Peter Weibel

The work »Fingerprint« consists of a Plexiglas box containing a roll of 35 mm film. Peter Weibel had applied his fingerprints directly onto the film displayed. Thus, this is not a copy of a film (a print), but a fingerprint copy. The film is an original. The imprint of the thumb tip has left decoratively scattered particles of dry ink on the film material. The medium of celluloid film stock transforms this imprint from an object into an image, an indexical sign. At the same time, the sign, the fingerprint, has a physical quality. The content of the film is not created by exposing it in the usual way, but by touching it. The conventional light trace is replaced by a tactile trace. A material-related examination of the medium of film like this is characteristic of Expanded Cinema. »Fingerprint« is therefore close to works such as »Tapp- und Tastkino« [Tap and Touch Cinema]. The film that accompanies the object can be viewed in the exhibition in the film tent. When the film is projected, the ink particles not only form abstract visual patterns, but also emit the sound of light, a noise.