How Images Manipulate Reality
In 1985, advertiser and conceptual artist Michael Schirner led visitors to his photo exhibition in Hamburg’s exhibition halls into a room without a single photograph. Instead, he displayed 40 black panels with brief descriptions of images. His exhibition, "Pictures in Our Minds," appealed to the viewer’s visual memory, evoking iconic images burned into our collective consciousness. A few words were enough to conjure famous scenes in the mind’s eye—Einstein sticking out his tongue or Marilyn Monroe with her billowing dress over a New York subway grate.
In 2010, Schirner exhibited in Hamburg again. This time, the photos on display were familiar to everyone. However, the artist presented well-known press images from which crucial elements had been digitally removed. Once more, Schirner relied on the viewer’s imagination, as the visual memory automatically fills in what isn’t shown—such as the soldiers raising the American flag on Iwo Jima, German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s kneeling in Warsaw in 1970, or the tanks facing the "Tank Man" in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
"I don’t even exist. This art isn’t my work—it’s yours. You alone are the creator of the images in your mind." With these words, Schirner opened his 2010 exhibition, "Bye Bye," at Hamburg’s Deichtorhallen, highlighting the high recognition value and suggestive power of strong images that constantly surround, influence, and even manipulate us.
"Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image"
Images have always been instruments of power. The prohibition against graven images in many monotheistic religions—"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image..."—shows that the manipulative power of visual representations was recognized early on. Yet, despite the fear of divine wrath, the fascination with images was so strong that these prohibitions were never fully obeyed. In 1508, Pope Julius II himself commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with scenes from Genesis, including the iconic image of God creating Adam with an outstretched finger—an image you likely carry in your mind.Selfies Since the 15th Century
The Renaissance brought a dramatic shift in visual culture. While medieval artists primarily focused on religious themes, the 15th century introduced new subjects: rulers increasingly had themselves portrayed, and scholars and wealthy citizens commissioned portraits. By 1500, full-body portraits were reserved exclusively for the political elite, but free spirits like Lucas Cranach the Elder defied these conventions. Five hundred years ago, Cranach established a studio where anyone could order custom portraits. One of his most famous clients was Martin Luther, and it is largely thanks to Cranach’s portrait art that Luther achieved such fame.Images: Visual Staging
"A gray sky, a colorful dress, a president embracing his wife. What at first glance appears to be a randomly captured moment by a photographer reveals, upon closer inspection, a carefully staged marketing message." The Guardian commented on the Obamas’ intimate embrace with the words "Four more years." Not only did Michelle Obama’s dress feature the colors of the American flag, but her slightly windswept hair and the gray sky in the background were far from coincidental. The image symbolized turbulent times in which America and its president stood closely together, almost embracing.A Tool of Power
To this day, artists, celebrities, and especially politicians harness the power of images. John F. Kennedy was one of the first U.S. presidents to use photographs strategically to shape his public image. Cecil William Stroughton (1920–2008), Kennedy’s personal photographer during his time in the White House, was a pioneer in political PR through imagery. Barack Obama continued this tradition, working closely with photographers Pete Souza and Scout Tufankjian to visually document his presidency with great success. And Donald Trump, above all, understands the power of images—even his mugshot, taken at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, became part of his self-staging.Seeing Is Believing? No.
We can no longer trust images. Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) was the first painter to use central perspective in his works, bringing "realism" to the canvas by depicting what the human eye perceives. This technique replaced the medieval hierarchical perspective, where figures and objects were sized according to their importance. From then on, visual representation took on the task of documenting and depicting reality—all the more so after photography was invented 450 years later. By the late 19th century, photography assumed the role of realistic representation, freeing painting to explore new forms of expression, from Impressionism and Expressionism to abstract art.The English proverb "Seeing is believing" still refers to eyewitnesses and photographic evidence, as what we see with our own eyes—or in images—we consider real. The photo finish determines the winner of the 100-meter dash, and only the summit photo proves a mountain’s conquest. Yet images have long been unreliable, even without AI.
Some of the biggest scandals in mountaineering revolve around summit photos. The first ascent of Cerro Torre, the world’s most difficult peak, by Italian climber Cesare Maestri and Tyrolean Toni Egger in 1959 remains disputed, as Egger died in an avalanche on the descent, and the camera with the summit photo was lost. The photo Slovenian climber Tomo Česen presented in 1990 after his ascent of Lhotse’s south face turned out to be a fake—it was actually a 1989 image of his compatriot Viktor Grošelj. And Austrian climber Christian Stangl’s supposed conquest of K2 likely never happened, as his alleged summit photo was taken 1,000 meters below the peak.
Look Closely: The Visual Turn
The manipulation of reality and opinion through images is a daily discourse in corporate communication and marketing, but it is also a field of study in visual culture, which has been taught at an increasing number of universities since the beginning of the 21st century. This young discipline examines images and visual spaces deliberately used as communication media.Visual culture scholars also demand the interpretation of images in other fields such as philosophy, religious studies, ethnology, history, and psychology, challenging their previous findings. The term "Visual Turn" describes this shift in research focus from the word to the image. In 1992 and 1994, media scholars W. J. T. Mitchell and Gottfried Boehm independently called for this shift, using different terms ("pictorial turn" and "iconic turn"). Facing an increasingly image-dominated everyday culture, both demanded a more visually reflective analysis in academia.
The most prominent example of the Visual Turn is the use of images in historical science. At the 2006 Historians’ Conference in Constance, under the motto "GeschichtsBilder" (History Images), scholars analyzed the manipulative effect of images on the scientific understanding of history. The fewer eyewitnesses and contemporary observers there are to recount history from personal experience, the more historians must rely on inherited stories and their images to interpret the past. It is no coincidence that the Nazi era has now come under the scrutiny of visual historians, as few eyewitnesses remain alive.
"We still interpret the Third Reich based on the image it created of itself,"
says Gerhard Paul, a history professor at the University of Flensburg and one of the most prominent representatives of the new field of "Visual History." The work of photographers like Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler’s personal photographer, or Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl still serves the same purpose today as it did 70 years ago: it perpetuates the myth of the Nazi era.
Images don’t just manipulate collective memory—they also distort personal recollections. "Photos and films can completely falsify one’s own memory. They fill gaps, overlay actual events with images and scenes the witness never actually experienced—scenes that may never have happened at all," explains journalist Rafaela von Bredow.
"The person remembering imports the images into their own experience,"
comments cultural scientist Harald Welzer.
With an awareness of the suggestive and manipulative power of images, advocates of the Visual Turn call for a more responsible use of images, addressing all those who deliberately shape opinions with visuals and engage in visual storytelling.
Photography can depict reality, stage it realistically, or completely reinvent it. It can make the familiar appear unfamiliar and the real seem unreal. Anyone who uses images communicatively today must understand the responsibility that comes with their use—and this goes far beyond the EU AI Act, which comes into force this August.
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