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of becoming a photographic image. Does the dark blue of many Silver pictures not perfectly record the struggle of the exhausted developer that is no longer capable of generating black? Do the patches, scores, rips and other irregular marks not attest to form-giving defects and deliberate operating errors? Tillmans started to collect these maladjusted, apparently faulty, abnormal images early on in his career and first published them in 1998 in an edition for the journal Parkett. With these precursors of the Silver series he already revealed his interest in resilient materials, in the processes, in the sub-linguistic dimensions, in short, in the noise of photographic messages. The mechanical, chemical, physical conditions systematically suppressed in the regime of photographic representation and documentation now take centre stage, with all their modest yet intransigent illegibility. As Tillmans himself has said, ‘Because they are so much a part of the material, for me they are also somehow a piece of nature, something mineral. The picture here develops both traditionally in the emulsion and on the surface of the image in the form of deposits of salts, silver derivatives and chalk and algae.’ 34 These nature-like pictures often lead a life of their own, some originals (30 × 40 cm or 51 × 61 cm) change with the passage of time, because they have deliberately not been correctly fixed; they are instable, ephemeral, incalculable. They do not so much represent an event as they embody it. These are essentially latent pictorial objects, for waiting within them are countless more, other pictures. In his feeling for the productive wilfulness of his photographic materials, Tillmans demonstrates an affinity with the early days of photography. Most notably, in his first book, The Pencil of Nature (1844) William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of ‘photogenic drawing’ attached great importance to the fact that photographs were ‘formed or depicted by optical and chemical means alone’, with no assistance from a human hand; the ‘pencil of nature’ could now replace the ‘artist’s hand’. 35 Talbot’s calotype process, his use of paper treated with silver nitrate and potassium iodide, which produced a weak, pale image after exposure, made it possible – through the subsequent application of silver nitrate with gallic and acetic acid – to create a clearly visible (albeit still negative) image. It was only this photochemical development process that brought the hitherto ‘latent’ image to light. The surface of the photo paper becomes a retina of sorts, in which images of reality are caught and can be stored until they are needed; thus the paper takes on the independent reality of a chemical-physical process. 36 This reality, which is also embodied in the Silver picture objects, is now juxtaposed by Tillmans in Neue Welt with digital images of a present that is profoundly shaped by digitalised design processes. Radically different pictorial concepts and pictorial realities rub shoulders. In view of the inescapability, the (economic and epistemological) power but also the potential of digitalisation of photographic images that has long since overtaken and transformed his own praxis, Tillmans will not let go of a blunt, obstinate sense of materiality and the beauty of the ‘organic-chemical nature of photography’. 37 In his search for new pictures, which he regards as his most important duty in his artistic production, 38 the latest technologies are a source of inspiration and a trigger, but not a solution, at least not the only solution for the production 34 Wolfgang Tillmans, email of 8 June 2012. 35 See William Henry Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature [1844] (New York: Da Capo, 1969), n.p. 36 See Bernd Busch, Belichtete Welt. Eine Wahrnehmungsgeschichte der Fotografie (Munich and Vienna: Hanser, 1989), 188ff. and Vered Maimon, ‘On the Singularity of Early Photography: William Henry Fox Talbot’s Botanical Images’, in Art History, vol. 34, no. 5, November 2011, 958–977. 37 Wolfgang Tillmans, email of 8 June 2012. 38 ‘That’s the only thing I feel responsible for: my sense of duty is that I want to make new pictures’, Peyton- Jones and Obrist, ‘Interview with Wolfgang Tillmans’ (see note 5), 22.
of visual events that allow us to see the ‘unforeseen’. The digital conquest of nature is countered by the unpredictable latency of photo paper. But this does not bring with it a retreat from the power of digital images in favour of a return to the supposedly metaphysical authenticity of a self-activating natural image. On the contrary, it seems that in the future Wolfgang Tillmans will concentrate all the more – through his engagement with the physical presence of pictures – on exploring the latency and emergence of the digital.
Page 1 and 2: This PDF is part of the catalogue o
Page 3 and 4: Together with the Freischwimmer ima
Page 5 and 6: are not constitutive to the percept
Page 7 and 8: thought that classify and interpret
Page 9 and 10: Susanne’s lowered gaze (in Susann
Page 11 and 12: Tillmans prefers to talk of, 29 nee
Page 13 and 14: is not simply that of parts to a wh
Page 15: to be constantly alert here. In con
Page 19 and 20: spores, 2012; Iguazu, 2010
Page 21 and 22: Nightfall (b), 2010; wake, 2001; Ec
Page 23 and 24: Vista Telescope, ESO, 2012; lovers,
Page 25 and 26: Eierstapel, 2009; Venus transit, dr
Page 27 and 28: Tag/Nacht, 2009; Deer Hirsch, 1995
Page 29 and 30: Room 2 paper drop (Roma), 2006; Fuc
Page 31 and 32: Fuck Men, 1992
Page 33 and 34: Feuilleton for Die Zeit, 31 May 200
Page 35 and 36: NICE HERE. but ever been to KYRGYST
Page 37 and 38: Thirty & Forty Party (Pia), 2008; T
Page 39 and 40: Suzanne & Lutz, white dress, army s
Page 41 and 42: Turnhose (Sandalen), 1992
Page 43 and 44: Lux, 2009
Page 45 and 46: InterRail, 1987
Page 47 and 48: Allons z’enfants I, 1987; ohne Ti
Page 49 and 50: new LA still life, 2001; Hallenbad,
Page 51 and 52: Kieler Straße (self), 1988; August
Page 53 and 54: Selbstportrait 130487, 1987
Page 55 and 56: Freischwimmer 220, 2012; like prayi
Page 57 and 58: like praying (faded fax), 2005
Page 59 and 60: Freischwimmer 155, 2010
Page 61 and 62: Soldiers - The Nineties, installati
Page 63 and 64: Soldiers - The Nineties, installati
Page 65 and 66: Faltenwurf (twisted), 2000; after p
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after party (c), 2002
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growth, 2006; Headlight (b), 2012;
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Truth Study Center (Düsseldorf), 2
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Silver 99, 2012 (detail)
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Market I, 2012; Truth Study Center
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Truth Study Center (Düsseldorf), 2
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The Bell, 2002
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Nonkosi Khumalo, 2008; Gaga sitting
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Anders, 2004; Richard James, 2001;
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Regina, 2002; Kate McQueen, 1995; d
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Kate McQueen, 1995 (detail)
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Elephant Man, 2002; Conor, sun burs
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Room 8 Lighter 95, 2013; Alex, 1997
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Lighter, jam, 2012; Lighter 92, 201
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Lighter, yellow/green I, 2008 (deta
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Lighter, blue up XI, 2013 (detail)
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Lighter 76, 2008 (detail)
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Lighter, rust/red, 2012; Lighter, r
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Lighter 93, 2012; Lighter 95, 2013
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Room 9 Faltenwurf (submerged) II, 2
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outside Snax Club, 2001; outside Pl
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Lutz & Alex looking at crotch, 1991
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AA Breakfast, 1995; rat, disappeari
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JAL, 1997
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Alex & Lutz holding each other, 199
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Teufelsee, right, 2004 (detail); ma
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Sportflecken, 1996; Corinne on Glou
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Room 11 paper drop (red), 2006; Cha
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Chair (part 1), 2001; Chair (part 2
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Concorde grid, 1997 (detail)
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Room 12 Buenos Aires, 2010; blacks,
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William of Orange, 2007; Chair (par
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installation view room 13
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Alex in her room, 1993; Silver 87,
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Quarry NOVO, 2001; Butt II, 2002; L
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Anders (Brighton Arcimboldo), 2005;
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Everlast, 2009; to know when to sto
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Wilhelm Leibl painting, 2002 (detai
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Sonnenweg, 2004 (detail); stripped,
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Hafenstrasse / Fettecke, 1987
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Edinburgh builders, d, 1987
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Avenue of the Americas, 1987
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Room 14 Lights (Body), 2002
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Room 2 Silvio (U-Bahn), 1992 paper
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16 21 27 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 26
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Room 4 Freischwimmer 93, 2004, C-pr
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42 43 44 42. Regina, 2002 43. Kate
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1 2 Room 9 3 4 5 6 7 1. haircut, 20
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Room 10 14 th Street, 1994/1995, Vi
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Room 14 Hafenstrasse / Fettecke, 19
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Andy on Baker Street, 1993, C-print
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Strümpfe, 2002, C-print, 30.5 × 4
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Karl sleeping I, 2011, C-print, 40.
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Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York (199
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