ALEXANDER HAHN

electronic media artist

Video

THE BERNOULLI ITINERARY

(1989, b/w video projection and one stripped, hanging TV tube, sound,

alternatively 4 hanging, stripped TV tubes)

Edition of 3 + 1 AP, 1/3 collection Kunstmuseum St. Gallen


A fantastic poem, inspired by Ueber das Leuchten des Meeres, mit besondrer Hinsicht auf das Leuchten thierischer Körper - On the Shining of the Sea, with special focus on the glow of animal bodies, the 1803 book by Swiss naturalist and economist Christoph Bernoulli (1782-1863).


… 

When the body is dissected, light again begins to radiate.  

The whole room seems to be in flames.  

The nails and fingers of those who touch it are all covered with light. 

It is not the flesh itself that phosphoresces, but something hidden underneath the skin, a residual light from centuries ago. … 

Finally, the body remains dark



English version read by Tom Korkames, the German version by Wolfgang Höntzke.