Sicht von oben
„Powers of Ten” und Bildpolitiken der Vertikalität
Vera Tollmann

The first media images of the Earth came into being as a by-product of space travel. Today, we use GPS signals every day and satellite images are part of the toolkit of intelligence officers, scientists, and artists. In addition to looking at the history of this phenomenon, the book also discusses pictures produced at the point of intersection between space travel, digital image culture, remote sensing, and art. The central perspective embraced by art history can generally be said to have disintegrated into a reticular network of scattered focal points, sensors, and perspectives, and there has been an exponential increase in the amount of visual material that exists. Drawing on the iconic short film Powers of Ten (1968/77) by Charles and Ray Eames, Vera Tollmann develops a complex narrative telling the story of imaging processes—from the first images of the Sputnik satellites to today’s Big Data.

Vera Tollmann is a cultural scientist and lectures on digital media. She lives in Berlin.