The year-long project of Lois Weinberger, from April 1998 to April 1999, at the WATARI-UM, Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, is accessible to art readers for the first time with this issue of CAMERA AUSTRIA. Weinberger’s documentation of this “plant-translocation” corresponds to his precise archival activities and quasi-scientific analysis of the material, which is crossed by his “precise heedlessness”. The symbolic and political implications of his artistic practice are subjects of the article by Stella Rollig. Lois Weinberger has also created number 6 of CAMERA AUSTRIA’s “Edition” series which may be obtained through our editorial offices.
Andreas Reiter Raabe held a detailed conversation with Franz West on his action-orientated work method and the photographs of his work produced by artist colleagues which, in most cases, serve as “offers” for possible use in his sculptural works – his “Paßstücke” (“Adaptives”) in particular. Conforming to West’s own approach to text, the beginning of the interview is printed here in its largely unedited form.
Besides having the opportunity of introducing Joke Robaard’s “Folders” and “Suits” in the photo section, the Dutch artist gives her own in-depth account of the genesis of artistic reflections that have led to her highly focused method of working and also discusses previous and current projects. An artistic practice that overcomes the system immanence of art presents a decisive premise in Robaard’s “mediation work”. Susanne Neuburger’s article for CAMERA AUSTRIA focuses on Robaard’s latest work, “Cut-off Suit,” which was recently exhibited in the film auditorium at the “20th Century House” of the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna.
Philip Ursprung discusses the “model” character of the spacial interconnections in Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler’s photographs and the narrative potential embodied within them. His subject ties together with the thoughts expressed in a second article by Philipp Kaiser. Starting out from the latest “work complex”? of the artist couple, “Gregor’s Room” – an allusion to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis – Kaiser thematizes the dichotomic relationship between internal and external, as well as the attempt to capture a moment of the “between” state of action.
In his column, “Marginalien zur bundesdeutschen Fotografie,” our long-time correspondent Rolf Sachsse has this time – to our delight – lashed out on all sides. In his article entitled “Photographically Trained?” he offers a comprehensive and critical commentary on the situation in the German technical academies and argues the need for reform of the respective institutes? politics of hiring in the photographic sector as well as the attitudes of the participants – students and teachers alike.
This edition also introduces a new series, “Referenzen”, by Wolfgang Vollmer. “Referenzen” compiles the facts that have determined the emergence of a photograph. Each photograph’s critical parameters are listed, putting special emphasis on location. The project brings together over fifty historically significant images by fifty different photographers, taken over the course of one-hundred-seventy years in the history of photography.
Finally, as always, you will find extensive, informational sections on the work of younger artists in the FORUM, current exhibits in REVIEWS, and BOOKS, as well as the latest news in the international photography scene in NEWS. Our thanks to the artists and writers for their exciting collaboration with the CAMERA AUSTRIA team and the resulting contributions to this edition! We wish you lots of reading enjoyment.

Manfred Willmann, Marie Röbl, Maren Lübbke,
March 1999