Imago Summer 2003 [antikvár]

// The Sentence for Photography will hardlv be a surprise to anybody, but I have actually been asked to write a word of introduetion on digital pho-ography and the new media generally, for Imago. Well, then here it is. It will probably not be to ever^'one's taste, but .is moment it's all the same. As Flusser used to say: "All that is new is dreadfid". Digital Image was the subject of the festival IN OUT which as the head curator I organized at the end of July in the centre of Prague. That maximally public presentation through the medium of a large-size video wall, open-air exhibition of digital prints and plasma screens met with both warm interest and also considerable misunderstanding. The abundant programme showed the most diverse forms of contemporary art in the domain of photography, videoart and related disciplines on such a colourful scale that many were just dazed. As to me, however, several essential points on which I had earlier hardly dared consistently to reflect, became clarified. 1-or quite a time now I have had a growing feeling that classical photography has ceased to provide new stimuli, that it is stagnating, turning in circles chasing its own tail. But then we have to ask: What in fact is that "classical photography" which is written off today.' How and by what are we to know it.' The most appropriate answer, in my view, is the fact that it is being defined by traditional institutions, hence, by photographic clubs, associations, fairs and magazines, in general, by its "photographic" attribute. All these institutions are undergoing a slow transformation whose end is indeed in view, but appears relatively absurd. That is to say, it either tends unswervingly towards historicism, or is about to dissipate, become diffused in the broad range of present-day imagery. This diachronic development apart, care must be taken also to differentiate between synchronic layers. One thing is to speak of the development and history described according to pioneering achievements within the framework of artistic trends, quite another is to do so from the position of the general culture of the media. As regards discovery, digital media are by now without major interest, but, from the viewpoint of the whole society, this marks a turning point. However, within these mobile layers, it is possible to photograph nudes in the style of the 7()s using the digital process, and to record the most topical problems by classical photography. Form is important, but devoid of idea, it remains subsidiary. As to photography, I see no great difference in the technique of portraying as such, nor in the possibilities of manipulation. These are but cherries on the cake, pilgrimage attractions. And hence, pixels are in fact not so much at issue here. The principal breakthrough resides rather in distribution, just as its computer platform begins to outdo the speed of human perception and succeeds in prox iding itself with the most up-to-date media. Just as in the 193()s illustrated journals brought black-and-white photography into the limelight, the internet is an ideal vehicle for digital portraying, with a hellish speed, infernal complexity (and simultaneot.sly simplicity). Clubs are formed here just for instants only, one may associate oneself every day in a different way. From the aspect of digital media in the domain of art, primarily young authors have ceased to ask about the nature of the media and are beginning to use it freely, often in a way similar to that in which their predecessors utilized photography. Vision alone has changed in the meantime but that has to be explained rather to their predecessors. Photography is photography is photography. The tautological nature of this medium is its most intriguing and most astounding feature. As a matter of fact, photography is nothing but evidence, yet concealing a countless number of designs and potentialities. Perhaps only from a distance (and with detachment) shall we be able to grasp all that it has brought in and simultaneously also carried away. To find a final definition for photography means the possibility to pass a sentence on it. Perhaps, in virtue of this definition, we also might better understand the new media. The (|Ucstion, however, is whether the traditional definition of definition will do here. For the time being all I can do is to .state "Flusser-like", that to think today solely in photographic categories begins to be not merely retrograde, but downright dangerous. Pave! Yaiirill