Stumme Zeugen. Fotografische Bildevidenz am Rand der Wahrscheinlichkeit
Stumme Zeugen. Fotografische Bildevidenz am Rand der Wahrscheinlichkeit
Abstract
In the 1870s fundamental disbelief crept up on the physicist Gustav Theodor Fechner, when Karl Freiherr von Reichenbach presented him with an experimental setting of disparate ingredients including preparations, magnets, metals and ordinary eggs in a hotel room to prove the existence of his newest discovery – the force of Od. Even more astonishing is that until the beginning of the 20th century, the theory of Od functioned – ex negativo – as an actant to stabilize regimes of established knowledge. With regards to the case of Od, this paper examines the epistemological boundary of uncertain facts and canonized knowledge that produced strategies of verification via photographic recordings. Over and above an index of the real, which is evoked by the register of mimesis ascribed to photographic documents, the text aims to analyze constellations of technical-instrumental ensembles, discursive practices, mediated distributions and institutionalized authorization, in which images attain effectiveness as documents in the first place.
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Keywords:
BildevidenzFotografische AufzeichnungPseudowissenschaftReichenbach