A change in video installations - the exhibition of the VideoFest shown this year for the first time in Podewil, has showcased over the years works that called for the use of monitors, which have slipped increasingly into the background. Some artists use the "stripped" monitor, the un­ framed cathode ray tube, like Rick Buckley from Britain chose for his playfully executed "Middle Man". Other artists treat the mo­ nitor as a mere relict (X-PRZ). Norbert Meissner's "Filmfax" con­ verts the context of a television viewer into an ironic-critical event by installing a passport- photo machine in the lobby of the VideoFest. Another of Meissner's works, "Waterproof for Uschi", leads directly to this year's chosen focal point: Projection and surface. Of great impor­ tance, in both form and con­ tent, is the presence of works by two Croatian artists: Sanja Iveko- vic's installation "Frozen Images" works with projections on dry- ice, and Dalibor Martinis, one of the VideoFest's 1989 guest artists, uses in his new installation, "The Register", miniature projections on the surface of books. What both works express in a dissimilar manner is an intensely artistic in­ volvement with speechlessness while faced with a life connec­ ted to war. Micheál Zinganel, another second-time VideoFest guest, uses space conceptually and projects onto the back wall of the exhibition corridor. In their installation on Malcolm X, the US-group X-PRZ ultimately varies the theme of 'projection-surface' in an (in)decorous manner. Along with X-PRZ, this year, with TODT, we are presenting a second artists' group from USA in the Gallery at the Pariser Platz. Both collectives will present their 'strategies', in relation to the art world and the social standpoint of their art, through open dis­ cussions (see Spot, Feb. 12). TODT - known for its brilliantly versatile approach, as well as its many layers of interpretation when dealing with "senseless" systems - build their multimedia, spacial in­ stallation "Womb Wars" in a space whose history of authori­ tative seizure (Speer) and de­ struction, coupled with the shock once caused by the se­ curity system of the East-West border territories, offers a sus­ pense-filled reference point. That the gallery space, histori­ cally speaking, neighbors the former headquarters of the or­ ganisation TODT - a forerunner of the National Socialistic "Reichswehramt" - was another reason, and for the artists as well, why the VideoFest found it im­portant to realize this project. Many thanks to the Akademie der Künste Berlin/ Brandenburg, the Amerika-Haus, the Carl Solway Gallery in Cincinnati and the Foro Artistico in the Eisfabrik (Hannover). Without their sup­ port this premiere presentation of TODT in Germany would have been impossible. "Womb Wars" will be shown again in March in the Eisfabrik in Hannover.