josef chladek

on photobooks and books

Joachim Schmid - X Marks the Spot, Self published, 2013, Berlin

Digital print, softcover, sewn, edition of 100, signed. Buy at schmidshop.

Dallas, Texas, Dealey Plaza. The site where John F. Kennedy was assassinated is a major tourist magnet. White Xes on the pavement mark the spots where the president was fatally shot – in the middle of a freeway on-ramp. Visitors often wait for a gap in traffic, hurry to one of the Xes, get their photos taken and leave the road before the next cars arrive. Some of those photos end up in online photo sharing sites such as Flickr, with captions along these lines: “I don’t know why I felt the need to stand by the X but judging from everyone else, it would appear to be the thing to do.”A webcam is positioned in a window on the sixth floor of the former Texas School Book Depository, the site where, on November 22, 1963, an assassin allegedly fired the shots that killed Kennedy as the presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza. The camera’s perspective exactly matches that of the assassin: it now shoots the tourists shooting their own memorial photos, and we can watch this in real time.The book combines snapshots taken by tourists at Dealey Plaza with footage from the webcam.

Pages: 84
Place: Berlin
Year: 2013
Publisher: Self published
Size: 10 x 15 cm (approx.)