Have you the right?

Mary Furlong

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#Archives | #Making_the _invisible_visible | #Vernacular | #Personality_rights | #Curation_mindset

In her essay Mining The Archive, Excavating Identities, Kim Knoppers delves into the archives of commercial photography studios to uncover visual narratives that might otherwise be overlooked (Rastenberger and Sikking, 2018). Photography can make what was previously invisible, visible. The moon turns on its axis at the same speed it orbits the earth so the far side of the moon is never visible from earth. Lippershey patented the telescope in 1608, Draper photographed the moon in 1840 and the unmanned Russian spacecraft Luna 3 photographed the far side of the moon in 1959. Photography makes visible things, prior to its invention and advancement, we could not see.

Making the invisible visible applies to photography itself. How we see, how we are able, allowed, or made to see, and how we see this seeing or the unseen therein (Foster, 1988: ix). We are familiar with important photographers and their work but not with vernacular photography (Fig 1). The Museum of Modern Art defines vernacular photography as:

An umbrella term used to distinguish fine art photographs from those made by non-artists for a huge range of purposes, including commercial, scientific, forensic, governmental, and personal - MoMA

Figure 1: Unknown photographer. (c 1945) Untitled.

This extends to photography created by studio photographers commissioned to commemorate life’s milestones. The archives of these studios contain a visual history of groups of people that are not usually represented in galleries, Figure 2. In recent years there has been a growing interest in vernacular photography along with an acknowledgement of its social, historical, and artistic value. In 2018, the Walther Collection along with The Centre for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University and The Barnard Centre for Research on Women presented a two-day international symposium Imagining Everyday Life: Engagements with Vernacular Photography. The aim was to articulate the multiple definitions of vernacular photography within a newly expanded field of critical investigation - reconsidering the context and meaning of often overlooked photographic practices and tracing their specific social histories.

Figure 2: Dinneen, D. (No date) Untitled.

Curators, researchers, and archive owners collaborate to coherently exhibit the work and looking at it afresh having taken it out of its environment, attach a significance to it beyond the personal meaning it had in the private domain. This action comes with a responsibility to both the original context and the new storyline.

Photographs in the criminal justice system, and elsewhere, can turn fiction into fact - Simon

In writing about the relationship between power and the photograph, John Tagg in The Burden of Representation discusses photography’s use as evidence. In her project, The Innocents, Taryn Simon exposes photography’s role in helping to convict innocent men of crimes they did not commit (fig 3). ‘Photographs in the criminal justice system, and elsewhere, can turn fiction into fact’ (Simon, 2003).

Fig 3 Simon, T. (2002) Larry Mayes, Scene of arrest, The Royal Inn, Gary, Indiana. The Innocents.

The exhibiting of archives shows an alternative visual history and makes the work part of our collective memory. It is important to provide context when reinterpreting an archive, without it the archive has little meaning for the audience. The inclusion of research and descriptions of and discussions on the gathering of this all help to inform the audience about the curatorial choices made in creating the end result.

The circumstances under which archives come to light are varied, donated by the families of the photographers such as the Marubi family of Albania (fig 4) discovered on a kerbside awaiting collection by the bin men (Maryam Sahinyan of Istanbul) found stacked beneath a house (Richard Samuel Roberts of South Carolina, Figure 5) and rejected from a commercial photo lab in Boston (The Lenny Gottlieb Collection). One thing that many of these collections have in common is the exhibiting of them long after the photographers who created them had died.

Fig 4: Marubi, K. (n.d.) Self-portrait with wife. Dynasty Marubi. A Hundred Years of Albanian Studio Photography.

Fig 5: Roberts, R.S. (ca.1920) Annie Mae Manigault (1907-1976), a graduate of the Renouard School of Embalming in New York City who came home to Columbia to work at her family’s Manigault Funeral Home.

Copyright lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus seventy years after their death. Copyright protects the tangible form of a creators works. But what of the rights of the subject? What about their personality rights? Everyone has some right as to how they are depicted. Most studio portraits are commissioned by the sitters, what happens then when these same photographs end up on a gallery wall? Should those involved in the production of an exhibition trace those represented in the photographs? As the original commissioners of the photographs what rights do they have when it comes to the re-contextualising of their likenesses? What of the subjects right to privacy and their right to determine what part of themselves is made public? (Schrijver, 2018).

Do curators have the right to make use of other people’s lives for material? Is the reframing of these archives acceptable when done with a curation mindset with the attitude that values sharing as part of how we gain insight? Is the sharing the most important aspect in all of this?

Citation

Fulong, M. (2020) 'Have you the right?' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/mary-furlong

References

Dynasty Marubi, A Hundred Years of Albanian Studio Photography. Retrieved March 31st 2020 from https://www.foam.org/museum/programme/dynasty-marubi

https://ericschrijver.nl/

Ghent, C. (2004) ‘Protecting the reputation and personality after death’, The Irish Times, 25 October 2004. Available at https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/protecting-the-reputation-and-personality-after-death-1.1163497 (Accessed 31 March 2020)

Gottlieb, L. (2014) Lost & Found in America. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Johnson, T.L. and Dunn, P.C. (1994) A True Likeness The Black South of Richard Samuel Roberts 1920-1936. 2nd ed. Columbia: Algonquin Books.

Knoppers, K. (2016) Dynasty Marubi A Hundred Years of Albanian Studio Photography. Available at: https://www.kimknoppers.nl/index.php/2016/09/exhibition-cahier-dynasty-marubi-a-hundred-years-of-albanian-studio-photography/ (Accessed 31 March 2020)

Knoppers, K. (2018) ‘Mining the Archive, Excavating Identities’ in Rastenberger, A.K. and

Sikking, I. (eds.) Why Exhibit? Positions on Exhibiting Photographies. Amsterdam: Fw: Books.

Mirzoeff, N. (2006) ‘On Visuality’, Journal of Visual Culture, 5(1), pp. 53-79.

Rastenberger, A.K. and Sikking, I. (2018) Why Exhibit? Positions on Exhibiting Photographies Amsterdam. Fw: Books.

Schrijver, E. (2018) ‘People have Rights too: Personalities’ in Copy This Book, An artist’s guide to copyright. Eindhoven: Onomatopee.

The National Archives. (2016) Archive Principles and Practice: an introduction to archives for non-archivists

The Walther Collection, The Centre for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University, and The Barnard Centre for Research on Women. Imagining Everyday Life: Engagements with Vernacular Photography Press Release.

Vidokle, A. (2010) Art Without Artists? Available at: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/16/61285/art-without-artists/ (Accessed 31 March 2020)

Images

Unknown photographer. (c 1945) Untitled. [Online]. Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/141157?sov_referrer=art_term&art_term_id=18

Dinneen, D. (No date) Untitled. [Online]. Available at: http://dennisdinneenarchive.com/gallery

Simon, T. (2002) Larry Mayes, Scene of arrest, The Royal Inn, Gary, Indiana. The Innocents. [Online]. Available at: http://tarynsimon.com/works/innocents/#6.

Marubi, K. (n.d.) Self-portrait with wife. Dynasty Marubi. A Hundred Years of Albanian Studio Photography. [Online]. Available at: https://www.kimknoppers.nl/index.php/2016/09/exhibition-cahier-dynasty-marubi-a-hundred-years-of-albanian-studio-photography/

Roberts, R.S. (ca. 1920) Available at: https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2020/01/richard-samuel-roberts-a-new-likeness.php#.XpYZ4MhKhPZ

Book space

Michael Croghan

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#Language | #Photobook | #Sequence | #Author | #Content_curation

A search engine can be a literal search, and be literal and sometimes and maybe correct when it comes to a word, or a term. Of an ambiguous subject, where a whole industry that you are in, you can be many things. As with photographers making photo books, designers, photographers, artist, but as said here, ‘’...search engine managed to disregard categories and to look directly at what I was producing, whereas contemporary art discourse, despite its stated openness, still struggles to include the book-author creating book-work as an artist practice in and of itself.’’ (Degiorgis, p241). The photography industry sees a photobook as a thing just to do and not in itself an artistic merited project. It's a whole process from beginning to the end of it as a photobook, the whole book itself is readable form, everything about it in it and all within. Plus in a space that it would be in like that of an exhibition, the value of its aesthetic could be enhanced also.

Fig 1 Myle, D, S. 1570

Explaining photography further in relative terms, keywords, and it's worded place, in the space of a book, which had a different meaning in a 19th century, but the term language, has continued on as pointed out here, ‘’In the nineteenth century, the term ‘’photobook’’ was barely used, while ‘’photographic literature’’ was a much more common descriptor. Since the term ‘’literature’’ means written works, ‘’photographic literature’’ does not merely define photography as a language.’’ (Degiorgis, p241).

Graphical and formal uniformity among my books also pushes me to focus on conceptual elements - Degiorgis

Photobooks basic premise of an idea can be enlightened by simplicity of a layout, the understanding being in the run of imagery, not one that can go either way, but the simplicity of the book with same pages same design, across all pages, sames sizes, can enlighten the language and explain the photographic meaning. Does not have to be exact, it can have something different in layout depending on artistic merit. Books themselves are language, where it is now easier for designers to control that space of a book as they see fit, as explained here ‘’Graphical and formal uniformity among my books also pushes me to focus on conceptual elements.’’ (Degiorgis, p242). Photobooks can be done by knowing what material you have, what paper to use that would suit that, the layout and important sequencing of images, even the binding, what to use that would suit the overall feel, and look, everything is meaningful. Thinking about a lone reader and making it a real meaningful experience, making full use of the space as would be done in an exhibition gallery, everything is for a reason. Once it is made it can become a rare item over time, a private item that can last a lifetime compared to an exhibition. In general terms, how much is it, is it costly, is it affordable, anyone that buys a copy, then becomes a curator that shows within his or her own space as they see fit.

Fig 2 Turi, L. 1991

The internet and the screen we look at is a changeable interface with multifaceted interfaces, unlike a book that is made already, the screen is more fluid and free form.

With interfaces everything is changeable and everything changes, everything that changes has its own paradoxical meaning, and so on and so on, that also plays on our understanding or lack of understanding, as further explained here ‘’.....the ways our bodies engage with these distinct at the level of manipulation and cognitive processing of the experience.’’ (Drucker (2014) p153).

Fig 3 Lyon, B, 2003

What is that space the web pages and viewer reading of an interface that has no framing of a convention viewing item, painting movie on tv, compared to the free form frameless thing that is the web view. One page site, might have a filing cabinet sense about it, everything contained on one page view site. In general they are multipictious, (an image that is relative to an individual's tracing of his activity online the vastness, image of scale well thought out) a plethora of things that go on and on and on, there is no synthesis, unless you contain the whole web.

The integration of these into a comprehensive experience seems to have emerged intuitively, since the frames within frames of the web interface provide sufficient cues to signal the necessary shifts of reading modes - Drucker

It revolves around our ability of understanding and attributing meaning and constructing from what we read, the common-denominator of ‘’on screen’’ interface viewing. It transforms with the knowledge we afford, it reconstructs on a shared basis, constantly evolving of affordances. The power or provocations is the evolving new experiences and shared thoughts that are, explained here ‘’The integration of these into a comprehensive experience seems to have emerged intuitively, since the frames within frames of the web interface provide sufficient cues to signal the necessary shifts of reading modes.’’ (Drucker, (2014). p155). There are so many possibilities and so many things to consider when visiting a site, more so in the relation of the viewer and the viewers priori to visiting a site, is as much the issue.

You can understand basic elements of reading in a couple of ways, the type of website you visit and what are its inclinations, are you meaningfully involved. Framing with mobile technology the framework is one of symbols, or called chunking, a term for minimizing things to a single chunk or symbols. when symbols are clicked your sent through a gateway depends on symbols you choose, click this feature to go to this section. One simple example, say a sports symbol,depending on your demographic country american or european football etc, say it is represented via a football, following on from the initiation link to football orientated things, when you leave these you come back to your launching framework, it's a containing organiser.

Theory of constructivist processes that constitute the interface as a site of such cognitive relations - Drucker

Seemingly, as when you go to these frames, there are certainly more frames upon frames, various meanings upon meanings. What might be fixed in a book as the main body of a text and paratext ebing a fixed thing, on an interface that fixed idea is a lot more loose, you could prioritize paratext and links to other text that is another idea of another main text and so on and so forth, it is a user understanding framework, as explained further here, ‘’This put us on the threshold of interface and a theory of constructivist processes that constitute the interface as a site of such cognitive relations. ‘’(Drucker, (2014) p157). Summed up here eloquently, ‘’ ….to a realization that the graphical organization only provides the provocation to cognition.’’ (Drucker, (2014) p158). That can loosely frame the same meaning but not altogether, because not everyone is of the same thought, and learning and upbringing, the order is what the meaning means to an individual user how he or she extends that.

Citation

Croghan, M. (2020) 'Book space' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/michael-croghan

References

Colberg, J. (2011). Presenting Photo Opportunities by Corinne Vionnet. [Online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-QRNZBKIKY [29/3/2020]

Degiorgis, N. (2018). Nicolo Degirogis, Books as Spaces within Spaces (Illustrated by Five Cases). In: Rastenberger, A, K. Sikking, I. Time Is a Luxury: Space of Flows in the Space of Places, Why Exhibit? Positions on Exhibiting Photographies. London: Fw:Books & The Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. pp 239-243.

Drucker, J. (2014). Reading Interface. In: N.D Graphesis, Visual Forms of Knowledge Production . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp 152-158.

Images

Fig 1. Myle, D, S, (1570). Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat, Painting [Online]. Available at: http://www.nicolodegiorgis.com/hamatli-patriae [Accessed 28 March 2020].

Fig 2 Turi, L, (1991). The arrival of the Vlora ship in the harbour of Bari in 1991. Overflowing expanse of people on harbour and ship. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nicolodegiorgis.com/hamatli-patriae [Accessed 28 March 2020].

Fig 3 Lyon, B, (2003). Digital print form photofile, mapping of internet activity via nodes and looks like a digital version of a nervous system. [Online]. Available at:https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/barrett-lyon-the-opte-project-mapping-the-internet-2003/ [Accessed 28 March 2020].

Read the room

Nour Sulaiman

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#Typography | #Visual_design | #Readability_and_legibility | #Technology | #Psychology.

The Signage Design Manual published by Lars Muller, a graphic designer, allows us an insight into the concerns of one of the many people and other professions who can affect the gallery environment other than the curator and the exhibiting photographer.

The book is about visual design and leads the reader step by step through the individual phases of signage design. More than 800 illustrations guide the readers through the demanding process . The combination of wide coverage and precise, detailed information makes this book accessible to a broad spectrum of readers, from information and graphic designers to architects and professionals of every stripe who are involved with signal design on any level. To preview a sample of the book there is a sample online, which allows you to read and browse through chapters. For example, the book includes screen type, size, font and signal design which all link to the curating photography module.

Readability is how easy it is to read words, phrases such as books or articles. Legibility is a measure of how easy it is to distinguish one letter from another in a particular typeface. For example smaller text size, enough line to maximise readability.

Legibility is important due to the way the text is displayed which makes the text easier to read and more interesting.

In the text Smitshijzen states “readability is a slightly more complex process than is a, because its likely that most of us read, not by recognising strings of individual letters…” .

His opinions are further explained by the plethora of evidence he shrewdly interrogates.

However, Smiitshijzen suggests that viewers are able to read what looks closest to what we learnt, or accustomed to read.

Serif and sans are two different types of typeface. Sans has shown through significant research to increase both the readability and how fast a text is read, due to guiding the way the eye travels across a line, in particular when there is relatively open word spacing. Others dispute this view point, suggesting what we read most - serif typefaces and fonts - benefit viewers best, such as is the case in lengthy tracts of text in printed books and newspapers.

Typefaces are not all designed to be legible. For example, some legibility text design anticipates to hold the reader's attention for the length of the copy, due to conveying a certain type of mood when viewing the paper. All caps could be a disadvantage when reading a text due to the lack of ascenders and descenders, sticking to upper and lowercase when reading is suitable and beneficial.

The rest of the book, Smitshuijzen identifies all the parties possibly responsible for the signage project, for example from the psychologist to the architectures. The different groups explain how the signage design can be used in each department effectively, due to layout and typography options, production techniques,mixed media and pictogram style. The design can come in handy when used correctly, as an actual checklist.

Typography is the use of type and typeface is the making of the type. For example, typeface is the overall design of lettering which includes variations such as bold, regular, light, italic etc. Typography plays a vital role in setting the overall tone of the website, and ensures a great user experience. Typeface and typography include general aspects, visual order and spacing. Smitshuijzen states that the general aspects has four major factors : psychological that deals with style and identity, physiological that deals with visual perception, a practical function and a technical function.

The book explains that the fundamental characteristic of typography links to visual design, as the letters work together to complete the text, hence being linked to musical harmony.

The visual order must be clear and sophisticated, refined and consistent to work, as a professional form. For example, by size, spacing, stroke thickness and colour.

I completely agree with Smitshuijzen point that typography link to visual design, as particularly when viewing the text our eyes adapt quicker when reading an effective visual order that's aesthetically pleasing.

Citation

Sulaiman, N. (2020) 'Read the room' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/nour-sulaiman

References

Smitshuijzen, E. (2007). ‘Creating visual design: legibility and readability’ in Signage design manual. Baden: Lars Muller Publishers.

Smitshuijzen, E. (2007). ‘Creating visual design: typography and typefaces’ in Signage design manual. Baden: Lars Muller Publishers.