„Fotografie als Motiv / Photography as Motif is an artists’ book, a work of photographic theory, and a practical handbook of photography all in one volume.
The publication presents an exemplary conjunction of the practice of taking photographs and artistic reflection. Three women artists whose careers each began with professional training in photography (Lisa Rastl and Claudia Rohrauer) or camera (Caroline Heider) reflect on their craft, their qualifications, their technical and theoretical expertise, and their work on the motif. In short: all the facets of image-generating media in the image.
Texts by Ruth Horak, Ulrike Matzer, Andreas Spiegl, and Franz Thalmair accompany this encounter and continue its story alongside the series of images shown.
If one repeats the reproduction of the reproduction until the motif disappears behind the act of reproduction, Josef Albers becomes Lisa Rastl. Lisa Rastl applied a total of eight reproduction steps to one of over 2,000 paintings from the series Homage to the Square, which Josef Albers painted between 1950 and 1976 - less to pay homage to the square than to observe the interplay of colors.
The series METALLIC (From the Core of the Surface) by Claudia Rohrauer deals with the properties of surfaces based on the task of photographing an object made of metal, spanning an arc from the shine as a specific feature of the metal and simultaneous photographic challenge, to the texture of paper surfaces. Within these three cornerstones, however, the relationship that exists between the object photographed and the photographer is also narrated on the basis of a personal experience.
And Caroline Heider reflects on the mastery of the technical which is often attributed to the male sphere. This may have to do with the fact that the invention of machines and apparatuses took place at a time when the visibility of women had been relegated to the realms of the private and the family.“
An ambitious work that touches upon such themes as the practice of photography, variation, reproduction, authorship, and reflection, text in German and English, hard cover in glossy dust jacket, 32 x 23 cm, 200 pages, ed/800, Vienna 2021
ISBN: 978-3-903353-06-0
