News

April, 2008 Archive

Christian Patterson - Sound Affects
Davin — April 26th, 2008

Spotted over at Shane’s site, Christian Patterson has posted a video teaser for his forthcoming book Sound Affects.

christianpatterson.com

Posted in Books, People, Video — Comment
Remain in Light Vol.1 Photographers Announced
Davin — April 17th, 2008

Shane Lavalette and Karly Wildenhaus have announced the photographers to be featured in Vol. 1 of their contemporary photography project, Remain in Light. The photographers chosen are varied and unique and should make for an incredible portfolio of images.

Andreas Weinand
Anne Lass
Coley Brown
Debora Mittelstaedt
Ed Panar
Estelle Hanania
Gustav Almestål
Hiroyo Kaneko
Kamden Vencill
Mark McKnight
Michel Campeau
Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard
Nicola Kast
Nicholas Haggard
Shawn Records
Raimond Wouda
Richard Barnes
Thobias Fäldt
Whitney Hubbs
Yann Orhan

Vol.1 of Remain in Light will also include a booklet with the texts: One Credo After Another by Tim Davis and A Telephone Conversation with Mike Mandel by Shane Lavalette

remaininlight.org/

Posted in Books, Magazines, People, Websites — Comment
Women in Photography
Davin — April 16th, 2008

This has been posted fairly widely at this point, but just in case… Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips have come together to act as curators of a new site which will present the work of female photographers on a monthly basis.

“There are more women working in the contemporary photo world then ever before. Their methods, choice of subject matter, visual language, and processes run the gamut of artistic possibility. What unites them is their passion and the effort they devote to creating extraordinary bodies of work. Women in Photography is a showcase for this work. It is also a resource for photographers, editors, curators, gallery owners, and viewers alike to discover and enjoy the work of female artists. By mixing the work of emerging photographers with artists that have achieved high levels of success within fine art and commercial worlds, the project is designed to open a visual dialogue and create a venue to share work, support, and ideas.” — Women in Photography

The site is currently seeking submissions and will launch in earnest with the first chosen photographers in June 2008. To submit, follow the guidelines below and send to womeninphotography at gmail dot com.

- 5 jpegs from a cohesive project or a work in progress.
5×7 @150 dpi named “myname_title.jpg”
- short statement/bio

There has been some discussion around the merits of websites, exhibitions, and projects which focus on women—whether it’s exhibitions organized around gender or support systems aimed at the needs of women only. Some have suggested that there is an isolationism, or worse a form of bigotry, in making the assumption that art created by women or the practices of female artists share a context simply because of gender. Another argument has been that there isn’t really a gender divide in contemporary photography and that talking about the possibility actually does a disservice to women by creating a schism.

I tend to disagree with both arguments and do believe that gender (plus race and class) bias is quite alive and unwell in society at large and certainly so in the photography world be it fine art or commercial. Recent exhibitions such as Humble’s 31Under31 may have featured only the work of younger female photographers but I don’t believe that an argument could be made that the curatorial process in their case simply involved choosing any work as long as it was created by a woman. The suggestion has been that grouping work simply because its creators are women is too thin and too arbitrary a context. But I have yet to see any real example of curators only looking at gender, even when gender is a primary focus of an exhibition.

There are a growing number of examples of women gaining reputations in contemporary photography and there is certainly a huge amount of incredible work being created by women. But because more female photographers are becoming known (often online), it doesn’t mean that they don’t face gender bias leading to warped expectations and different treatment related to male artists.

All that as a long-winded way of saying that I totally support efforts like Elkins and Phillips’ Women in Photography and also the related “Ask Me. I’ve got answers” badge campaign that Liz Kuball initated.

Posted in Organizations, People, Websites — Comment
Pause, to Begin - 15 photographers selected
Davin — April 15th, 2008

Pause, to Begin has selected the 15 photographers that will become the focus of the project’s first year.

Colin Blakely; Ann Arbor, Michigan
Timothy Briner; Boonville, California
Alejandro Cartagena; Monterrey, Mexico
Hin Chua; London, England
Tealia Ellis-Ritter; Barrington, Illinois
Matt Eich; Athens, Ohio
Matthew Gamber; Savannah, Georgia
Shawn Gust; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Shannon Johnstone; Cary, North Carolina
Erika Larsen; Hoboken, New Jersey
John Mann; Tallahassee, Florida
Thomas Prior; Brooklyn, New York
Brea Souders; New York, New York
Sonja Thomsen; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Shawn Records; Portland, Oregon

Starting May 1, 2008, David and Ethan will depart the state of Maine with documentary filmmaker Bruno Toré for 1 month to meet the aforementioned photographers. Upon returning in June, 2008, Pause, to Begin will begin to unveil one photographer’s complete series of work per day at www.pausetobegin.com.

Posted in Organizations, People, Websites — Comment
Click! at Brooklyn Museum
Davin — April 15th, 2008

“Click! is a photography exhibition that invites Brooklyn Museum’s visitors, the online community, and the general public to participate in the exhibition process.”

“Click! … begins with an open call—artists are asked to electronically submit a work of photography that responds to the exhibition’s theme, Changing Faces of Brooklyn, along with an artist statement.”

Brooklyn Museum has entered the public evaluation phase of Click!. The work of each artist (chosen in the project’s first phase) is presented with a short statement and a sliding rank tool. I’m not sure about the granularity of the evaluation slider — I think that an out-of-five Likert scale may have worked better but that’s not overly important.

“Click! culminates in an exhibition at the Museum, where the artworks are installed according to their relative ranking from the juried process. Visitors will also be able to see how different groups within the crowd evaluated the same works of art. The results will be analyzed and discussed by experts in the fields of art, online communities, and crowd theory.”

brooklynmuseum.org

Posted in Exhibitions, Websites — Comment