Imagined States:
A series of text-snapshots exploring real-life experiences of unfamiliar locations reinvented as encounters in imaginary locations. These printed
words are restricted to a single sheet of paper that references the camera
viewfinder as these descriptive texts seek to rediscover the thought processes of film based photography that are being lost in the instant gratification of digital capture.
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Cinemascope ? The next time I write a poem, I shall use a larger sheet of
paper.
JEAN COCTEAU
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The pieces will be exhibited like photographic images hanging on the wall of TotalKunst. I will be presenting ‘MOVING BETWEEN MEDIA_ journeys around the captured moment’ at the Fine Art Research Department of De Montfort University in Leicester in Tuesday 25th May at 1pm that will explore the thought processes that are being lost with the instant gratification of digital image capture that relies on post production techniques.
Sounds a great idea as too often we ignore the impact of Photoshop in favour of theimage’s immediate effect.
Yes, hmmm, and perhaps not so instant, that gratification, after all… my photoshop sessions last for hours, put it down to my dismal ways with the program … but interesting, just in a couple of generations there has sprung up this very different kind of (il)literacy, and certainly different kind of thinking around it.
Sadly the whole ritual has been (almost) lost: going in the darkroom to load your film onto the spiral, mixing the chemicals, the rubber/pvc gloves (if you wear them!), the succession of dev, stop and fix, the smell, the resulting negative image, and the delicious wait until you get to see it.
So many people do not even interact with their models anymore: taking a picture and looking down at the back of the camera… Social skills lost too…
Does a work of art have to take a long time?
Access to all gives greater freedom of expression to more people. Our digital world allows more people to show their creativity and express themselves in mediums once known only to professionals.
The democratisation of ‘the image’ is indeed a poignant revolution, but the threat of ‘those who communicate with the other side’ is not of great concern here. The craft of the ‘amateur’ is also diminishing as we are increasingly happy with capturing an outline to be filled in later, like children with colouring-in books.