The power of images

How do images convey power interests? How do they contribute to the construction of history? How are we manipulated by them? When do images become propaganda?

The publication accompanying the exhibition Image and Power is the first to comprehensively examine the zeppelin as a motif in photography. In regimes as diverse as the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and the Nazi dictatorship, the image of the airship was a powerful tool of political propaganda, supporting the agenda of the respective governments and convincing the population of the visions of an aspiring, power-focused nation. It became a state symbol for the conquest of the skies, for military dominance, technical superiority and global networking. Based on the zeppelin as a symbol of national self-presentation, the exhibition and catalog pose the highly topical question of the power of images.

In dialog with queer-feminist and non-Western artistic positions, the interdisciplinary contributions deconstruct visual strategies of domination, the meaning of national symbols, the image archive as a place of knowledge production and strategies for increasing media literacy. The book thus opens up a space for critical reflection on the power of images - then and now.