The political turmoil of the "German Autumn" in which the unbearable 1970s culminated was followed by the intellectual excitement about the "New Philosophers" (nouveaux philosophes) and "Postmodernism" with which the 1980s began. It was the time when first theoretical concepts about "the virtual" and "new media" emerged, and the newest aesthetic reverted to its oldest origins in a newly defined Romanticism, and the rediscovery of the "sublime" proved just how precisely old thinking could apply to the new phenomena. This was also the time of colour photography's legitimisation as an artistic medium. William Eggleston had secured its breakthrough in 1976 with his show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. From this point artists were presented with the challenge of increasing the recognition of this widespread journalistic medium as a concentrated visual art form. [...]