Article:

Visuelle Subversionen: Zur Inszenierung monströser Körper im Bild

The article deals with the production of monstrous bodies. Based on carefully picked examples, different strategies of visualization and readings are shown as they have developped between teratology and media since the beginning of the 19th century. The chosen material includes medical and freak photography of the second half of the 19th century as well as contemporary photographies and sculptures. First of all, the analysis concentrates on the mediatic and social production of monstrous (images of) bodies as well as the mise-en scène of the so-called ›biological realness‹ which forces the spectator to look at and judge upon the peculiarity of the the exposed bodies.