Updated Photograph of the 21st century
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | During the thirties, Jiří Jeníček, Czech modernist and amateur photographer, tried to redefine the role of photography within modern society and for this purpose introduced a new term: the so-called updated photograph – a photograph which is not only strictly current in its content but also deeply intellectual inits message. Such a photograph is united with the certain space-time; its existence is possible only within the specific context and its core is centered on the mediation of ideas. Nevertheless, Jeníček was fascinated by Eugene Atget photographs which were only recently presented to the Czech photographic society – and this fascination led him straight into the arms of the specific kind of surrealistic labyrinth. This interesting dichotomy of time, rather dichotomy of dealing with time, is crucial in its aesthetic consequences. In the last few decades, photography has gained the status of the principal image, the image as such – in the first place iconic (presence), but also indexical (past) and even symbolic (transcendent). Its living contemporaneity is suspiciously obvious. The question is simple: What if this is only a mere replacement of assumptions and conclusions? Or rather, what if the intuition and the psychological persuasiveness only obscure the true nature of the matter? |
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