wim wenders was here, for a workshop with bauhaus students and to talk about his films with the audience. as there was nobody to pose the first question after the screening of »the state of things« in our »lichthaus« theatre in the old weimar streetcar shed, i said, »my question is not exactly about the movie, but more genereal. a couple of months ago you were on kqed in san francisco, and a friend of mine called and asked you about rilke, handke, wings of desires, and what your inspirations were.« now, my question for wenders was how he felt about the visuality of the u.s., and if he remembered his epiphany with america and photography. wenders said that it was in new york, at the age of 26 when he first came to the u.s. and didn't do anything but taking pictures with his polaroid and watching american tv. because things you had seen so many times before looked even better in your own pictures. and american tv was so different from german tv with its 2 public channels. after a while, wenders said, he found that what was so fascinating about the us is that it is so attractive at first, and disgusting at a closer look. and since it has been like this. »but you want to know even more, i guess.«