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A Driving Force

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Poor Power Images in the Work of Hito Steyerl

Jolanda Wessel    Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Germany    

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abstract

In 2009 German video artist, documentary filmmaker and essayist Hito Steyerl releases her essay In Defense of the Poor Image. Her definition of the ‘poor’ image as “a copy in motion” can be transferred to contemporary mostly digital images in general. But with the new image technologies the artist diagnoses a replacement of poor images by power images, in the multiple meanings of the word ‘power’. In contrast to the proclaimed shift from poor images to power images the author rather speaks about poor power images. Instead of a replacement of poor images by power images one can observe poor images unfolding their powers while power images show various shades of poorness.

Published
Dec. 22, 2023
Accepted
Oct. 30, 2023
Submitted
Sept. 17, 2023
Language
EN
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-771-5

Keywords: Poor power images • Poor power Images • Image theory • Materialism • New Media Installation Art • Post-Representation • Post-representation • New media installation art

permalink: http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-771-5/013

Copyright: © 2023 Jolanda Wessel. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.