Bestimmte Unbestimmtheit

The conceptual paradox of certain indeterminacy outlines the dichotomy between the open structure of filmic (and other audiovisual) artefacts on the one hand and the functional control within them on the other. It is a matter of identifying markings on very different levels that cause certain cognitive and emotional reactions - and yet leave behind a degree of indeterminacy that requires the active and creative participation of the recipients. Such points of indeterminacy call for concretisation as a co-creative achievement, but can also remain indeterminate. The aesthetics of reception call these moments the blank spaces in a text when they specifically challenge the imagination and involve the reader or viewer in the process of constructing meaning. Of course, modernity only arises when there is sufficient indeterminacy, but when this is so clearly and definitely marked that decoding at least seems possible. An infinite process of the infinite continuum of reflection on the part of the recipient is thus generated, which in turn can function as a value judgement. The more forcefully the final answer is denied, the more obvious the conflict of interpretations, the greater the cognitive and emotional demands on the imagination.