Zeugen in der Kunst
[Witnesses in Art]

Art and testimony have an ambivalent relationship: witnesses are expected to recount facts, not speak as artists or poets. And yet, figurations of testimony have always been a fascinating subject for the arts. Is art allowed to bear witness? And: is it even able to do so? This volume explores artistic productions of testimony in film, theater, literature, performance, visual arts, and photography.

Artists have depicted and commented on testimony in many different forms—even interpreting and staging themselves as witnesses. The contributions analyze genre-specific aspects of the respective art forms while also addressing genre-spanning questions on the relationship between art and testimony: how is the cultural and social role of testimonies being reflected in art? How are truth and fiction set in relation with one another? And does the gesture of testifying potentially reveal an eminently political dimension of art?