I'm no art major, but it seems to me that photography is the most technologically dependent of art forms. As the beginning of this chapter pointed out, when a new technology, such as cameras, emerges focus is usually given to its effects on society rather than the conditions and investments that led to it. Perhaps one reason is because it is easy to point to a tangible object. For instance, back in my major of environmental studies, it is easy to fall into blaming industrial-scale factory farming on tractors and pesticides rather than political decisions and economic conditions that resulted in the technological investments that made factory farming physically possible. Another reason may be that the previous social needs or conditions served by the new technology are not as dramatic in the construction of history than all the new possibilities that arise afterwards.
The discussion of whether photography is even an art or not appears similar to the difference of data and theory in the natural sciences. One one hand, pictures could be seen as just a carrier of 'facts' (pg 16), in which case photography would be a way of gathering and recording data. However, whether in science or simply while communicating, data or facts do not interpret themselves. Theory, however, can transform raw data into coherent understandings, and perhaps the pictures in photography into a coherent and distinct art form.
One more point I thought was interesting was the issue of photographs in museums. I would have thought that including photos in art museums would be a celebrated testament of photography as art, but instead, the book says that they are doomed to visual solitude. Perhaps one thing that makes photography unique then is that its natural home is not isolated in the museum as art for the sake of art, but out in the world, enriching magazines, empowering journal articles, and being liked on facebook.
Discussion points:
From an non-art major perspective: What is an art?
Monday, January 28, 2013
Google Reader Response #2
http://www.americansuburbx.com/series-2/c/civil-rights-mug-shots
Since we recently celebrated MLK's birthday, I thought I would write about these civil rights mug shots. Even though MLK is held up as the icon of the movement, scrolling down this blog you can start to get a sense of the number of people who participated. Following is its own undervalued form of leadership. Without the other people in these mug shots and many more, MLK would have been a crazy dreamer rather than a leader with a dream.
Over MLK's picture, it is written "DEAD 4-4-68," perhaps as a reminder of how dangerous it can be to be on the forefront, yet he knew the risks and continued on. The subjects of these photographs are photographs themselves, adding weight to how important this movement was if even the pictures are being photographed.
Since we recently celebrated MLK's birthday, I thought I would write about these civil rights mug shots. Even though MLK is held up as the icon of the movement, scrolling down this blog you can start to get a sense of the number of people who participated. Following is its own undervalued form of leadership. Without the other people in these mug shots and many more, MLK would have been a crazy dreamer rather than a leader with a dream.
Over MLK's picture, it is written "DEAD 4-4-68," perhaps as a reminder of how dangerous it can be to be on the forefront, yet he knew the risks and continued on. The subjects of these photographs are photographs themselves, adding weight to how important this movement was if even the pictures are being photographed.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Google Reader Response #1
http://flakphoto.com/photo/john-mann-untitled-ocean?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FlakPhoto+%28Flak+Photo%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#When:14:06:45Z
This recent post on Flak Photo captured one of the top reasons that I enjoy photographs, in that they can allow your mind a glimpse of a different world even if you cannot travel there yourself. Photography is likely the best-suited art form to fulfill this goal, because unlike painting or drawing, the photographer has to travel to the location in order to get the picture.
The picture in the post I thought was an intriguing choice. It's a square cut out of part of an ocean on a map, with only the word "Ocean" visible. Which ocean it is has been cut out. At first I thought it was a romantic notion of over-sees travel. This bit of the map has been displace from the rest, so there is no knowing where exactly it is from. However, the longitude labels are visible on the bottom with the numbers decreasing to the right, meaning that this cut-out is from west of the Prime Meridian. Given a longitude of 57 degrees, it must be from the Atlantic Ocean. Also, since the longitude labels are visible at the bottom, I'm guessing that Antarctica was not fully represented, and the location in the cut-out is just north of the frozen continent.
This recent post on Flak Photo captured one of the top reasons that I enjoy photographs, in that they can allow your mind a glimpse of a different world even if you cannot travel there yourself. Photography is likely the best-suited art form to fulfill this goal, because unlike painting or drawing, the photographer has to travel to the location in order to get the picture.
The picture in the post I thought was an intriguing choice. It's a square cut out of part of an ocean on a map, with only the word "Ocean" visible. Which ocean it is has been cut out. At first I thought it was a romantic notion of over-sees travel. This bit of the map has been displace from the rest, so there is no knowing where exactly it is from. However, the longitude labels are visible on the bottom with the numbers decreasing to the right, meaning that this cut-out is from west of the Prime Meridian. Given a longitude of 57 degrees, it must be from the Atlantic Ocean. Also, since the longitude labels are visible at the bottom, I'm guessing that Antarctica was not fully represented, and the location in the cut-out is just north of the frozen continent.
Artist Selections
1. Andreas Gurksy
2. Robert Adams
3. Luc Delahaye
4. Henri Cartier-Bresson
5.Susan Derges
6. Andreas Gurksy
7. Walker Evans
8. Bernd & Hilla Becher
9. Jan Groover
10. Gregory Crewdson
Chapter Selections
1. Chapter 5: "Spectacles and Illusions" - I have taken multiple classes examining culture and systems of power, and I am very interested in how photography has been utilized to both sell the commodity culture and to fight against it. As a form of communication, photographs, especially on the scale of commercial photography, can offer a window into the dominant values of a culture and its institutions. Moreover, I'm interested in the public mental health issues created by living in a place with pictures that perpetuate certain values.
2. Chapter 2: "Surveyors and surveyed" - Pictures are documents in a way that help tell a story, in which case, it is important to keep in mind the motivation of the people documenting something like war or poverty, just like you would want to know from what perspective is a history book being written. I'm interesting in this chapter because, even though the photograph itself could arguably be considered an unbiased recording of the world, the theory and context behind it are not.
3. Chapter 7: "Photography in the age of electronic imaging" - What first drew me to this chapter was one of the sub-sections, "The early 1990s and the worries about truth." I remember that during the recent Presidential election, a common theme was whether what one of the candidates said was true or not. It seems odd that many times people cannot even agree on what the reality is or isn't. I'm interested to see how the truth of photography has been affected as the means to alter or fake them have gotten easier.
2. Chapter 2: "Surveyors and surveyed" - Pictures are documents in a way that help tell a story, in which case, it is important to keep in mind the motivation of the people documenting something like war or poverty, just like you would want to know from what perspective is a history book being written. I'm interesting in this chapter because, even though the photograph itself could arguably be considered an unbiased recording of the world, the theory and context behind it are not.
3. Chapter 7: "Photography in the age of electronic imaging" - What first drew me to this chapter was one of the sub-sections, "The early 1990s and the worries about truth." I remember that during the recent Presidential election, a common theme was whether what one of the candidates said was true or not. It seems odd that many times people cannot even agree on what the reality is or isn't. I'm interested to see how the truth of photography has been affected as the means to alter or fake them have gotten easier.
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