‘The wonderful world of absence’ presents monochrom’s collection of so-called ‘Zeigerpointers’.
Until
an official term for the media phenomenon ‘Zeigerpointer’ has been
found, this place holder describes a widespread form of representation
used by the print media. This has until now neither been perceived nor
defined as a specific form. With the collection (www.monochrom.at/zeigerpointer) and the sequence of images ‘Zeigerpointer’, monochrom wants to contribute to the examination of the ‘Zeigerpointer’ as a category of
representational aesthetics.
The ‘Zeigerpointer’ is defined as
images (in the scope of printed media reporting) of crime scenes,
locations of accidents as well as other locations in which some kind of
thing has happened that can no longer be seen because the reported
happening is already over and no traces are visible (either because none
were produced or because they were already removed during the
reinstatement of the status quo). Because in these cases there is
nothing to take a picture of, the photo journalist generally asks
certain people – eyewitnesses, concerned parties or somebody in charge –
to point to the spot where ‘it’ happened. ‘Zeigerpointers’ can
unambiguously be defined with a couple of criteria they have to fulfil
and therefore distinguish them from other pictures of people pointing at
something. The reported event must not be visible through any other
means than the pointing at the spot where ‘it’ happened.
monochrom
has been collecting such images for several years in the form of
newspaper clippings (which ideally should also contain the captions), at
first from Austrian print media, later some international exhibits were
also added. They are published on their website (after diligently
ascertaining their validity) and in the form of e-mailings and word of
mouth we regularly call for entries.
With the project ‘The
wonderful world of absence’ monochrom wants to present the findings of
this media-cultural archaeology to the public for the first time, also
changing the media, in the form of an exhibition. The exhibits will be
selected examples painted in oil.
Where is the exhibition? At Aksioma Project Space!
Exhibition: July 6 – 22, 2011
Opening and Performance: July 6, 2011 at 8 pm.