Should we stop dueting videos…

In her seminal essay “In Defense of the Poor Image” Hito Steyerl sings the praises of low quality images. She discusses their (political and aesthetic) potential and lauds their reach. Although that text is now over a decade old, it is more topical than ever: visual phenomena such as memes, tiktok videos and cellphone footage have increased the reach and visibility of such “poor” imagery.

 

This epigraphic video essay by film student Frauke Cosemans matches up Steyerl’s words with a particularly appropriate Tiktok dueting video. This objet trouvé turns out to be the perfect illustration of one of the points Hito Steyerl makes: that the increased accessibility of video production tools has given rise to a whole new brand of makers. Poor images have democratized the audiovisual landscape, in the sense that they have shattered the walls that were previously built around (expensive and therefore inherently conservative) production environments. This almost whimsical montage is a great fit for the infectious energy that characterizes this kind of Tiktok videos.