The ubiquity of the image

Like Radu, I love the idea of the ‘vaccine’ proposed by Joan. And I very much like the idea of intellectual judo!

All three of us agree on the evidence of the issues, on the need for resistance that corresponds to the practices of many artists, and ask ourselves about the form that resistance might take. What we are doing here is one such form. In the 1970s and 80s, when photography, still struggling for recognition, invented the Rencontres (Arles) and festivals, it was calling for access to the Museum. It has now achieved that, with a very significant number of exhibitions in the institutions and private galleries of the contemporary art circuit. There are hundreds of photography months, weeks or fortnights around Europe, and also in countries just now emerging on the international scene - China and India, among others. Though things are not always perfect, though there is still a need for more resources, it is no longer the time -given that the quantity of images and their circulation have increased considerably- of claims and demands. This is the determining factor in taking account of images in the realm of education.

I think that one of the major issues is the urban space, the public space. To make creative images and photographs a presence in this space, without their having any utilitarian function as advertising or decoration, could certainly be regarded as an interesting form of ‘vaccine’. Quite different from what we see in the streets, in the media or on the multiple screens that surround us, they could have an alerting or warning function, play an implicitly critical role, cause surprise and provoke questioning. They could be on display in the city streets, and also -and why not?- in motorway rest areas and other places of transit. What is needed is a strategy to make alternative images accessible to the largest possible public.

A question of means, you will say. Of course; but it would be interesting to think about what could be achieved in this direction with the budget of a photography event, often so inward-looking. I’m not saying that we should get rid of the festivals (well, maybe some of them…), but such ‘events’, very often conceived with the aim of promoting the places that host them, are no longer enough. An immense outdoor exhibition, extending, for example, from Paris to Tarragona (purely at random…) would give people something to look at and think about.

Etiquetes: critique, festivals, resistance, urban space

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