Public Information, Desire, Disaster, Document.

Earlier in this course I was asked to research an essay from this book, I was fortunate enough to find a copy on Amazon as this book is currently out-of-print.  I have just fully read the book and found it useful for both future reference and current understanding of contemporary art as practiced by the current established photographic artists.  I say photographic artist but this includes artist who have used photography to inspire their work,  for example: Andy Warhol,.Gerhard Ritcher and Cady Noland.  This book documents a large exhibition project conducted in 1995 and the linking subjects are in the title: Public Information for example questioning the media in Stan Douglas’ exhibition, Desire as presented by Nan Goldin, Disaster as illustrated by Andy Warhol, Document as famously recorded by Robert Frank’s journey across America in the late 1950’s.  This book begins with a number of essays discussing the topics that these works touch.  The first is that of the title, Public Information, Desire, Disaster, Document by Gary Garrels; Wrong by Jim Lewis; Meditations on the Document by Sandra S Phillips; Desiring Machines (Notes on Commodity, Celebrity, and Death in the Early Work of Andy Warhol) by Christopher Phillips; Inside / Out by Abigail Solomon-Godeau; Leave Proof (Media and Public Information)  by Robert R Riley.  the rest of the book covers examples of the work presented by the artist for the project with a short introduction of the artist and the work.

The participating artist were: Robert Frank, Andy Warhol, Richard Richter,Edward Ruscha, John Baldessari, Dan Graham, Martha Rosler, Larry Clark, Jeff Wall, James Coleman, Chantel Akerman, Nan Goldin, Stan Douglas, Cady Noland, Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Bending the Frame by Fred Ritchin

I have just finished reading this book which is a critical look at the current challenges facing photojournalism and documentary photography.  Ritchin looks at how the rise of the digital media through the internet is threatening and changing photojournalism and traditional documentary photography.  He points out that less funding is available to documentary photographers from the traditional sources and that the day of the front page is coming to an end with a predicted total disappearance of the printed newspaper by 2040, beginning with the USA by 2017.  Ritchen suggests that the news media is going through a transition and new ways to grab and hold the readers attention has to be found.  This he acknowledges will be difficult as news images now have to compete right next to an attention grabbing advertising image, something that just was not done in print.  Moreover, with digital webpages images are constantly being replaced or slide-showed in order to maximise display space whilst the viewers attention spans diminish faster than the slide shows.  In a shrinking market for newspaper and magazine publishers Ritchin observes that it is tougher for new photographers to get their work published as publishers / editors are more interested in the fame of the photographer than the work he produces, suggesting that modern editors are more influenced and controlled by capitalistic ideas of celebrating the celebrity in order to sell.

An interesting and useful book for anyone looking to work in  photojournalism / editorial world.

I purchased it and read it as I thought that it might have relevant information for my course on Context and Narrative; but although it was an interesting read providing background to this industry I am not sure how useful I will find it in the future.  I will keep it on my shelf in case I need to refer back at a later date.

Project 2 – Image and text

I have cut out three pictures from a daily news paper and added my own captions to the photos to alter their contextual meaning.

There are two types of messages that can be linked to a photograph, one is called an anchor and the other is called a relay.

Anchor is a message that controls the meaning of the picture.

Relay is a message that can complement an image.  If you select songs to listen to on You-Tube they are sometimes accompanied by photographs that link certain passages of the song to the image and the relay method appears to work well here.

Examples below.

Anchors – The Clooney’s meet Angela Merkel

• The Clooney’s negotiate for celebrity asylum in Germany.
• George Clooney offers Angela Merkel a part in his next movie.
• Angela Merkel asks the stars of Hollywood if they have a spare room for an asylum seeker or two…
• Angela Merkel is coached by George Clooney before her speech to the European Parliament.
• George Clooney complaints to the management that it just isn’t Nescafé!
• Friends of the Clooney’s are airing concerns for George and Amal’s marriage, stating that Amal often privately complains that she feels ignored and marginalised in public by George.
• With the support of his wife George Clooney publicly denies sending a lewd and explicit Valentines card to Angela Merkel.

I have thought of seven new messages that anchor this in a new context and I am sure many more could be invented.

Relay – The Clooney’s meet Angela Merkel

• Hey you with the sad face, why don’t you come back to our place and live it up.
• “I’m sorry, I thought I saw a bureaucrat!”
• “Ein Nescafé bitte”
• A carrier in marriage counselling, it’s more than just a job.
• “The Lynx affect – LYNX deodorant.
• “Dr. Amal and I have been examining your test results and……..”
• “He looks much older than he does in the movies.”

Again I was able to come up with seven relay messages for this photo.

George Osborn poses in front of No 11 before he takes his Budget speech to Parliament.

Anchors:

• George Osborne in a public show of expense cutting reveals he takes to work a packed lunches.
• George Osborn warns the British economy is still in the red.
• George Osborn returns from the European conference with a written guarantee from the German Chancellor.
• George Osborn, is seen sporting the new Armani man-bag.
• Prime-minister demotes George Osborn to head of No 10’s post room.
• Osborn returns the queens favourite handbag, “I was able to rescue it before security blew it up.” He later reported.

I was able to produce six alternative anchors for this photo.

Relay:

• “I’m putting your taxes up for a start!”
• “Allah is Great!”
• “Swop?”
• Is he holding the future to your pension?
• The economy
• Good budgeting tips.

I was able to produce six relays for this picture.

English Rugby team

Anchors:

• British Rugby team learn of the death of a rising star player.
• The ball just misses the posts and England looses the match.
• English Rugby players are asked to sing the national anthem from memory.
• Mako Vunipola is ordered off the pitch for an illegal tackle.
• The moment the terrorist blew himself up.
• Hackers share shocking selfies of Mako Vunipola on stadium’s big screens.

I managed to produce six anchors for this image.

Relay:

• Tense nervous headache?
• “I can’t look!”
• Have you bought your lottery ticket?
• “Hold my hand lest I fall…” (Jim Reeves, Take My Hand Precious Lord)

On this occasion I could only think of four relays for this picture.

I can see from these new anchor messages that an image can be turned from serious to comical or used for advertising / Political or socially concerning messages.  Similarly a relay message can do similar things including linking to literature such as poetry or lyrics to a song.