Wolf Kahlen
«Light Incidence»

Wolf Kahlen’s self-portrait embodies his ambivalent attitude as an artist to the video medium, which some years later was termed the ‘narcissistic’ medium (by Rosalind Krauss). While the electron beam scans the image from inside in order to produce an image, the reversal of this process – i.e. the direct diversion of the light beam from outside into the picture tube of the recording camera – not only erases the image but can also, at worst, permanently damage the tube camera. This ‘burn’ effect was due to the sluggish sensitivity to light of early video cameras.