EINSTELLUNGSRAUM e. V. Susan Paufler: geteilt - zerteilt

"Der Gro§e Wagen
fŠhrt zurŸck so leer, wie er gekommen ist.Ò
(The Big Dipper goes back as empty as it came)
Inger Christensen

Space?
Johannes Lothar Schršder about the exhibition
geteilt - zerteilt - enteilt? by Susan Paufler
in EINSTELLUNGSRAUM Hamburg

I. A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF shared space

On the walls are 7 frameless photographic works, each with 4 photos. Even with them being not in focus and blurring one can make out trees, bushes, forest edges, unploughed strips, fields, sometimes buildings or fa- cades. Often a line of horizon draws through the image whereupon it leaps photo by photo thus being once in the upper once in the lower third or in the middle of the image. There are also hints on seasons like snow, leaf- less trees and shrubs or juicy green. Water drops or dirt in the backlight in front of a shadow zone make it visible occasionally that there is a window pane between lens and the motif. This and the blurring in the background makes it possible to identify the photos having been taken from inside transportation means. As there is no street to be seen anywhere and the position of the camera is above the scene a train as point of origin comes into consideration. The various seasons hint to the possibility that expo- sures from different journeys have been assembled or have been taken from regional public transport.

With the exception of the two in illumination boxes all photographs were printed and developed in an analogue process in symmetrical groups of 4 copies on one photographic paper in the DIN A2 format. This way of presentation avoids suggesting succession. A slight jump in the base line of the hanging increases the disturbance of the sequence so that the viewers are encouraged to compare the images on the various levels. The eyes are challenged permanently to leap up and down as well as back and forth to comprehend the difference of the individual images, to look for any

"Der Gro§e Wagen fŠhrt zurŸck so leer, wie er gekommen ist.Ò (The Big Dipper goes back as empty as it came) Inger Christensen Space? Johannes Lothar Schršder about the exhibition geteilt - zerteilt - enteilt? by Susan Paufler in EINSTELLUNGSRAUM Hamburg I. A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF shared space On the walls are 7 frameless photographic works, each with 4 photos. Even with them being not in focus and blurring one can make out trees, bushes, forest edges, unploughed strips, fields, sometimes buildings or fa- cades. Often a line of horizon draws through the image whereupon it leaps photo by photo thus being once in the upper once in the lower third or in the middle of the image. There are also hints on seasons like snow, leaf- less trees and shrubs or juicy green. Water drops or dirt in the backlight in front of a shadow zone make it visible occasionally that there is a window pane between lens and the motif. This and the blurring in the background makes it possible to identify the photos having been taken from inside transportation means. As there is no street to be seen anywhere and the position of the camera is above the scene a train as point of origin comes into consideration. The various seasons hint to the possibility that expo- sures from different journeys have been assembled or have been taken from regional public transport. With the exception of the two in illumination boxes all photographs were printed and developed in an analogue process in symmetrical groups of 4 copies on one photographic paper in the DIN A2 format. This way of presentation avoids suggesting succession. A slight jump in the base line of the hanging increases the disturbance of the sequence so that the viewers are encouraged to compare the images on the various levels. The eyes are challenged permanently to leap up and down as well as back and forth to comprehend the difference of the individual images, to look for any	order for example. Such efforts are in vain because it is nearly impossible to put them in a space continuum. The space remains parted. At this point the exhibition touches the title of the year project 'shared space' and explains the term in a special way. The aforesaid emphasizes the first two participles of the chosen title by Susan Paufler 'geteilt' und 'zerteilt' (divided and split). They define the parted room not from a social or charitable point of view but accentuate the destructive part by doubting the precondition of parting namely the entity; because the question arises if the room exists as an entity anyhow and in what relation. II. THE DEPLOYMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY Because of its handling with optical gadgets photograpy joined with its invention seamlessly the central perspective which was set as benchmark by the deployment of painting - central perspective as basis for possibility to represent reality or what was thought of being reality. At the same time it marked the start of liberation from necessity that painting had accrued by representing reality. But also photography separated in the following pain- ting from perspective design because it could take over the until then pain- ting assigned tasks of representation of reality. The results are known: It is about abstraction and painting's liberation of representation fetters. But the game with reality allowed only a passing coup for painting because photographers could fill painting's shoes limited only. Because the media of photography are different from those of painting. Consciously I am talking here in plural because photography is not a medium, it is like painting a deployment that next to its technical aspects of production is also interwoven in complex social and cultural interre- lations. When with painting it was about availability of material - the allocated quantities of canvas, pigments and painting materials by the representatives of the guilds created dependency of the painters on those - so is the technical aspect of photography in league with the industrial production and in addition depending of the mass media because of the possibility of duplication. Next to the recording gadgets the industrial aspect of photography also includes the technics of the image carriers (disk, roll films, chemical
*in German the Big Dipper is called 'Grosser Wagen' - 'Wagen'= vehicle, thus it can go - 'fŠhrt').	Vernissage
Supported by the department for culture, sports and media of Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg and district office Wandsbek
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