He thought this task exceeded his abilities. Only after three days of fasting and prayers and after being assured of the Divine Assistance with the help of the Apostles and their mother Mary, St. Luke could be convinced. He took a wooden panel and drew the outline of the countenance, but, even before he
6 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 307.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid, p. 308.
9 Volker Wortmann, Authentisches Bild und authentis-ierende Form (Köln: Halem, 2003), pp. 154-156.
10 Ibid, pp. 48-50.
| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
was preparing to add color to the painting, the perfected image appeared as if by a miracle.
According to Wortmann, at least two of the abovementioned historically consistent models of truthful representation can be found in the ex-ample.11 The first model Wortmann calls the acheiropoietic creation of the image. Central to this model is that the image is said to have been created without the intervention of a human being. Consequently, it is claimed to be truthful. The image is said to be authorless. Thus, the representation is claimed to be direct and immediate. Since the process of the creation of the image is not represented in the image, knowledge of the process of creation is crucial with this model. Without the knowledge the image cannot be interpreted as truthful. Usually, this knowledge is passed on as a legend, as in the given example. In the example, the model of the acheiropoietic creation is realized through the miraculous apparition of the image.
The second model is called the ascetic transparency of the author. Central to this model is that the image is claimed to be truthful because it is said to have been created without the manipulation or influence of its author. The image's author is said to be selfless, free of self-indulgence, individuality, or strong-mindedness. Thus, he is claimed to be a transparent medium. Consequently, the image lacks a definite style. The cleaner the author is and the less a personal style is exhibited, the more truthful the image is claimed according to this model. The second model, too, relies on knowledge that is passed on as a legend about the creation of the image. In the example, the ascetic transparency of the author is realized
through St. Luke who is a selfless and humble master. Only after days of fasting and praying he was assured of the Divine Assistance and became the medium for the miraculous creation of the image on the wooden panel.
The models that Wortmann describes are of course not clear-cut. In addition, at different points in history different models dominate in truthful representation and documentary forms. However, these models are relatively consistent. Wortmann is able to trace them back to the ancient world. What, of course, changes are the ways these models are realized. Historically, they have been realized through very different forms, aesthetics, and media. Wortmann adds that these models are crucial to the realization of truthful representation - not mimetic representation as it is often believed. Iconic resemblance never was important in the history of truthful representation. It never even played a minor role. In fact, the less you could recognize the represented object, usually, the more the representation was suited to being considered truthful.12
Truthful Representation Today: Photographic Images
Wortmann argues that these models of truthful representation are relevant to this day. One example is the truth claim of traditional, analog photography.13 Based on a scientific under-
Ibid, pp. 79-80, 119-120.
12 Volker Wortmann, "Die Magie der Oberfläche. Zum Wirklichkeitsversprechen der Fotografie," in S. Schneider and S. Grebe (eds.), Wirklich wahr! Realitätsversprechen von Fotografien (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje-Cantz, 2004), p. 19.
13 Volker Wortmann, Authentisches Bild und authen-
tisierende Form (Köln: Halem, 2003), pp. 113, 147—
148.
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| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
standing of the photographic process, photographic images are sometimes said to be created without the intervention of a human being. Light is supposedly inscribing itself in the photographic emulsion. The image is said to be an imprint of the represented object. Thus, the photograph is considered to be authorless - very much like an achei-ropoietic image - as well as direct and immediate, because it is assumed that its appearance would have been the same without the presence of a human being. Sometimes, the photographic image is even said to have been miraculously or magically created by the represented object itself - a notion you can find with Roland Barthes and André Bazin.14 Knowledge of the photographic process is crucial. Without knowledge of the chemical process of creating the photograph, the latter would not be interpreted as truthful. Digital images, for example, can look the same. However, they are often said to be untrue, in contrast to analog pho-tographs.15 As the process of the creation of the photographic image is not represented in the image, knowledge of the photographic process must be passed on, for example, through language. Furthermore, if a human being is involved in the creation of a photographic image, in general, the photograph is believed to be truthful only if it appears to have been created without intention or manipulation by its author. Usually, this is the case if the
photograph lacks a definite personal style. The photographer, then, appears to be a transparent medium, very much like St. Luke in the 12th-century legend.
Take, for example, a famous photograph by Robert Capa: The American Troops Landing on D-Day at Omaha Beach in France in 1944.16 If we consider this photograph to be in some way truthful, we can discover some of the aspects I just described: We are all familiar with the photographic process. For this reason, usually, we believe the represented situation to be in some way inscribed in the photographic emulsion. The image appears to be a direct, immediate representation of the situation because of the flaws, marks, and scratches present in the image. Even though a 32 human being was involved in the creation of the image, we are willing to assume that the photographer did not manipulate the image. The blurri-ness of the image suggests that the situation was far too emotional for any manipulation. The photographer was probably too busy not getting killed. Furthermore, a legend of the image's creation and how its negatives were almost lost comes with the image, suggesting again the image's truth - despite new findings that suggest that this legend is a lie which I will not address here.17
Getting back to the CNN or Fox News broadcast. Hito Steyerl says, these images are a
14 Volker Wortmann, "Was wissen Bilder schon über die Welt, die sie bedeuten sollen? Sieben Anmerkungen zur Ikonographie des Authentischen," in S. Knaller and H. Müller (eds.), Authentizität. Diskussion eines ästhetischen Begriffs (München: Fink, 2006), p. 172.
15 E.g., William J. Mitchell, The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era (Cambridge: MIT, 1994).
16 Robert Capa, American Troops Landing on D-Day, Omaha Beach, France. Gelatin silver print, 24 x 35.5 cm2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, 1944. Web. October 5 2018. URL: http://www.me tmuseum. org/art/collection/search/283700.
17 Allan D. Coleman, "Alternate History: Robert Capa on D-Day," in Photocritic International (October 5, 2018) URL: http://www.nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/p hotocritic/tag/robert-capa/.
| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
new form of documentary, that is, a new form of truthful representation. Wortmann's thesis allows a slightly different approach to the question of whether blurred cell phone images should be considered a new form of documentary. I propose that abstract documentarism, that is, the form and aesthetics of the CNN or Fox News videos, is a new realization of the described long-standing models of truthful representation, as suggested by Wortmann. The videos, for example, appear to be direct and immediate in accordance with the model of acheiropoietic creation. Their authors do not seem to have manipulated the image. They appear to be in some way ascetic, thus, to be transparent media, very much like in the case of the model of ascetic transparency. Not only is this a legend passed on by CNN or Fox News (especially if we think of the embeddedness of journalists during the invasion of Iraq). It is suggested through the image's blurriness, pixelation, and lack of a definite style, too. I claim that this is consistent with the 12th-century legend and with Robert Capa's photograph. However, the suggested truth of the CNN or Fox News images is not related to a miraculous apparition or to a chemical emulsion. It is produced using a low-tech digital technology in an emotional situation.
Producing, Not Reproducing Reality:
Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work
In the last part of this paper, I will take a look at Steyerl's documentary practice and at what earlier I labeled her second claim. Steyerl claims that documentary images do not simply reproduce reality, documentary images produce reality. Documentary images are not simple representations, but "pleas, examples, instructions, even whole
ethical treatises, through which attitudes towards the world are proposed and practiced".18 Reality, Steyerl says, is formed according to documentary images. This is not only the case for propaganda and obvious examples like Colin Powell's speech before the UN in 2003.19 This is the case for all kinds of documentary images. Steyerl claims that, to this day, documentary images have reproduced established political and social circumstances by applying established procedures and aesthetics: "[M]any producers paid little attention to the fact that (...) documents are usually condensations of power. They reek of authority, certification, expertise and concentrate epistemological hierarchies".20 By using these documents power structures and hierarchies were reproduced. At the lev- 33 el of content, Steyerl says, many documentary works have criticized and attacked unjust hierarchies. At the level of form, however, they have used authoritarian truth procedures and thus reproduced the structures they were criticizing. The abstract CNN images are one further example of how images reproduce existing politics and social circumstances.
In order to avoid this, Steyerl argues, documentary works should not represent what already exists, but present what could be in a better and more just future. In relation to Jacques Rancière's notion of the Distribution of the Sensi-
18 Hito Steyerl, Die Farbe der Wahrheit. Dokumentar-ismen im Kunstfeld (Wien: Turia+Kant, 2008), p. 80, my translation.
19 Ibid, p. 13.
20 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 306.
| 4 (37) 2019 |
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
ble21, she argues that contemporary documentary forms must not represent, but present a political configuration, which is yet to come.22 The paradoxical task of documentary practice is to create a better reality.23 Documentary works should strive to reconfigure the distribution of the sensible -and thereby change social and political circumstances. This is "the only possible critical documentary today".24 To achieve this, Steyerl says that documentary works should not rely on content but on form and aesthetics. They should use "complex montages and entanglements of experimental documentary forms".25 Through form and aesthetics, negative affects like "stress, exposure, threat and a general sense of loss and confusion"26 should be replaced and new social configurations should be anticipated and demonstrated.
I suggest that this is reflected in Steyerl's work. Take one of her videos as an example: Liquidity Inc. from 201427 (see Figures 4-7 for video stills and for the aesthetics that I describe). On the one hand, this work narrates the story of Jacob
21 Jacques Rancière, Die Aufteilung des Sinnlichen: Die Politik der Kunst und ihre Paradoxien (Berlin: b_books, 2008).
22 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 308.
23 Hito Steyerl, Die Farbe der Wahrheit. Dokumentar-ismen im Kunstfeld (Wien: Turia + Kant, 2008), p. 83.
24 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 308.
25 Hito Steyerl, Die Farbe der Wahrheit. Dokumentar-ismen im Kunstfeld (Wien: Turia + Kant, 2008), p. 158-159, my translation.
26 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 308.
27 Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc. 30:00 min., single channel HD video installation, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NH, 2014. April 5 2016 URL: http://vanabbemuse um.nl/en/proj ects/hito-steyerl/.
Wood, a Lehman Brothers analyst who was adopted in Vietnam and who immigrated to the US. During the financial crisis in 2008, Wood lost his job. After the crisis, Wood pursued a career in Mixed Martial Arts. On the other hand, the work describes the relation between human beings and the financial market by using the metaphor of water. It describes financial forces as unpredictable powers that materialize in meteorological phenomena. Central to the video is Bruce Lee's quotation: "Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend." The work is a combination of different documentary forms. It uses montages. The financial crisis is its topic, however, the work does not strive to represent the financial crisis. We can assume that the financial crisis is far too complex and abstract to be mimetically represented. The work humorously replaces negative affects, like threat and stress, with more positive ones. I argue that the work strives to change the distribution of the sensible and thereby change the social and political circumstances.
Fig. 4: Complex montages and entanglements of experimental documentary forms. Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc. 30:00 min., single channel HD video installation, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NH, 2014. Web. April 5 2016 URL: http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/projec ts/hito-steyerl/.
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| 4 (37) 2019 |
Fig. 5: Montages and entanglements. Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc.
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
Constant Doubt and New Configurations: Another Model of Truthful Representation
Again, I think, Wortmann's thesis provides an illuminating point of view. Wortmann argues that one important characteristic of the history of truthful representations is that truthful representations are constantly contested. Hito Steyerl addresses this aspect, too. She calls it the "constant doubt" regarding documentary forms and aesthetics28 and specifies: "It is as old as the documentary form itself. Its truth claims have always been questioned, deconstructed or called arrogant".29 Wortmann argues that this constant doubt is a consistent cultural action pattern in itself. He is able to trace it back to the very beginning of truthful representations - just as he is able to trace back the aforementioned models.30 Established forms of truthful representation have always been criticized and rejected as not being truthful. Wortmann says, precisely because of this criticism new forms and aesthetics of truthful representation are developed - to challenge established forms and aesthetics and, subsequently, claim the new forms and aesthetics to be truthful.31 The constant doubt is the reason why realizations of the aforementioned models of truthful representation change in the course of history and it is the reason why at different points in history different models dominate. Skepticism about established forms of truthful representation is always at the beginning of the
Fig. 7: Montages and entanglements. Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc.
Fig. 6: Montages and entanglements. Hito Steyerl, Liquidity Inc.
28 Hito Steyerl, "Documentary Uncertainty," in A Prior #15 (2007), p. 304.
29 Ibid.
30 Volker Wortmann.
Authentisches Bild und authen-tisierende Form (Köln: Halem, 2003), p. 222. 31 Ibid, pp. 24, 121.
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Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BUHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации». Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
development of new forms of truthful representa-
tion.32
I suggest that we can understand Steyerl's work along these lines. First, I propose, if developing new forms and aesthetics and claiming them to be truthful in contrast to established forms is a historically consistent cultural action pattern, then, we can consider the constant doubt to be a model of truthful representation in itself. The constant doubt is, then, one further long-standing model besides, for example, the acheiropoietic creation of the image and the ascetic transparency of the author. Second, I claim that Steyerl's call for a new form of documentary and for new aesthetics can be understood in line with the model of the constant doubt. Steyerl states, documentary works never meet their own standards and they reproduce authoritative power structures. For that reason, she calls for new documentary forms and strives to realize them. Accordingly, Steyerl's documentary work can be understood as a realization of the long-standing model of the constant doubt. Liquidity Inc. can be seen as one new realization of this model, just as the CNN or Fox News images, that is, the form of abstract documentar-ism, are new realizations of the models of the acheiropoietic creation and the ascetic transparency. Consequently, following Wortmann, we might even consider Steyerl's documentary work not only the beginning of the development of new forms of truthful representation. Her work could mean the beginning of a change of the models that dominate in documentary practice.
References
1. Capa, Robert. American Troops Landing on D-Day, Omaha Beach, France. Gelatin silver print, 24 x 35.5 cm2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, 1944. Web. October 5 2018. URL: http: //www.metmuseum. org/art/collection/search/2 83700.
2. Coleman, Allan D. "Alternate History: Robert Capa on D-Day," Photocritic International. Web. October 5 2018. URL: http://www.nearbycafe.com /artandphoto/photocritic/tag/robert-capa/.
3. Fox News. "OP Iraqi Freedom. Reporting: Greg Kelly with US Army 3rd Infantry." YouTube, 01:30 min., posted June 4, 2012. Web. October 5 2018. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=ICYzFZdbdP 8
4. Mitchell, William J. The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era. Cambridge: MIT, 1994. Print.
5. Ranciere, Jacques. Die Aufteilung des Sinnlichen: Die Politik der Kunst und ihre Paradoxien. Berlin: b_books, 2008. Print.
6. Steyerl, Hito. "Documentary Uncertainty." A Prior #15 (2007): 302-308. Print.
7. Steyerl, Hito. Die Farbe der Wahrheit. Dokumen-tarismen im Kunstfeld. Wien: Turia+Kant, 2008. Print.
8. Steyerl, Hito. Liquidity Inc. 30:00 min., single channel HD video installation, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NH, 2014. Web. April 5 2016 URL: http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/proj ects/hito-steyerl/.
9. Wortmann, Volker. Authentisches Bild und au-thentisierende Form. Köln: Halem, 2003. Print.
10. Wortmann, Volker. "Die Magie der Oberfläche. Zum Wirklichkeitsversprechen der Fotografie." In Wirklich wahr! Realitätsversprechen von Fotografien, Ed. S. Schneider and S. Grebe. OstfildernRuit: Hatje-Cantz, 2004. 11-21. Print.
36
Ibid, pp. 157, 222-224.
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32
Даниел БЮЛЕР / Daniel BÜHLER
| Новая эстетика и проверенное временем понятие «правдивой репрезентации».
Пост-фотографическая съёмка на мобильный телефон и документальные работы Хито
Штейерль / New Aesthetics and Long-Standing Notions of Truthful Representation: On PostPhotographic Cell Phone Images and Hito Steyerl's Documentary Work |
11. Wortmann, Volker. 'Was wissen Bilder schon über die Welt, die sie bedeuten sollen? Sieben Anmerkungen zur Ikonographie des Authentischen." In Authentizität. Diskussion eines ästhetischen Begriffs. Ed. S. Knaller and H. Müller. München: Fink, 2006. 163-184. Print.
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