Peter Weibel

In »Das Paradox der Perspektive« [The Paradox of Perspective] from the series Ontologische Sprünge [Ontological Jumps], a page from a book about the Earth’s rotation around its axis by the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) is first photographed. In a first series, this page is photographed against a scaled background at different angles between 0° and 90°. In a second series, the photo from the first series, apparently rotated by 45°, is photographed again at different angles between 0° and 90°. The third series begins with the 45° photo of the second series. In the third series, this results in a total of 135° by the end, which means that the photo should have already rotated around its axis and the page of the book should be unreadable. Yet miraculously, it is still possible to read the page from the front despite its 135° rotation. The mathematical calculation of the angles thus contradicts the visible images. A paradox arises, a contradiction, with which Weibel points both to the problem of perspective and to the difference between photographic representation and reality.