A very interesting symposium at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art:
From SF MOMA Website:
"Photography has almost always been in crisis. In
the beginning, the terms of this crisis were cast as dichotomies: is
photography science or art? Nature or technology? Representation or truth? This
questioning has intensified and become more complicated over the intervening
years. At times, the issues have required a profound rethinking of what
photography is, does, and means. This is one of those times. Given the nature
of contemporary art practice, the condition of visual culture, the advent of
new technologies, and many other factors, what is at stake today in seeing
something as a photograph? What is the value of continuing to speak of
photography as a specific practice or discipline? Is photography over?
SFMOMA has invited a range of major thinkers and
practitioners to write brief responses to this question and then
to convene for a two-day summit on the state of the medium. Participants
include Vince Aletti, George Baker, Walead Beshty, Jennifer Blessing, Charlotte
Cotton, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Geoff Dyer, Peter Galassi, Corey Keller, Douglas
Nickel, Trevor Paglen, Blake Stimson, and Joel Snyder.
Their texts will be used to kick off a panel
discussion Thursday night. The 13 participants will continue the conversation
Friday morning in closed-door sessions and will report back in a public session
Friday afternoon.
Read the participants' responses to the question here.
SFMOMA, Phyllis Wattis Theater
Thursday, April 22, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 23, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m."
UPDATE:
This week SFMOMA hosted a major symposium on the current state of the field of photography, with two intensive panel discussions Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. Yesterday's reports are here. The initial texts from the symposium participants are here. Other blog posts addressing the question "Is Photography Over?" can be found here.
