THE POWER (and the glory) OF PHOTOGRAPHY was the title of the 6th Symposion on Photography that took place in Forum Stadtpark Graz during the Styrian Autumn 1984. This corresponds with the fundamental question that was raised in each symposion, not only in the sixth, i.e. the question concerning the nature of photography. With other words, each of the precedent symposions was also dedicated to the attempt to discover, in the wide range of possible applications of photography as well as in today’s theory of photography, the power of the medium, at the same time however, depending on the different, sometimes even opposed point of views of the participants, to leave its definition in suspense.

Thus the main part of this double issue is determined by the publication of the lectures held on the occasion of the 6th Symposion on Photography during the Styrian Autumn. The texts were especially written for that event, even though,  as in the case of Bernhard Johannes Blume, some of them had been published before.

This issue of CAMERA AUSTRIA further contains the second part of Timm Starl’s series”Skizzen zu einer Kulturgeschichte der Fotografie”, an appreciation of the photographic work of the lately deceased Herbert Bayer, as well as an interview, information, reviews and a summary of various cultural events.

CAMERA AUSTRIA is now five years old, and with issue no. 20 we have completed our fifth year. We are taking this jubilee to submit our subscribers a special offer so they can complement their collection of CAMERA AUSTRIA. All issues still available (no. 1 is out of print,  no. 4 available only bound in cloth), are offered at particularly favourable conditions for a short period only.

We would also like to thank all our collaborators and our readers for their interest in CAMERA AUSTRIA, hoping  they will continue to have confidence in our work.

Manfred Willmann
Christine Frisinghelli