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Taking life-sized self-portraits
measuring 60 x 200 cm is unthinkable,
it's not possible with normal photography.
And it's an instant picture.
The camera was created in the '70s.
It was made by my father,
scientist Werner Kraus,
who worked for Daimler Benz
and had to invent a lens
for high-speed photography
to photograph the combustion in engines.
This lens had to make 1:1 photographs possible.
That's why it's so big.
The lens is in that nose over there.
The person will be standing back here.
We don't have a negative,
we just have photo paper.
Your image is printed directly on the paper.
I cut it, put it in the developing machine
and it's ready in ten minutes.
You'll go home with a successful picture,
usually the first one.
This may sound crazy in times
when you take 500 digital images
and then check and edit them on your computer
and you may end up with one.
This is different. It's interactive art.
You take responsibility for it.
I'll turn the machine on now.
Then we can do it.
It warms up. We can go in after ten minutes.
These are the many generators we need.
I'll try to give you nice lighting.
You're well placed in the right plane of focus.
When the back of your shoes touches the wall,
you're in the plane of focus.
Not too bright.
That was very good. Dress rehearsal now.
Your hand was better...
I had it here.
Exactly. Very good.
I'll turn the light off
and pull the paper down. Are you ready?
Yes. I just have to push the shutter release.
DARKROOM, PLEASE DO NOT ENTER!
THE WORLD'S SMALLEST DARKROOM.
At some point, everyone in the world
comes to Berlin.
The contacts you can make here,
the art projects you can do here,
are fantastic. Be it Blue Man Group
or Wim Wenders, or actors like Maria Schrader,
Susanne von Borsody or Eva Mattes et cetera.
Any anecdotes about artists?
I have one about Sloterdijk.
It was hard to get him. He kept saying,
there are enough pics of me. Why take another?
He said no to me many times, but then I got him.
He said, how long do we need, 30 minutes?
The anecdote is that he was still here
five hours later. At some point
his wife said, we have to go now.
The technology is absolutely unique,
it's fascinating.
Subtitles by Stephanie Geiges