Nikolaus Koliusis

360°/1 sec, 360°/1 sec, 47 wratten B, 1983

The black margins and the stamped brand show that in 360°/1 sec, 360°/1 sec, 47 wratten B, 1983, we are not looking at color filter sheets, but at real photographic enlargements: two images from a 360 degree horizontal pan by the camera, taken over a period of one second. Even though the enlargements capture reality with unerring exactness, they at the same time refute photography’s claim to be a proof of reality. All that can be made out in the pictures are blue, lightly structured color fields. Nowhere is there any sense of where the shot was taken. Nikolaus Koliusis is a trained photographer. His artistic work starts with fundamental examinations of photography as a medium, in order to gain insight into how it functions and the effects it makes. Traditional photography with a camera is not involved after 1987. Instead of exposing film material, Koliusis uses readymade color filter sheets as his artistic material, creating extensive room installations with what were originally photographic aids.