1:1foto magazine, democratizing photography, what for?

January 31, 2010 in photography, politics & life by Guillermo Labarca | 2 comments

>1:1photo magazine, number 5 Winter 2009-10

“The visual arts have been reluctant to erase the frontiers between the erudite and the popular, between art and daily life. From its beginnings art photography has tried to raise walls of isolation, distinguishing itself from the “other photography”. Stieglietz already tried to find acceptance for photography promoting a salon art, using the paradigm of painting. Musea contribute with their celebratory politics and galleries with the craze of unique or limited or numbered copies and managers with their demands of exclusivity. The mannerism of photography schools goes in the same direction… the “democratization” of photography and today’s easy access do not improve its quality, but they do open up opportunities to speed up the permanent changes and mutations that are needed to keep photography alive.

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2 comments

  1. Dietmar on January 31, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    Do you think photography is art? How can there be art photography?

  2. Guillermo Labarca on February 1, 2010 at 12:44 am

    Dietmar, photography fits in any existing definition of art. But as any art: dance, theater, painting or whatever, not all photography is art, as not all dance is art or all theater is art, usw. Neither al photographers are artists. The question IMO is if we need to define art or to establish that photography is art. Well, for some people is important, you know there are art merchants, museum directors, curators, critics, some photographers etc. that really need such a definition, they live on it and producing “art” rewards much more than simply being an artisan.
    I start from the fact photography found a place in the world of art; I am not discussing that but perhaps should be discussed. It is an interesting point.