PEER REVIEW: establish primary contact for class 05 presentation and paper.
On the Invention of Photographic Meaning by Allan Sekula
*** Bring to class contemporary visual models that illustrate similar conceptual structures identified within the reading(s) and be prepared to discuss their relationship(s): complements; contrasts; contradictions; or the evolution of lens-based representation.
As always, be sure to post reading review and author information on our blog.
Allan Sekula
ReplyDeleteAn american artist currently teaching at the California Institute of The Arts. His work is charged with political discourse and focuses, as well, on economic systems. His writing is influenced by Marxist thought
Reading Review
On this reading, Allan Sekula proposes an interesting analysis on the "invention of photographic meaning". Very coherently, he describes how we came to analyzing and "reading" photographs the way we do now, and how it has evolved from the late 19th century till today. He parts from stating the given: that any meaning attached to a photograph, is derived from the social context it resides in. The exchange of information defined as discourse, states the purpose of the image. Whether it holds the "truth of magic" and the nostalgic view on the actual object of representation and the fetish quality it is attributed, just like a daguerreotype. Or, on the other hand, "the truth of science" and the illusory sense of realistic reproduction. Sekula refers to the truth of science as mythical and utopian since he also states the tendentiousness of all discourses, to a greater or lesser extent.
The meaning of a photographic image among the institutionalized art world is socially imposed.
Allan Sekula
ReplyDeleteAllan Sekula is an American artist, of Polish descent, photographer, writer, filmmaker,theorist and critic based at the California Institute of the Arts. His main medium is photography(documentary and conceptual) and which he uses to create exhibits, books and films. He focuses on “Critical realism.”
On the invention of Photographic meaning
The main focus of this essay is to focus on photographic discourse. Discourse is an arena of information exchange. He says that all messages seen through the discourse are manifestations of interest. He calls this tendentious communication. Sekula says that photography cannot convey a message on its own, they require additional components. It is called the “non-message” and that the photo cannot be read until the photo is framed linguistically.
In the second portion of the essay, Sekula defines, in historical terms, the relationship between photography and high art. He uses two photographs to compare to, both of immigrants, one by Lewis Hine and one by Alfred Stieglitz. He describes the quality of the image, the framing, the circumstances both scenes were shot in etc. In the final paragraph of the essay Sekula says how, coming down to it, there is two types of photographers, documentary and art photographer.
On The Invention Of Photographic Meaning
ReplyDeleteBy Allan Sekula
Allan Sekula, born in 1951, is a American photographer, writer, filmmaker, theorist, and critic. As a student, he was influenced by the anti Vietnam war movement in the 1960’s. He started photographing in the early 1970’s. He is also influenced by Marxist theory, and the conceptual art movement.
Source: http://www.thequietintheland.org/laos/category.php?id=allan-sekula
Reading Notes:
The photographic discourse is a system in which the photograph is assigned various representational functions determined by culture. This statement is part of Allan Sekula’s study of photographic meaning. He first points out the fact that the notion of discourse involves limits that “establish[s] a bounded arena of shared expectations as to meaning.” The discourse consists of an exchange of information; which, in a photograph, happens between the audience and the author. This type of communication, according to Sekula, requires a “social contract” between the parties involved. The “social contract” he mentions is basically an agreement upon a set of cultural codes that become part of a given message carried by an image. This constitutes what Roland Barthes designated as the connotative function. On the other hand, we have the denotative aspect of the photograph; which is the core of meaning without any cultural determination.
Sekula questions the idea of the “intrinsic meaning” of a photograph. He explains: “Quite regularly, we are informed [...] that photography is a universal and independent language or sign system. Implicit in this argument is the quasi-formalist notion that the photograph derives its semantic properties from conditions that reside within the image itself. But if we accept the fundamental premise that information is the outcome of a culturally determined relationship, then we can no longer ascribe an intrinsic or universal meaning to the photographic image.” Indeed, the photograph, as stated by Barthes, acquires meaning by being part of a “concrete discourse situation.” While Sekula denies the photograph an independent meaning, he recognizes its intrinsic value. He brings up “Camera Work,” a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917, and talks about Stieglitz’s successful efforts to elevate the photographic medium to a fine status. The photographs (photogravures) in Camera Work were, as Sekula puts it, “marked as precious objects, as products of extraordinary craftsmanship.” According, to Sekula, the intrinsic value of photographic reproduction is in its “craftedness.”