Photographic Traces of the Political

This photographer dares to overturn established modes of photojournalistic representation: In front of Armin Häberle’s camera, high-ranking politicians and representatives of world powers erase themselves through their movements. The artist’s time-lapse photographs, collectively entitled “State Visit”, were realized at the start of the new century, primarily in Berlin. Recently, Häberle also visited the G8 summit in Heiligendamm with his large format camera.

For Häberle, the temporality he portrays represents the duration of the image’s creation, which normally remains unvisualized in photojournalism and therefore bears no meaning; whether or not a situation has been recorded onto a negative or memory card with an exposure time of 1/50 or 1/500 seconds is in most cases irrelevant. But motion blur such as Häberle’s, which results from a moving object or a minute-long exposure, suggests time – experienced time, real time.

In the “State Visit” series, architecture remains in the background, such as the government buildings in Berlin like the “Kanzleramt” (Chancellery) or the “Bendler Block” that houses Germany’s Ministry of Defense. Häberle also portrays the German government’s guesthouses, in front of which official encounters occur – always for the press, to provide the photographic proof of the official visit. The journalistic photographs taken at the same time by Häberle’s colleagues with “normal” exposure times persist in qualifying as documentary, i.e. authentic in content. Häberle stretches this understanding, this appointment: when his intentionally long exposure times cause the people to dissipate into streaks before their rigid backdrops, he simply defines the situation architectonically. Häberle may show something, yet he denies the fixed gaze onto the situation. Formally, this functions like magic. To a certain extent, there are several shots that overlap and condense within his lapsed exposures. Other photographers work similarly on a formal level, for example when an architecture in progress is exposed for so long that the entire construction – even, on occasion, over years – is documented in one photo. Likewise for Häberle, the situation determines the duration of the exposure, thereby reversing the traditional notion of reproducing a particular scene “picture perfect” in the split of a second.

The process reminds us of the medium’s early years; back then, photographers had to struggle with such occasional technical inconveniences as hours-long exposure times. The people in early photographs could barely sit or stand still for as long as the camera shutter had to stay open for sufficient exposure. Häberle uses this early technical problem intentionally for his photographic art today. The people in his pictures are no longer identifiable – with a few exceptions, for example in the walk sequences.

Political events, such as group public appearances in various constellations, are separated into their elements. The images function independent of major political events, but knowledge of their content lends them their controversy. Armin Häberle thus questions not only the representation conventions of political encounters; he also questions the overall necessity of politicians’ brief publicity stints – before the actual meetings. Still, we never do get to see the press conferences or joint statements after the meetings, where the results of the conversations and any political contents are conveyed. Häberle is interested in the structure, not in the politics of the day. Particular to his work is the idea behind the motion blur, as well as the positioning of the observer. In most cases we can see the entire situation – including the reporters, who occasionally appear at the pictures’ edges to “comment” on the political events in Häberle’s photographs. These pictures are also authentic: they not only reveal the (political) world as a stage, but also translate world politics into everyday situations. For example: as Vladimir Putin is awaited at the Rostock airport, a red carpet lies lost on the landing strip, while two rows of soldiers stand at attention. Set a short distance away to better their view, a dozen or so journalists perch on provisional platforms to report on the arrival of the Russian president. It is ironic that, just like a journalistic observer, Häberle intentionally selects a more remote positioning for himself and his camera, in order to keep perspective on, as well as to follow and to critique the great theater surrounding the political/ public appearances.

When two politicians shake hands in front of rolling cameras, smile simultaneously into the lens and thus act out a heartfelt alliance, skilled political observers are able to read a lot from the spectacle. It seems absurd for high-ranking politicians to meet in private contexts, which only a select few journalists (are allowed to) document and critique. Yet often what seem to be completely irrelevant snapshots manage to land on the front page of international dailies – and sometimes even in history books, if peace accords or similar were thus symbolically sealed.

Even at the highest political level we are curious about “small talk”, and yet we don’t really want to hear it at all – like that between George W. Bush and Tony Blair as a microphone accidentally picked up their dinner conversation. With his “State Visit” series, Häberle delivers us with a congenial, visual counterpart. He literally smears hierarchies and the “significance” of the individual protagonists on the world political stage.

In Häberle’s walk sequences groups of politicians from the G8 summit stride from one building to another, flanked by an entourage of security and interpreters, and the photographers, who must take their place (obediently) behind a thin low-hanging cord, document this with dozens of pictures. Most of these photographs are realized through a hunch – or hope – that something important could possibly happen at this time – and are ultimately never used at all. Photojournalism remains a difficult business, constantly in search of exceptional occurrences.

The path Häberle has chosen is different from that of his colleagues. There are certain well-known conventions regarding the attire of politicians. This doesn’t apply to all parts of the world, however: in the Arabic world or in Africa it is much less the suits in dark gray than white, one-piece vestments that dominate the setting. In the five-part photo series walk sequence #1 (Africa) from 2007, the artist observes a group of several white-robed African heads of state at the G8 summit, who create white streaks as they pass by his camera. Another G8 working session with western political heads become dark gray streaks in Häberle’s sequences. Only Angela Merkel, who despite the motion blur in Häberle's photos remains recognizable by her gait, wore in 2007 a light-colored suit and stood out – as host of the summit – as something special. While the event is condensed into a single image in state visit, the artist splits the politicians’ walk into a multi part, film-like sequence.

Armin Häberle's images deal with time in that the artist always captures more than just a moment with his camera. In addition to the blurred figures, what is also interesting are his peripheral views of the Press Center computer monitors – this constantly shifting matrix of our information society. The visual data in the picture coagulates into mere impulses of a fast-paced world. It is more than a bit ironic that the image is by Armin Häberle, who is known to forgo any newsworthiness in his work in favor of levels of abstraction and representations of time.

Dr. Matthias Harder

Chief-curator
Helmut-Newton-Foundation Berlin

(publ. in: Juliet - Art Magazine No. 141, Trieste 2008; transl.: Alisa Kotmair)