The poetic undertaking has faced the problem of energy, as has the adventure of modern art. The pitfall was at times in believing that this energy would allow itself to be represented or stylized. Gerz knows that it can only be "shown" or indicated in a poetic constellation.

Christian Besson 1985

F/T 128 fait partie de la longue série des “photo-textes”, un dispositif que Jochen Gerz privilégiera pendant plus de 10 ans. (…) Si l’image de l’arbre majestueux de F/T 128, abattu et transformé semble faire le deuil du romantisme possible du sublime dans le paysage, le texte ("Tel quel, et rien d’autre. Que ce soit complété ou remplacé avec art, que ce soit massacré sans raison ou sacrifié avec passion.”) insiste sur la fonction de l’art (oeuvre qui complète ou remplace le monde, qui fait agir la raison ou la passion, qui nécessite la destruction ou l’acceptation de la perte…). C’est bien une fable que nous regardons à la manière de celles de grands moralistes du XVIIe siècle français.

Eric Suchère 2019

"What first appears to be a quiet, atmospheric piece by Jochen Gerz, forms part of the Photo/Text series, in which Gerz has been combining black-and-white photo- graphs with text fragments since the late 1960s… At the centre hangs a photograph of a large, solitary tree. Some of the images suggest that it will soon be felled: the division of trunk and treetop, three images of fallow land from slightly different perspectives, and timber processed into building material. A cryptic, poetic text accompanies the images. The words ‘senselessly massacred’ and ‘victim’ catch the eye”. …. Nature and culture, climate protection, invasion, murder: given that Gerz criticises the role of the passive ‘viewer’ and instead advocates empowered viewers who assume a participatory, active role, the aim is for people to associate freely and indeed develop their own narratives between photos and texts.

Leslie Ospelt 2023