Seeing is believing

Adel Abdessemed, Abbas Akhavan, Kenneth Anger, Nadim
Asfar, Taysir Batniji, Adam Broomberg und Oliver Chanarin, Paul Chan,
Zeyad Dajani, Anita Di Bianco, Joana Hadjithomas und Khalil Joreige,
Khaled Hourani, Iman Issa, Alfredo Jaar, Nedim Kufi, Iñigo
Manglano-Ovalle, Gianni Motti, Adrian Paci, Walid Sadek, Taryn Simon,
Sean Snyder, Hito Steyerl, Akram Zaatari
Images of
terrorist attacks can be seen live, and within seconds they are
dispatched via media portals throughout the world. In the UN Security
Council a tapestry with the Guernica motif is veiled, and soon after a
satellite photo is presented as a central argument to justify the war.
Images of an execution are broadcast live to the White House, though no
photos are leaked to the public.
Images spread instantaneously
and appear to be the only evidence required to render an event credible
and immediate. Seeing is believing, and yet images still manage to
overwhelm our imagination, our belief in reality. The realization that
images are not merely the objects of a non-media reality but instead
create their own realities has become an integral part of the ability to
read contemporary images. The visual immediacy of political events, the
politicization of images and their uncontrollable speed of circulation
have led to intense reflection in contemporary art on the power and
status of the image.
With the generous support by the Capital Cultural Fund, Berlin.