Witnesses to Radioactive Contamination 183
Pictorial Interference and Unintentional
Recording of Radiation
The art and photography historian Peter Geimer coined the term “Bildstörung”
(pictorial interference), which he discussed in detail in his text “Was ist kein
Bild? Zur Störung der Verweisung” (What is not a Picture? On the Interference
of Reference). 33 Geimer has drawn attention to, among other things, Josef
Maria Eder’s Ausführliches Handbuch der Photografie (Detailed Handbook on
Photography), 34 which discusses unintentional pictorial effects that originate
in chemically or physically flawed processes of exposure and photo developing. In his work, Geimer concludes that “the conspicuousness and urgency
of the unusable by no mean represent a deficient mode. For precisely when
the material beings to interfere, precisely when it interrupts, contaminates,
or paralyzes the transmission, it demonstrates the conditions of the possibility of photography.” 35 Geimer sees a particular potential in interferences with
the process of photographic depiction. He emphasizes the haphazard quality
of pictorial interferences that cannot be produced consciously: “once one has
become familiar with certain interferences, one can take them into account in
the future. Simulated in experiments, observed, named, and compared, they
lost their status of the unexpected and became calculable quantities.” 36
The seemingly flawed effects on Matsushige’s film negatives correspond to
the pictorial interferences described by Geimer and thus have a random quality. The same is true of Kostin’s photographs, though he intensified the visual
effect of the radioactive trace (see Figure 8.3) by increasing the contrasts and
thus intensifying the message of the image.
In the case of both photographers, the effects of interference are, on the
one hand, unintentional and are associated with a loss of visual information; on the other hand, they point to new information about the authentic
situation of the taking of the pictures. The works of both Matsushige and
Kostin indirectly show the difficult circumstances under which the photographs were taken. Kostin even speaks of the film being covered in a black,
impenetrable layer even after the photographs were taken.
The random quality still found in Matsushige and Kostin becomes a calculable quantity for two other photographers. Seen in that way, the concept
of pictorial interference is undermined by the photographers to be discussed
next: Fritz Goro and Shimpei Takeda. They take a different approach and
provoke these effects largely intentionally by exposing the film with the radioactive object. In these so-called autoradiographs, the object depicts itself on
the photosensitive layer with its own radiation without the use of light.
Radiation of July 16, 1945 (Fritz Goro)
Life magazine of September 24, 1945 displays images by the photographer
Fritz Goro (1901–1986). Fritz Goro was a German-Jewish émigré who fled
to New York with his family in 1933 and continued his career as an art and
Pictorial Interference and Unintentional
Recording of Radiation
The art and photography historian Peter Geimer coined the term “Bildstörung”
(pictorial interference), which he discussed in detail in his text “Was ist kein
Bild? Zur Störung der Verweisung” (What is not a Picture? On the Interference
of Reference). 33 Geimer has drawn attention to, among other things, Josef
Maria Eder’s Ausführliches Handbuch der Photografie (Detailed Handbook on
Photography), 34 which discusses unintentional pictorial effects that originate
in chemically or physically flawed processes of exposure and photo developing. In his work, Geimer concludes that “the conspicuousness and urgency
of the unusable by no mean represent a deficient mode. For precisely when
the material beings to interfere, precisely when it interrupts, contaminates,
or paralyzes the transmission, it demonstrates the conditions of the possibility of photography.” 35 Geimer sees a particular potential in interferences with
the process of photographic depiction. He emphasizes the haphazard quality
of pictorial interferences that cannot be produced consciously: “once one has
become familiar with certain interferences, one can take them into account in
the future. Simulated in experiments, observed, named, and compared, they
lost their status of the unexpected and became calculable quantities.” 36
The seemingly flawed effects on Matsushige’s film negatives correspond to
the pictorial interferences described by Geimer and thus have a random quality. The same is true of Kostin’s photographs, though he intensified the visual
effect of the radioactive trace (see Figure 8.3) by increasing the contrasts and
thus intensifying the message of the image.
In the case of both photographers, the effects of interference are, on the
one hand, unintentional and are associated with a loss of visual information; on the other hand, they point to new information about the authentic
situation of the taking of the pictures. The works of both Matsushige and
Kostin indirectly show the difficult circumstances under which the photographs were taken. Kostin even speaks of the film being covered in a black,
impenetrable layer even after the photographs were taken.
The random quality still found in Matsushige and Kostin becomes a calculable quantity for two other photographers. Seen in that way, the concept
of pictorial interference is undermined by the photographers to be discussed
next: Fritz Goro and Shimpei Takeda. They take a different approach and
provoke these effects largely intentionally by exposing the film with the radioactive object. In these so-called autoradiographs, the object depicts itself on
the photosensitive layer with its own radiation without the use of light.
Radiation of July 16, 1945 (Fritz Goro)
Life magazine of September 24, 1945 displays images by the photographer
Fritz Goro (1901–1986). Fritz Goro was a German-Jewish émigré who fled
to New York with his family in 1933 and continued his career as an art and