vienna

in more or less distinct generations or periods, dominated by
those very large image formations we call ‘world pictures’.” 206
The following chapter is based on a visual analysis of the
images created to express the rite of passage exemplified in
the sale window. We conducted our field study of the upper and
middle classes during the winter sales in major shopping streets
in January 2004. Four Central European cities, Paris, London,
Vienna and Hamburg, were chosen for this research in order to
avoid local peculiarities in the final conclusions on the nature of
sales. Photos where taken in the manner described in marketing
as “trend shopping” . Therefore, major shopping cities were
visited only briefly; 207 the pictures taken were intuitive and
without prior preparation. The only parameter was to find striking
images representative of the dramatisation in the high streets.
The pictures were taken in view of the cornerstones of the discussion
thus far. The nature of the working images thus gathered
for the visual research are best described in Pink’s words:
“Interdisciplinary exchanges should be carefully situated.
Anthropologists’ photographs, designed to participate in
anthropological discourses, might fare badly under the scathing
gaze of art critics. Similarly, photographers do not become
anthropologists by virtue of informing their photography with
anthropological methods and concepts; their work will not
necessarily participate in anthropological debates.” 208
Although the above quote refers to the collaboration
between ethnographer and artist, the described methodological
risk is evident. But in the future, the artist as “ethnographer” has
a potential that has not been sufficiently examined. 209 In the
interest of the present discussion, it must be stated that there
is neither an artistic endeavour behind the documentation
nor is any anthropological discourse intended. The analysis is
206 Mitchell (2005:93).
207 In the case of this study, it was a full shopping day per city. An exception was made in the study in Vienna because another
day was assigned for the visit to lower income shopping streets.
208 Pink/da Silva (2004:159-60).
209 Stafford (2005:114) cites the example of the artist Thomas Struth, who documents how museum visitors react unconsciously
to the composition of paintings with their position in the museum space. The Orgien Mysterien Theater of the artist
Hermann Nitsch is a vital contribution to the understanding of the nature of blood sacrifice. The intuitive images produced
by the artist (see Rychlik, 2003) can help us understand sacrifice as a visual and physical phenomenon in addition
to textual based analyses such as those by Hubert and Mauss (1981). Taking the artistic gaze as an equivalent to
the methodology of scientific research for creating knowledge for cross-disciplinary research is a challenge for visual
studies. Foster is sceptical “about the effects of the pseudo-ethnographic role set up for the artist or assumed by him or
her” (1995:306). This role attribution usually comes from outside. How should the artist Nitsch set up his artistic research
on sacrifice without ethnographic knowledge? This example shows that the discussion on roles (or role attributions) needs
to be rethought in order to create new knowledge beyond disciplinary thinking.
The
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