Hilarious; starting a presentation about the power of images w/o being able to produce an image! On a more serious note; „Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image etc.“; the authors of the bible were very much aware of the power of imagery in any form, as this is one of the ten commandments, being stated even before „thou shalt not kill“. Photoshopping was an art applied in the USSR with great skill, as party members that had been purged were also thoroughly erased from pictures (talking about „post-production“). As soon as the movies had been invented, every government jumped on the bandwagon and started producing movies to disseminate their propaganda, eg the Americans depicting the Germans as bloodthirsty Huns during WW 1. Or we merely need to think of Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi-Germany or Sergei Eisenstein in the Soviet Union. As such, there is nothing new under the sun. Mrs Steyerl states that the Romanian TV stations were stormed during the revolution in 1989, and that this was a defining moment in history where images shaped reality. On Wikipedia we find however that it was actually the Central Committee building where Ceaucescu was giving a speech from the balcony that was stormed on Dec. 22, 1989. Ceaucescu narrowly escaped and fled with his wife Elena by helicopter from this building only to be captured later in Targoviste. The unique characteristic of the Romanian revolution was that is was filmed live on camera (or at least parts of it), not so much that it was images that caused the revolution. Ceaucescu had been making himself way to unpopular by ruling as a tyrant, oppressing and abusing his own people; it would have ended badly for him anyway. The army was no longer supporting him. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Revolution#Trial_and_execution So all in all, not a very good argument for how images are shaping our world, or stating that things have changed dramatically since 1989. Imagery (paintings, drawings, plays, movies, photographs etc. ) has been used by those in power for centuries, only now we’re starting to find out how we have been had. Addressing this topic I would have found a great deal more interesting.
It's strange, Steyerl has a way of speaking that would indicate she is forming a well-researched argument, but here, and elsewhere, it seems she is actually much more interested in a kind of poetic prose that, at least when it wanders beyond mere truisms, is more concerned with being interesting and fanciful than being factual or useful.
Genuinely a fangirl for Hito 🌼🐕🌼
Omg that amazing meta moment @1:57 -- "I wonder why we are not able to see them." !!!
Really enjoyed this. THIS.
The best.
HITOMI CHAN DAISUKI
Hilarious; starting a presentation about the power of images w/o being able to produce an image!
On a more serious note; „Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image etc.“; the authors of the bible were very much aware of the power of imagery in any form, as this is one of the ten commandments, being stated even before „thou shalt not kill“.
Photoshopping was an art applied in the USSR with great skill, as party members that had been purged were also thoroughly erased from pictures (talking about „post-production“).
As soon as the movies had been invented, every government jumped on the bandwagon and started producing movies to disseminate their propaganda, eg the Americans depicting the Germans as bloodthirsty Huns during WW 1. Or we merely need to think of Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi-Germany or Sergei Eisenstein in the Soviet Union.
As such, there is nothing new under the sun.
Mrs Steyerl states that the Romanian TV stations were stormed during the revolution in 1989, and that this was a defining moment in history where images shaped reality. On Wikipedia we find however that it was actually the Central Committee building where Ceaucescu was giving a speech from the balcony that was stormed on Dec. 22, 1989. Ceaucescu narrowly escaped and fled with his wife Elena by helicopter from this building only to be captured later in Targoviste.
The unique characteristic of the Romanian revolution was that is was filmed live on camera (or at least parts of it), not so much that it was images that caused the revolution. Ceaucescu had been making himself way to unpopular by ruling as a tyrant, oppressing and abusing his own people; it would have ended badly for him anyway. The army was no longer supporting him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Revolution#Trial_and_execution
So all in all, not a very good argument for how images are shaping our world, or stating that things have changed dramatically since 1989. Imagery (paintings, drawings, plays, movies, photographs etc. ) has been used by those in power for centuries, only now we’re starting to find out how we have been had. Addressing this topic I would have found a great deal more interesting.
It's strange, Steyerl has a way of speaking that would indicate she is forming a well-researched argument, but here, and elsewhere, it seems she is actually much more interested in a kind of poetic prose that, at least when it wanders beyond mere truisms, is more concerned with being interesting and fanciful than being factual or useful.
Great job! You handled the rude men messing with the audio very well! Making a joke was pretty funny as well!