TV World (1988)
Alleen performance
Media
Description
'Beeindrückt durch die Vielfalt der Bilder, fragst du mich, wass denn die Bilder sagen. Ein Bild sagt nichts, denn die Bedeutung des Bildes liegt ausserhalb des Bildes.' ('Impressed by the images' sheer quantity, you ask me what they mean. An image means nothing because the meaning of an image is beyond that image.') This quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein is central to TV World. What can images tell us in themselves? This is always a relevant question in a culture where we are inundated with images. In fact, people often believe in images rather than in reality: they seem more convincing, more real. Holtappels mixes reproductions of 'reality' (such as photos, recordings made by surveillance cameras and home-made super-8 films of small children) with original matrial in which he follows a young girl. What do all these images mean? The nostalgic super-8 films evoke memories of a bygone reality, of youth and childhood. That they achieve this effect is 'due to' memory rather to their inherent qualities. In that sense, their meaning is defined by something beyond the image. Holtappels seems to have used the girl (could these be her memories?) so as to elucidate this process once again. She exists both literally and figuratively outside of the other images that nonetheless demand extra meaning through the leitmotif of her presence. For the viewer, she too is ultimately just another image...