the body as sentence elements. Bellmer translated the anagram's play on language into picture language and dissolved the body grammar of anatomy, which is bound to a traditional visual logic and to the notion of the «whole body.» He had compared his ‹impossible› combinations of parts of the body with the aesthetic possibilities of the anagram and at the same time linked them into a discourse that cites the unconscious and deference as central categories of perception and conferring meaning. [21] Katrin Freisager's photoseries combines the concept of the model in the sense of photographic model (her photos are of living women and men lying on a mattress in such a way that they appear to be incapable of ever getting up again) with the tradition of the tableau vivant. The positions of and the relationships between the limbs create the impression of having been positioned by an outsider (the photographer) in such a way that they appear to be jointed dolls or marionettes that can be turned or twisted into any desired position—regardless of how anatomically absurd it may seem. All together, the series of bodies forms a kind of alphabet. In this context, the significance of the serial for Hans Bellmer

as well as for Cindy Sherman and Katrin Freisager must be mentioned. The serial principle made a decisive contribution to the potential of the media self-reflection of photography and enables expressing specific qualities of photography.

Medialized perception and reflection in the media

The doll or the model, the mannequin as a photographic or cinematic motif was not only a central theme for Hans Bellmer, but also for the other Surrealists such as André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, André Masson, Man Ray, Raoul Ubac, Wols, et al. In 1937 Wols photographed the mannequins in the Pavillon de l’Elégance at the Paris World Exposition at night. His play of light and shadow made them appear dramatically alive, although they were obviously made of, amongst other materials, wire. The Surrealists produced a «Suite of Mannequins,» which was populated by their absurdly and hybridly equipped mannequins, for the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in 1938. [22] Man Ray in particular was interested in the photographic comparison of (death) masks, dolls, torsos and (living) persons. [23] Most of the