From Here On: Neo Appropriation Strategies in Contemporary Photography

“NOW, WE’RE A SPECIES OF EDITORS. WE ALL RECYCLE, CLIP AND CUT, REMIX AND UPLOAD. WE CAN MAKE IMAGES DO ANYTHING. ALL WE NEED IS AN EYE, A BRAIN, A CAMERA, A PHONE, A LAPTOP, A SCANNER, A POINT OF VIEW. AND WHEN WE’RE NOT EDITING, WE’RE MAKING. WE’RE MAKING MORE THAN EVER, BECAUSE OUR RESOURCES ARE LIMITLESS AND THE POSSIBILITIES ENDLESS. WE HAVE AN INTERNET FULL OF INSPIRATION: THE PROFOUND, THE BEAUTIFUL, THE DISTURBING, THE RIDICULOUS, THE TRIVIAL, THE VERNACULAR AND THE INTIMATE. WE HAVE NEXT-TO-NOTHING CAMERAS THAT RECORD THE LIGHTEST LIGHT, THE DARKEST DARK. THIS TECHNOLOGICAL POTENTIAL HAS CREATIVE CONSEQUENCES. IT CHANGES OUR SENSE OF WHAT IT MEANS TO MAKE. IT RESULTS IN WORK THAT FEELS LIKE PLAY. WORK THAT TURNS OLD INTO NEW, ELEVATES THE BANAL. WORK THAT HAS A PAST BUT FEELS ABSOLUTELY PRESENT. WE WANT TO GIVE THIS WORK A NEW STATUS. THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM HERE ON…”

Clement Cheroux, Joan Fontcuberta, Eric Kessels, Martin Parr, and Joachim Schmid, Joint Manifesto for From Here On, Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival, Arles, France, 2011

From Here On was an exhibition that consisted of the work of 36 artists who appropriate images from the internet using sources such as social media, search engines, archives and surveillance technologies. The exhibition was presented as manifesto that declared a change in our understanding of photography as a result of the digital revolution.

Example: Jens Sundheim

In his series of photographs, The Traveller, Sundehim put himself into the frames of surveillance cameras that can be accessed through online streams and used his collaborator, Bernhard Reuss, to take the picture from a remote computer screen. 

The images highlight the ubiquity of surveillance cameras that the wider public tends to largely ignore. By facing the camera head on, Sundheim is acknowledging the fact he is being watched and challenges the viewer to acknowledge this fact too. In each of the images that are taken in different places around the world, Sundheim wears the exact same clothes. As a subject, he presents himself as omnipresent which highlights the fact that these cameras are always recording and always watching him. As a viewer I was left feeling uncomfortable. We commonly regard these surveillance cameras to provide society with security, but Sundheim's work challenges this notion. The images raise questions of who set these cameras up and why? Who views these images and what purpose do they serve that person? 

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Throughout this module I have developed an interested for appropriation art and found photography. My photo-essay attempts to challenge the notion of how emergent technology is changing the way we interact with each other, which I can parallel with the work of these artists. 

I plan in future projects to incorporate some of the methods of found photography that are used by these photographers, as I believe i'll be able to explore my chosen subject matter for this photo-essay further.