telewissen

The telewissen group was founded in Darmstadt in 1970 by Herbert Schuhmacher and Inge Schumacher-Schüle and was one of the first video art initiatives in Germany. The group included Hans Schuhmacher, Herbert Schuhmacher's brother, and his sons Jan, Frank, and Nik Schuhmacher, as well as Klaus Dumuscheit, Gisela Eisenhardt, Gunter Gutmann, Georg Schneider, Rolf Schnieders, Irmgard Thoms, Jürgen Vogt, Barbara Vogt-Hägerbäumer, and Rainer Witt.

The interactive video action »Der Magische Spiegel«, which telewissen carried out in Darmstadt on December 10, 1970, was one of the first – if not the first – closed-circuit installations in Germany: In the city center, there was a red VW bus with an open tailgate, which revealed a running television set. Visitors who approached were surprised by a mirror image of themselves on the screen. A Sony Portapak video camera recorded the action in front of the television, and the video was simultaneously visible live. For the first time, visitors could see themselves on television and thus participate directly in the production of the content.

At documenta 5 in 1972, telewissen interviewed the audience in front of the Fridericianum in Kassel for their work »documenta der Leute.« The comments were played back to other visitors, who were then interviewed and filmed. The aim was to stimulate new communicative situations and discussion formats in public space, to show video as a means of knowledge and communication, and to demonstrate the democratic and emancipatory potential of video technology.

Against the backdrop of Marshall McLuhan’s media theory writings, the activities of US-American video art groups such as the Raindance Corporation, the developing media art scene in Darmstadt, and new anti-authoritarian educational concepts and new forms of learning, telewissen encouraged the audience to make their own television and produce their own content. At a time when there were only two public television stations in the Federal Republic of Germany, telewissen’s goal was to democratize the medium.

Since 2005, the archive of ZKM has held twelve videotapes that were digitized in the ZKM | Laboratory for Antiquated Video Systems, as well as letters.