Peter Weibel

Epistemic Videology I

The photo shows a tube screen framed by two cameras. The cameras are mounted on two stands. In the middle of the screen a plexiglass plate is placed on a metal frame. A cross shines from the tube screen.
Artists
Peter Weibel
Title
Epistemic Videology I
Year
1974
Medium / Material / Technic
video installation; 2 cameras, monitor,video mixer, glass plate
Size / Duration
dimensions variable

In the work »Epistemic Videology I« Peter Weibel considers language from a spatial, geometric point of view as perspective drawing objects, which later is again important in his work »Alphabet Space«. A transparent glass plate with a horizontal line (a minus sign) on it is recorded by two cameras opposite each other, one of which is lying on its side. Thus one camera sends a horizontal line and the other sends a vertical line to the video mixer. The mixer mixes the two images, the vertical and horizontal lines, into a plus sign which appears on the screen. The video installation thus highlights the fact that a representation (a plus) does not necessarily depict reality (a minus), but can be responsible for distortions. Media images can be the opposite of reality.

Images

Open Gallery
  • The photo shows a tube screen framed by two cameras. The cameras are mounted on two stands. In the middle of the screen a plexiglass plate is placed on a metal frame. A cross shines from the tube screen.
    Peter Weibel, »Epistemic Videology I«, 1974 / © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, photo: Tobias Wootton

Images

Overview
  • The photo shows a tube screen framed by two cameras. The cameras are mounted on two stands. In the middle of the screen a plexiglass plate is placed on a metal frame. A cross shines from the tube screen.
    Peter Weibel, »Epistemic Videology I«, 1974 / © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, photo: Tobias Wootton