Electric Seeing

What is the subject of video?
Charlotte Klink traces the development of electromagnetism in the pursuit of »Electric Seeing« that emerged in the 19th century as well as its curious relation to psychoanalysis and the contemporary discovery of the structure of the human psyche. In doing so, she exposes how this development laid the foundation of what we know today as »video«. This comprehensive theory of video entails a discussion of the technological, historical, and etymological roots, the media-theoretical concepts of medium and index, the philosophical and art-theoretical environment in which video emerged in the 1960s, the psychoanalytic concept of the phantasm, and artworks by artists such as Yael Bartana, Hito Steyerl, and Bjørn Melhus.

Charlotte Klink is an artist and image/media theorist. Her artistic practice focusses on drawing, writing, video, and performance. She completed her PhD at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart (ABK) and was a visiting scholar at Tel Aviv University as a fellow of the Max Planck Society's Minerva Fellowship Program. Her research foci are contemporary art and aesthetics. She is co-founder of the DFG network 3G-Positions of the third generation after World War II and the Shoah in contemporary literature and arts.