Vidéolettres Robert Kramer/Stephen Dwoskin

From February to June 1991, Robert Kramer and Stephen Dwoskin exchanged seven video letters—four from Kramer, three from Dwoskin. Filmed on Hi8, the letters capture two American expatriates, one in England, the other moving between Berlin, Normandy, and Paris. Kramer’s letters are explorations that establish a direct line between the eyes and ears (the body) and the immediate surroundings. In his Berlin study, George H.W. Bush preaches the Gulf War from the TV screen; the banks of the Landwehr Canal, where Rosa Luxemburg was murdered in 1919; Kramer’s house on the Seine.

“The video letters to Steve were fantastic,” Kramer recalls. “I don’t remember how it came about. It was in the shadow of my Berlin film. I like the idea of filming without editing, editing within the camera. All my letters are shot *en direct*. What you see is what was recorded. Even the sound comes from the same timeframe. We both really enjoyed that.” (Volker Pantenburg)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum