Thursday, April 1, 2010

Photography, Performance, and Art



Above are two photographs. The top image, as you are all familiar with after last weeks presentation, is Stan Douglas' Every Building On 100 West Hastings, 2001 c-print. The bottom image is a photograph I took with my cell phone yesterday before class @ habour centre. I took this shot from the parking lot located right across Tim Hortons on Cordova and Richards.

I would like to talk about 2 things in this blog.
First: how does Stan Douglas' image differ from mine? Should mine be considered art? I would argue that my image is more "artistic" than his because I did not use adobe photoshop to alter my image, and it captures a more accurate representation of the city. As discussed earlier in the class, what makes our city so beautiful and attractive is its Urban and Modern design with the beautiful, mountain backdrop.

Thoughts?


Second, I feel that the discussion raised after our presenters had asked their discussion question and used a quote along the lines of: "death to life, is the picture to performance" could have been pushed and debated further. Please correct me on this quote as I did not write it down.

I thought it was an interesting quote but did not agree with it and feel that the discussion was not resolved. My main critique of the quote is the comparison that was made between death and photographs. In no way do I feel that taking photographs or posing for photographs ends the situation that is being captured. Image yourself at a Canucks Game, or a Concert...imagine yourself @ the opening ceremonies for the olympics. How does taking a photograph of the exact time and place of the event come any where near death? By taking the photograph you are attempting to preserve a memory, moment, place, or event.

I only agree to a very small extent that you are performing when you are posing for the image..because well who wants to be caught looking silly in a photo. If you're at the club, and your friends post drunken images of you that you didn't remember taking... you will certainly be upset and demand they be taken down....so that aspect I do understand pictures and performance...but DEATH?

no way...

thoughts?

1 comment:

  1. You ask some interesting questions here, David. However, as I mentioned in class we can't ask the question of "what is art" apart from a long history of aesthetics and questions of institutionalization. At the same time, I do agree that Flickr and other digital forums for the posting and sharing of so-called "amateur" images are changing the discourse on photography, and aesthetic judgment more generally.

    As yo your second point, if we think of photography as a form of "capture," as time's surcease in effect, and if we relate that to its infinite mechanical (and now digital) reproduction, I think we can start to see how questions of death might, as it were, come into the picture.

    Peter

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