Text by Clara Bolin, Christine Buecher, Dominik Busch, Claudia Emmert, Anton Holzer, Mara-Johanna Kölmel, Mark Niehoff, Barbara Waibel, Tabea Widmann.
Examining the visual history of the iconic airship as a symbol of power and a means of propaganda, from the German Empire to the Weimar Republic and Nazi dictatorship
How do images convey power interests? How do they contribute to the construction of history? How are we manipulated by them? When do images become propaganda? This publication is the first to comprehensively examine the Zeppelin airship as a motif in photography. In varying regimes across German history, the image of the rigid and bulbous warship was a powerful tool of political propaganda, convincing the population of the visions of an aspiring, power-focused nation. It became a state symbol for the conquest of the skies, for military dominance, technical superiority and global networking. This book enters into dialogue with queer-feminist and non-Western artistic positions, with interdisciplinary contributions that deconstruct visual strategies of domination, the meaning of national symbols, the image archive as a place of knowledge production and strategies for increasing media literacy.
STATUS: Forthcoming | 12/9/2025
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Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Clara Bolin, Christine Buecher, Dominik Busch, Claudia Emmert, Anton Holzer, Mara-Johanna Kölmel, Mark Niehoff, Barbara Waibel, Tabea Widmann.
Examining the visual history of the iconic airship as a symbol of power and a means of propaganda, from the German Empire to the Weimar Republic and Nazi dictatorship
How do images convey power interests? How do they contribute to the construction of history? How are we manipulated by them? When do images become propaganda? This publication is the first to comprehensively examine the Zeppelin airship as a motif in photography. In varying regimes across German history, the image of the rigid and bulbous warship was a powerful tool of political propaganda, convincing the population of the visions of an aspiring, power-focused nation. It became a state symbol for the conquest of the skies, for military dominance, technical superiority and global networking. This book enters into dialogue with queer-feminist and non-Western artistic positions, with interdisciplinary contributions that deconstruct visual strategies of domination, the meaning of national symbols, the image archive as a place of knowledge production and strategies for increasing media literacy.
