Nikolaus von Wolff: "Tube Reader"

Promptography on Hahnemühle Fine Art Paper

READERS series from 2023

Size: 50 x 50 cm

Edition: 3 + 1 AP

Signed, titled and edition numbered by the artist in pencil on the verso.

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An old man reads Martin Luther King's Why We Can't Wait in the confines of a subway train. The image exudes a peculiar dignity: the reader's posture appears collected and serious, while around him the routine of commuting continues unperturbed. The choice of book intensifies the tension between private reflection and collective history: King's words about freedom, equality, and urgency seem like an inner echo amidst urban anonymity. But the flawless staging betrays its artificial origins—the lighting, perspective, and gestures are all too perfect. This, precisely, is the philosophical point: the dignity of the moment arises not from documentary truth, but from a digital construction that simultaneously simulates and detracts from authenticity.

The Readers series systematically continues this paradox. With the appearance of historical documentary photography, von Wolff evokes an archive of scenes that appear as if they were shot in everyday urban reality in the late 20th century. In fact, however, these are AI-generated images that only feign the aura of the past. This illusion, however, contains a productive power: Readers becomes a commentary on the relationship between memory, perception, and technological image-making. Reading functions as a metaphor for reflection, for a world of ideas, while the images themselves become the critical object of this reflection. Von Wolff shows that our viewing habits can no longer distinguish between what is experienced and what is constructed. Authenticity today no longer arises solely from the event itself, but from our willingness to believe a representation—a realization that is as political as it is aesthetic.