⎡ A Short Essay on Post-Contemporary Curation : Blogs ⎦
As I peruse through my regular list of inspiration blogs or properly known as moodboard blogs, I came to an interesting comparative theory. These modern day curators like JJJJound, The Impossible Cool or One Man’s Style, are no different from the classic ones like Newhall, Steichen or even Szarkowski.
First let’s examine the evolutionary line of being that defines photography as Art. We first heard of this theory through avant-gardist Newhall’s conception of what it means to consider photography on the same plane as high art painting or sculpting. While he failed to penetrate masses with the idea, it was undoubtedly a stepping stone for this unclaimed ideology. His focus on curation was purely artist-based; in other words, he preached personal expression and the photographer as an autonomous artist. Public mass wasn’t ready for this. A photographers work was imcomparable to the time and competence needed to achieve an oil painting. Visitors didn’t comprehend the concept of a presence by absence of the photographer which, at the epoch was seemingly viewed to be snobbish and pontifical; often criticized for being submerged in some esoteric fog. Of course, the rise of mechanical reproduction made it impossible to praise the uniqueness, singularity and authenticity of a photograph.
This is where it gets revealing. His successor however, Edward Steichen remapped the idea of what it means to curate an photo exhibit. With the help of Bauhaus designer Herbert Bayer, four guidelines became the appraisal of curation’s organizational logic: space, color, elevation and most importantly typography. His goal? Penetrate and endoctrine an idea and specfic reaction by persuading the visitor to a, not so much biased opinion, but definitely a planned one. Much like these blogs, the photographers were almost or nearly considered a run of the mill. While I, myself as a photographer, hold no belligerent thoughts, it is simple historic fact and modern day truth. The photographer now became an illustrator of another artist’s ideas(in this case, Steichel); the designer’s hand soon became more important than the photographer’s eye. Nonetheless, he succeeded in grabbing the public eye, not because of the talented photographers, but because of the installations and the way photography was being displayed. During Steichen’s 15 year stay as the photographic curator and director at the MoMA, some of America’s most notable photographers went through unnoticed: Callahan’s formalistic style or Robert Frank’s romantic and poignant style slipped through the editting and cropping that Steichen allowed himself to do.
So where do we, as photographers, stand? or as Bloggers? While the 60′s had John Szarkowski to re-establish the balance between curation and photography. The internet is a much bigger Art Museum than the physical institutions…
Share your thoughts. Please.
-Vincent Tsang
Trolly, New Orleans by Robert Frank
The Americans by Robert Frank
Cuzco, Peru by Harry Callahan
Untitled (#372) by Harry Callahan
COMMENTS
Incredible piece Vincent. Excellent points and focus with the questions still lingering as I’m thinking about them…
Great read.
Great piece. It validates the work bloggers and photographers do. Most of the time, this type of work is only looked upon as “Hype.”
Robert Frank’s images are symbols of popular culture, in this case America in the 1950’s. A blog, as with a photograph, is a symbol of popular culture. I wonder if the blogger now stands where the photographer once did, when his commodity became a commodity good, its value increasing accompanied by the association with so-called high-brow Art?
Since the Internet is a free-for-all the conscientious reader becomes, I suppose, the force behind a blog’s success or failure. Our tastes and preferences therefore dictate the commercial viability of the institution, much as the chosen exhibits and their carefully considered meaning or set of meanings (as well as our response to them or interaction with them) make an Art Museum – or a medium – worth keeping.
We visit particular blogs because we find something appealing behind the choices of the “curator,” something that speaks to us in a deliberate way, something that continually brings us back to their ever-rotating exhibit, so to speak. Like with the structure of a museum or gallery exhibit the blog’s content becomes a platform for layers of well-intentioned connotative meaning. And the better blogs, or, at least the more thoughtfully composed ones, tend to possess some of the qualities of a work of fine art, utilizing particular techniques to evoke something specific…
@Amber: Thank you for your eloquent input, I don’t think I could consider photographic blogs like mine or my peers to be nearly close to being Museum worthy, far from it! But in a strictly metaphoric manner, maybe it is what it is… it is unfortunate and very frightening to think that humanity has arrived to this stage of evolution in which Art, the only form of creative outlet, is now partly owned by digital data!
@Andru/Jake/Darian: Thanks
I’ll go ahead and say that most probably don’t know who Newhall, Steichen or Szarkowski are. (Myself included save for Szarkowski)
What I do know though is that photography, good, true photography is rare these days. It’s almost more difficult to take a bad photo than a good one if you pick up a DSLR with a decent lens on it.
Thanks to The Internet though, the vastly un-educated masses (again, my naive self included) we get to hide behind this shroud of anonymity and portray an image of being ‘cool’ or ‘smart’ or ‘talented’ or what have you. When really, blogs, and probably most of The Internet in general for that matter, is just a cesspool of filler, fluff.
People seem to think that it grants them instant credibility though, and people take it way to seriously…
At the end of the day, it’s really a non-debate. Let’s be serious, without tits and ass, the blogs you’ve mentioned as if they are the seminal modern day curators, would never have been noticed, and wouldn’t remain popular.
At least this is how I see things. But then again opinions are like assholes…
@Lens : Thank you for the contribution to the thread! It is very true to say that most people can hide behind their keyboard and screen, I was the perfect example when I started taking photos and using the internet…. At the end of the day, the legitimacy of one’s blog is only confirmed when you actually get to meet the person. I can say that JJJJound, a personal friend, is a little more than just T&A. But then again, what do I know!
Just spent a 1/2 hour going through your site. Great stuff.
Great read! I really enjoyed that. The Americans is one of my favourite books in my collection.
@Thom : Thanks, I really appreciate that.
@Goslett : Yeah, I’m trying to get some of the older versions but theyre so expensivee!
Vince,
Phenomenal write up you presented here, it’s really a topic that needs to be touched on with the powerful engine we call the internet today.
…I don’t know.
I find it strange that you are able to compare John Szarkowski, who won two Guggenheim fellowships, taught at Harvard, Yale, Cornell, New York University, and was the curator of this little museum in New York City called the Museum of Modern Art, to a blogger such as JJJJound who gathers images found on the internet and posts them in a blog format. It seems like you are comparing apples to oranges.
Nevertheless, intriguing topic to discuss.
Great piece. Great blog in it’s ENTIRETY. I especially love how you capture all facets of life through the lens. Keep up the amazing work Vincent!
@ Lens I’d take it one step further and say, Tumblrs are like assholes… That’s not to say that I’m somehow more enlightened than those that choose to have tumblrs or even qualified to “curate” my own blog, but at the end of the day I think it is blogs like this one in particular that actually contribute something. I’m tired of seeing the same photos re-blogged over and over and over… Ideally, they do serve as catalysts for creative endeavors beyond the re-blogging of someone else’s work.
@alan : Thank you for the kind words, really appreciate it!
Success for a blog/tumblr relies on, I agree with Amber, curation for a “niche” audience. Being able to revisit a blog is absolutely crucial however a great majority of these image centered blogs sacrifice content instead for visual bombardment – there is a certain point the visitor reaches when the blog becomes just a habitual scroll. When that happens I have trouble justifying the time spent perusing. But, what else is there to expect, especially from a site like Tumblr that caters to the MTV / MTV 2 attention span? No doubt, commodity culture enforces that we “frame” content to garner appeal. Mass reproduction ensures that art is tangible, yet what’s paradoxical is that blogging for a great amount of people also implies possession of the image (credit), which I think is a key diversion from the era that you mention. This is the cut and paste generation. The competition now revolves around who can find the rarest fastest. Who can proliferate the inspiration widest. And who knows who. The result unfortunately just becomes an over-saturated mess. It really comes down to exercising caution right now; knowing when to show restraint.