54 | 1996

This issue not only deals with various states and conditions the photographic image may be subject to but also with ways of including them into the theme and mediation of artistic work.
“EIN–HEITIU–NI–TY”, Michael Schmidt’s most recent photographic project, not only takes the fundamental social changes in Germany after the reunification as an occasion for a photographic essay; it is also an attempt to present, in an exhibition (at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover) and in a book, constructions of history as potential readings of photography. Christine Frisinghelli approaches Michael Schmidt’s mode of production mainly through his book projects since the seventies. We are very happy that the cooperation with Michael Schmidt enabled us to realise a first “Edition for Camera Austria”, distilled from his project “EIN–HEITIU–NI–7Y” (see page 21).
The American artist Diana Thater combines medial and narrative aspects of video in installations that respond to the respective architecture of exhibition spaces, creating spaces that involve the viewer in the process of image generation. Hildegund Amanshauser portrays the development of this concept through projects from the past three years.
In his essay on Giinther Selichar, Rainer Fuchs discusses the technical conditions of image production as the “precise base of the image”, demonstrating that technology is not an external circumstance but a condition – the premises of Günther Selichar’s work since 1991.

In the third sequel of the series “Out of Austria”, Rolf Sachsse places the Oeuvre of the Austrian photographer Trude Fleischmann into a context o visual and cultural conventionalism. Before 1938, Trude Fleischmann had developed a visual language as a portraitist of the Viennese bourgeoisie and bohème, a language that remained within a defined social context and within existing aesthetic conventions. When this context was changed by her emigration, it was precisely her withdrawing to conventions as a type of visual communication and representation that allowed her to occupy a photographic position in her exile during the fifties and sixties in New York.
With an introduction of the photographic department of the Leipzig College of Graphic Design and BookArt we are commercing a series about training opportunities in photography, first of all in the German language area. Students and teachers have been and will be invited to publish their work in CAMERA AUSTRIA. In this connection it should be pointed out once more that the lack of specifically photographic training opportunities in Austria not only affects photographic production but also its analysis and reception. Having moved to new premises, CAMERA AUSTRIA will therefore expand its activities and is preparing a “Laboratory of Photography and Theory” – a forum for preoccupation with photography as an importan taspect of contemporary culture.
The next issue will include contributions by and about Sabine Bitter/Helmut Weber, Richard Billingham, Ursula Böckler and Louise Lawler as well as a self–presentation of the photography and media classes at the Bielefeld Technical College.

Manfred Willmann, Reinhard Braun, April 1996