Susan Sontag - Screen Tests by Andy Warhol at ajh.pm Bielefeld
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When a glance becomes art: Susan Sontag in Andy Warhol's Screen Tests
In the ajh.pm Artspace in Bielefeld, two key figures of the American avant-garde meet: the essayist Susan Sontag and the pop-art artist Andy Warhol. The video installation presents all seven Screen Tests, which Warhol filmed of the then 31-year-old Sontag in 1964, for the first time in Germany.
Seven portraits between observation and self-presentation
The short, silent 16mm film portraits were created in Warhol's Factory in New York. In gentle slow motion, Sontag's face, posture, and minimal movements appear as independent visual events. Contemplation, distance, playfulness, and provocation lie close together in these recordings.
Andy Warhol's cinematic aesthetics
With the Screen Tests, Warhol shifts the boundaries between film, photography, portrait art, and installation. Without classical directorial instructions, the encounter between camera and portrayed person becomes the subject of art itself. Duration, silence, and concentration replace action and direct the contemplation of the work to the smallest changes in expression.
Susan Sontag: Essayist of visual culture
At the time of the recordings, Susan Sontag was already one of the most influential intellectual voices in New York's cultural scene. Her essays Against Interpretation and Notes on Camp influenced the discourse on art, aesthetics, and pop culture. The video installation thus also opens an art-historical perspective on Sontag's relationship to seeing, representation, and media perception.
An exhibition in the rhythm of light
The video will be shown outside in a loop from dusk until midnight. The exhibition atmosphere combines urban night, flickering film imagery, and concentrated aesthetic experience. In the ajh.pm Artspace, the contemplation of the work becomes a quiet artistic experience about time, presence, and the relationship between seeing and being seen.
Conclusion: Film art as an immediate encounter
Those who wish to experience Warhol's pop art, experimental film, and Susan Sontag's cultural criticism together will find a rare opportunity in this video installation. The seven Screen Tests make visible how a seemingly motionless portrait gives rise to a complex dialogue about identity, gaze, and media reality. A visit to the ajh.pm Artspace enriches cultural education and invites a lasting aesthetic experience.
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