Dieter Appelt’s art consists of the actions he performs. The performance itself is already the work of art, because the performance itself is the parable of life. Apart from a few exceptions, Dieter Appelt does not perform in front of an invited audience. Instead, the prerequisite for the success of many of his performances is an inner concentration, the realization of which depends on Appelt being alone with himself and without spectators. The memory of the execution is documented in the photos and video films taken by Hanne Appelt, his wife, and by himself. These photos and films are evidence of an event that did not take place in public. As independent works of art, they are relics of today’s technical visualizations in relation to the actual course of the event. They provide the viewer with public evidence of technically produced reality as a reminder of the movements of a past reality of one’s own actions that is not perceived by anyone other than its creator.
from: Eberhard Roters, FOTOHOF Info, issue 2+3/1985