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R A a D O Hi M. E J v F, C pn19 x 4 78 n. (43 x 36 e) B b lt NoG S 1

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ONE O A KIND

Kaja Sveran

Tis essay s about pictorial poography: largeforat analogue and

digia images tat look scenic" or saged reqire a prologed and at-

tetive vewng and are ade to e g o he wa of a mseum. Util

ite rcently those of s who came of age n te seventies and egties

associated is kind of potograpy wit possructuraist theory ad the

aestetcs o postmodernism It seemed a ec illustran of the xiom

at a potogaph is only a represetationor beter ye, a representatio

of a representation, sce evehing we beieved, s a cutural costrc-

ion But not only as pictoia potograpy contied unabaed i has

gained more and moe momentum as also proved resstant o all of

o attempts o derealie tto treat it as a tool a comodty a cio,o any other kd of human afac Sometng else s happening ere,

something big and impoan, and we need to figure out what i s.

I 1977, oglas Crmp cated an exhbiton at Artists Space in New

Yo that addessed a tendency ta e had noticed in contemporay

art, whc e called the reewed impse to make pictres of cogiz

able tings1 e sow inclded wor by a diverse group of aists: Troy

Bratc ac Goldstein Serie Levie obe Longo and Phiip

Smth n his cataloge essy, Crimp descibed this wor as a semiotc

inerrogation of te images throg whc we experence eality," and

some of te eatued wok smed to support ts reading2 Te profiledeads Levnes Sos ad Love 1977) re at and diagrammatc en-

coagng us o read tem raer han o took at tem Te thr prins

in Brauntch's 197&76 ptych Play/FamSong esemble blackboard

drawngs and the words wrtten below each prints actctral scema

heigten te discrsive eft Goldstein's A Sue o Nne 7-ch Recods

wh Sound Ees (196 stages a witty ecounter between Mimaism

Pop and Conceptualism. However Longos See Seals for Msso

Breaks (196 and The Amecan Solde (977 do not eve pretend to

be deconstructive" They ae unabasedly pctorial assume te shapes

of wat ey depict, and have a pleasig sheen ey renew not just the

iplse o make recogiable thigs bt also the pleasure tha we take

in ooking a tem

Crimp was also cely drawn to the wors in te show for is eason,

as we as te one stat above ecuse e devoes sever long nd p-

preciative pragraphs to te vsua quates of Godstein's fims, ad e til

he sow Pictures" rater thn Repsenations" 3 Representation is

a alpupose designator fo rcognzable things respective of whethe

they re cans, adveisements movies, ilstrations in childen's color-

ing books or igrative aworks It s s impciy tiaeseic Aog

pcture" s also a cpacous categoy it deves fom pca, te atn word

for panting, nd t reain s menng fo centuries It is also a crci

word for any contempory iss.

Gehad ichter for instance ses i to refe both to is abstract paint-

ings and s photo paintings wic pavd the way for largefomat pho-

tograpy eff W also cals his trasparencis pctes nd te concep

of the estern picture" or taea igures prominenty i s wrting. He

defines the latter as the indepedently beautful depiction and comsion

tat deves rom the nstttionalizaion o perspective and drmatic fgura

ton at the oigins of odern Western a"4 I menton this e bcase

the notion of an independely beatif depicion suaces in Crips

catloge esy as wel As e remks thee, the goal of the aists hs

sow s not to tar away the veil o te image in oder to expos is under

lyng meaing but rather to lberate e image fom its semntic burde so

tat it can e seen in a diffeent way ey demostae tat the pictre is

separable fom that whic t migt sid to picte"

wo years ater, Crimp publsed a signcatly dfferent vesio of hscataJogue essay in te journal Ocober.6 I te preface, e brings his argu-

ment into conformity wit what was fast becoming critcal othodoxy by

eqatg picte wih representation"7 He uses the fomer word, e ex-

plains becuse it overrides e distinctions between te aesthetic nd the

onaestetic, metal and extera images, and dierent mediums (pnt

ing, sclpture, drawing peoance photogrphy and flm) n the essay

poper e distngishes his vew of art from tat o he grt defender of

edim spcicity ad the autoomous awor: Mcael ried

Crmp begins wi a spirited deense of wor tat is sitated betwee,

o otsde te traditional ats" 6 which Frd had denonced as theatri-c" and associated w te degeneation of a n is 1967 essay A

and Objecthood9 He then sis his attention to anote ity ha Fied

nds aboent: presence. Somethng has pesence, Fied ages in A

and Objecthood, wen i encorages us to elate it to ourseves ether

trogh its scale, or rogh is refusl to look lke an atwork Miaist

sclpture as presence spades becse i is a pyscally massve ob

ject that occupies the same space we do Suc wor also appels to s

to ook a t, nd so is confrontatonJ" and aggssive10 And tis is only

pa o e problem Alough Minimal sculptre beaves like a buly it s

embarrassgy dependent snce i cannot be tself wiou an adence .

Since it is ge and teedimensional we cannot do tis all a once; we

ave to w arond t wich takes time urng ts extended situation

as Robe Morris cals i, we and the sculpre re temporally as wel as

spaially copreset.

Crip defends pesence trough an a form tat s even ore

theatrical than Miimalist scuptre perormance. The mode t hat was

to become exeplary dring te seventes was peormance e writes,

and not only that arrowly defied activity called perormance art bt

all those works tat wee constituted in a situaion and for a duation y

te atist or the spectator or oh togeter It can be said qite lteally of

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the seventies that you had to be here '" Crimp then advances a sur

prising caim: the claim that lms and potographs can become present

in the same way

he notion that a recorded mage might be capabe of becoming tem

rally and spatialy pesent was nconceivable in 979 First, presence"

was a compeey discredted concept Derida had denounced as

metaphysical and champion absence and the tace;3 Lacan had

caacteized it as oe of the illuso eects o the maginary4 and ident

ied lack as te basis of desre5 oucault had transformed te atho

om a eshadblood person nto a discrsive fncton"16 and Benjamin

had declared he here and now of the original" to be one of the tadon

souces of as auhoriy and had argued for its destuction through h-

oical reproduction Even lve peomes had begun to organie their

pefomances aound pain loss separation and near o possible death.8

Sond the phoographic image was stil fimy tetheed to the twas" of an eae moment and another space s gave it an evidenta

focehe wer to exse what mght othewise escape justce Benja

min links this dimension of photraphy to absence in The Wo o A in

the Age o Mechaica Reproducton It has jstly been d that [Atget]

photographed [the empy streets o ais] like scenes of cime, he writes

A crime scene, t, is deseed Benjamin also makes potraphy the

privileged representative of a numbe of other absences most of which e

spells o in the same essay otogrphy is the appaatus pa excelence

for reprodcing tradtiona wos o a, he argues tere, whc its us

o view them in absenta ad o creating atwos tat ack an ognalthat exst only as copies 22 It is also able to fom actvties that had pre-

viously bee peromed ony by humn ngs theeby endering te latter

supeuous inally potaphy purges mages of their aesthetic value,

nd scks the aura ot of realty."2 These absences are democratizing

ad are ceating the conditons that wil make it possibe for capitalsm

to aboish iself. "25

There were only two ways for a l eftst wter to connect the poto

graphic image to pesence in the late 1970s and neiher of them had

anything to do th the hie t nunc. The st was to compare i to the e-

tish as Chistian Mez does n a 19 essay Lke the shine on the nose

descibed by Fred,2 this argmet gs the photraphic mage stands

in or, and assmes the vaue of somethig that is missing the maternal

phals in the fomer case and the referent n the atte Its presence is

coseuetly an effect of absence The second way to connect phot-

apy with presence was to treat this qaiy as a theatrcal effecto

dene it as what something has when it is presented" as a epresenta

ion. Brechtan theate was the model or this understanding of presence.

[Epic heater ephasies the genea gest o showing" the dratrge

writes in A Shot Organum for the Teater" of 99 wch ways un

dermines that which is being shown The actors ought not to ' dop into

song,' but should cleary mk it o o the rest of te tex ad this is

best reinforced by a few theatca methods sch as changing the lighting

or inseing a tex.2

Neher of these accounts of pesece incldes the here and now,"

o is either one compatible wit the notion of a independently beautiul

pctre. Freuds account o fetishism is conophobic the shine on the nose

s te egoc defense through which the fetshist protects himself against

the intolerable knowledge o maternal lack, ad te goa of psycoanalysis

is to dismante ts defense The sal has a more coplicted status in

Brecht's writings When something is presented in a Brhtin way it s

styized which heghtens s pictoia values, but t is aso derealzed The

tenson betwn these two things is enomosly interesting, ad gener-

ated many of the mos visually compelling lms of the 1960s, 970s nd

190s Jeanuc Godards Wknd and La Chnos (both 1967) Masa-

hro Shnodas Dobl Sud 1969) Nagisa Oshimas Nght nd Fog n

Jpan 1960 and T Crmony (197 ) and vitually all of Rane WernerFassbinder's ouere However Brechtian theater is also a means to a pre

given end Our repesentaions mst tae second place to what is rep

resented" we read in the nal paagaph of A Sho Organm" and he

pleasure felt in their peection mst be conveed into the higher pleasure

fet when the les emerging from this society are treated as impeect and

provisonal"The more ths nctionaism comes to the fore, the more

sspect the pictorial becomes

Te lonely hour of absolue instumentaity never aives in Brechts

own wrings, but t makes a dramatic appeaace in Te Auhor as

Produce," Benjamins 19 tak to the Pars Institte for the Stdy ofFascism Uke The Work of A" this essay is full of hghly uestonable

assumptions. One of the most damaging and distressingly durableo

these assumptions is that auty is conterrevolutiony, paclarly

when r saces in a photograph [he medim] has become moe and

moe sbtle more and more modern and the resut is that it is now inca-

pable of photraphng a tenement or a rubbisheap thot trnsfigur

ing " Benjamin excoriates ]n front o these, photography can now ony

say 'How beautiul

Since these were the ony dentions of presence that were avaiable

in 1979 and t is impossble to think otside one's episteme," Crimp had

no choce bt to use them owever, he clearly saw that neither was ad-

equate to the task a hand becase he tres to expain pictoa photogra

phy by ombnng them The kinds of potograps and films that interest

him, he explains in the second version of Picts ae those that pres

ent themseves as repesentaions thereby foregronding he absence of

the referen. This absence confers a kind of pesence on these worksa

splus reality" ike that enjoyed by the Freudian fetish Bt these wo

theoretical modes are incompatible snce Brechtin presentato abol-

shes the condtions fo fetishstic beief and when that belef evaporates

so does the fetshs surplus relity"

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Crmp taks au his dge," as he cs in a hird essy, The Phoographic Acivy of Posmernism (1980)." Wa I waned o explainn my 1979 Picres]," e wies nea he beginning of e 1980 essaywas how o ge from e being the necessiaed by peoance .o e kind of pesence ha is ssibe ony rough he absence which we

kow o be he condion of represeaion

Cmp aso chasises imsefor ying o eap over his dfficty n hS 979 esy by qoing a ine romHeny Jams: he pesence before him was a prsence " e devoese rs of The Phoogaphic Aciviy o ree photogaphers a of whommake picures a refer o ohe images, abei in vey dieen waysCindy herman herie Levine and Richd Prince He chaacerizes ereaionsip bewn heir wok and what i references s appropiaion"ereby inking no jus o one b \o absen erms Ther images" ewis, are aways poined, conscaed, appropriaed stolen In teiwok, he orgina canno be oced, is aways deferd; even he sef ta

migh ave geneated an orignal s sown to be isef a copy

Tis accon of herman's Levines and Princes wok, wich nowhods amos nvers sway is frmy grond in e principes Benaminespuses in e Wo of A" Ineesingy toug Crimp prsiss n is980 essay n mainanng ha picoria phoography has pesence andahogh he once again atribues tis prsence o absence he notesta Benamin defines e hi et nunc vey difereny in Lite Hisoy ofPoogapy an he does in The Work of A Insead of the she nwhich a nque wor of ar is embedded, i s e iny spark of cancewi which reaiy" has sea the charace of te picue"3 Benamin

ereby gesures toward a difeen ind of pesenation an the one described by Brect-a pesnaion hat is condced by he wod raherhan a huma agent d hat is realing raer an dereaiing. Theeis aso he aimpoan peposion in he senence Crmp qoes fromJames (te presence befo him was a presence) whic remnds us haf we wan o se a picoria phoograph, we ms go o he pace werei angs, and sand in fron of This peposion ransforms wha wodoewise be a auoogy ino a reaionsip, one based on a myseoskind of equaiy.

e paragraph fom Le iso of Photography" ha Crimp invokes inThe Phoographic Aciviy of Posmodernsm" is one of he mos imporan passages in al of Benamin's wriing. t begins wih a dscussion of hedaguerreoype wic he cals one of a kind, and sgus no a deepymoving accoun of David Ocavs Hs Mr. Elzabeth Johnstone Hal,Newhaven Fishwife (843-6) and Kar Dauhendeys Ka Dauthendeyather of the Poet wh his Ran (857) Benamin aks au heemoions awaend n him by te women in hese poograps who areas singar as e dagueroype and whom e nds myseousy rea"

In Hi's Newaven shwife e wries ere remans someing hagoes beyond esimony to he poogaphers a, somehing ha cano

be sienced a s you wih n unuy desie o now wha er namewas he woman wo was aive ee, who even now is si rea ad winever consen o be whoy absobed in 'a '3

e veriginos sense of presence at Benamin expeences whieooing a hese photographs promps im o deveop a dfeen ac

con of poographc emporay an he eaboraes n e Wok oAr one based on he fure perfec, nsead of simpe aneriory andha hinges on te momen in he hiso of evey phoograph wen ibecomes conemporay w is viewe The phase Cmp quoes in esecond version of Picures is embedded in hs senence No maerow arf he poograper, Benamin wries e beoder fees an iesistibe urge o search such a pcre fo the ny spark of coningencyof the here and now wih whch eay has seared e subec o nde inconspicuous spot whee in he immedacy of ha ongforgotenmoment he fure ness so eoqeny ha we ooking back may e

discove i39

is account of phoograpic emporaity anicipates whaBenamin wi ae ca the now of recognabiiy 0 which is he basis ofhis messianic accoun of histo

Benamins mdiaion on he women n e il ad Dauendeypoaps aso eads hm o aoher crcia concep he opica nconscios Uke eveying ese in tis passage, he opica unconsciosprives te wod over te hum eye and arbs a dscosive powero phoography he paagrap ends wih a qoaion from Dauhendeya oops bac o he topic with which Benamin begns e empora andspatia copresence of he behoder ad he gures who appar n eary

phoraphs We didn' s ourseves a rs o ook ong a he rs [daguerreoypes] We were abashed by he disincness of tse hma images and beieved hat e ie iny faces in e picure coud see us 1

Benamin evenuay aunces into a paia version of he argumen hemakes in he Wok o A," bu he rurns fore doing so o e noionha e word raher ha ecnoogy is he sorce of e phoogaphicimage. urpisingy e aso aributes he aeseic compexiy of eayphoography o his wody sorce Duing he consderabe perioddurng whic peope were iniiay obiged o si in front of he camera, ewres, hey grew into he picure42 Bause of hs, he pope in earypoographs don' ook o at e word in so excuded and godforsakena manner as those in aer phoographs do I is aso wha maes hephoographs hemseves oo ike wedawn or wepaind picures.

Eary viewers of e photographic ima descrbed in srikngysimia ways: as an aesteicay saisfying picure drawn wih he pnciof Natre hroug whic e word presened se o te human eyeWonde wonder of wondes Heny Fo abo wroe n 1839 Vanishacuains and meons-as chimneys a consume er own smokedevor yourseves! engravers copper engaves ad echers drnk

up yor acquafois and die . B]y vie of e suns paen a nareaimae and inanimate, sha be encefoh is own painter engraver

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prnter, and publiser. Here is a revoluio in at ...! ey did so beaus

poograpy is te word's way of showing iself to s46-wat Hdggr

cals poss i igs sns7

T word ad a ot o slfsow1g to do in e rst al o te nine

eent centry Wen mn decided tat e was e measre o al tigs

e eliinated e exernal atorty tat e ad created o vouc or te

ut o is peceptions and ta opened te door o doubt e ed

is doubt at bay or aost two centues but 1637 e ond msel

wondeng weter te ea skies stars and al ote objects ta [e]

appreended by eans o te senses" do i fact exist Unab to prov

tat is sensoy perceptions were a reliable sorce o knowldg d

cided o clos [is yes" stop [s ars and bas al futu dtmna

tions on is mntal rprsntations T world contued to be pysicaly

prsnt bt it was psycically Ngone48

e word tred revelig isel trog te camera obscra as i ad

been dong or cenes bt makind soon devised ways o subordinatingis device to te uman loo9 so in 139 it presented tsel in an

even more empatically pctoia fom: troug cemical poograpy

ot eveyone was as entsiastic abou tis as Fox abot I raly

s a world and it is capabe o presencing toward" us n tis way as Hei

deggr wold say tn w ar ot ts lod and maser We cannot eve

clai te aestetic domai as our exclusive preseve

Badelare was wling to cede te world to potograpy but no at

e pried te two apart by dening te poograpic iage as te me

cancal eproducion o pysical realiy positng idsy as ts sorc

and deniying its viewer as te idolatrous ltitud1 dimisd tpotograpic imag ur by associating it wit exacttude ie wt

an videnta raer tan a discosive u ad assgnng t a tltara

function t e unction o docmeting and arciving crmbling buldngs

pins and books52 Aworks Baudelaie decaes are te complete op

posite. ey are made by individal sbects or dividual viewers ey

are also nique and nonimtc. Rater tan represntg matrial rea

ty wic is selss" and tdious y ar cocerned wit a ger

tut one ta is created toug te addition o ms sol54 e

indstriaizaton of potograpy reinorced tis macinic denition o te

mediu d subordinated t to ts uma ser.

Bt te discovey o cemical potograpy was as epocal an vet

as te Coperncan evoutio and is sock waves continud to b lt

well into te weniet centy-in psycoanalysis pilosopy and (ost

impoantly) itratur and a A aist s ony a receptace for sensa

ions a brai a r ecording devce" Canne is repoed to ave said

around 1900. He ust orget orget be qiet be a peect eco. en

te fll landscape will record itse on is potogapic plate. Poust

ad ilke aso copared e uman psyce to a potograpic pat

ad saw e exposre o tis meaporc plat to t xral world as

te basis o teir witig.S Robe Rauscenberg wote tat te camera

focd im o see waever e lgt or darkness tocs and [to] car

and Ricter and Va Celmins conceptaie wa tey do as potogra

py by oter eans7

iytree years aer e publicaton o t scond verso o Crimps

cataloge essay Micael Frd pblisd a book o pictorial potog

rapy Why Photography Mats as A as Neve Befoe5 ese two

events are opposiionally connected; Crimp dened is sow against

rids Ar and Obctood and rieds boo is cleay a attemp to

rbut Crmps arguet Tis migt see a waratless clai since

rid relgates Crimp o a ootnote5 but e ator o Why hoogaphy

Mates spends a o o time ting o sow a pictorial poograpy

isn present in e way a live peoance is. Altog we can no onger

ignore e fac tat picures are made to be seen e wits taricality

s sill acceptabl Conepora ar needs o acknowldge its obe

seeness" in ways tat do not ncld spctator Largefomat potograpy accomplises ts by omalizing ts specuarty by deiing i as

a atur o t pictr rar a of wat appeas in e picture. Fred

cals is eate facingness"6

Bt Crmps essay and Frieds book are ore tan wo arrows ovng

in slow moion across a teedecade divide. Pictoria potograpy is also

an mpotnt cpter wti a larger narratve-one tat bgan wit te

st pinole camera and will end only we w do Tr ae aso oer

payers in ts capr o t narativ on of e mos notable o wom

is JanFranos Cevrier1 n a 199 essay called e Adventures o te

Picture om in te Histo o Potograpy Cevier presets a mucmore ully elaboraed verson o te clam tat Crmp makes in te second

verson o Pictures" and tat Fried atepts o reute. nlke radiioa

poograps e wries pictoria potograps are not mr prins

mobie, manipulabe sets tat a amd and monted o a wall or e

duration o an exibition and go back into teir boxes aterwrd" ey are

designed and prodced for te wa ave a man scale and summon

a conrontatonal experience on te pa o te spectaor ta sarply

cotrasts wit te abitual processes o appropration and proction

wereby potograpic iages are normally receivd and cosmd ';

Atog I wold no call pctoial potograpy confrontaioa e

ally lik Cvrrs account of its arbutes As e prepares us to see ts

knd o potograpy breaks evey ue in te Wok of A Bible ae

tan one o a potentialy nnie number o copes tat eets s alway

in te or o a poscard a boo or magine ilustraton o a poster and

tat we can exibi wnever and werevr w want a largomat po

tograp is a nu arok o pa o a v lmid don tat ngs on

t wall o a useum or a galery We ainated o a seet of Plexiglas

or oused in a ligbox t aso as te ticness o a paintng t isnt

evdeniay doesnt ave a capton ad cat be reduced to its eaning

Fnally if we want o see i we ave to go o te mseum or galley were

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i s exhbied and stand front of Wen we do so, we fd ourselves

faceo-face wh a pcre ta behaves more lke a person ha a hg;

hat resss ou ateps o asslae or sbordnate o or look and

ta says .s Is" Insead of ts was" he hs n s s also ndees a

elaonshp ae ha an absen referente relaonshp we ave wt

he poogap for e duraton of our vewng epeence

The mse m mgh seem a nlike ly venue fo a rendezvos wih he

world b raher han hasenng capals's dea dustal poog

rapy as exeded s fe No only s i oe of he pa vecles for

coodifcaon i also speaks he anguage of coodcaon e

marke depends pon he sbsu1on of mulpe copes for a que

ognal ad ore ofen han not tere is no origna The creaon of an

aura ad is subsqen quidato are aso denig eves in e so

of eve comody A successfl naca ransacon begis wh he

lson a a comody s eer que, or e ebodime of a que

caegoy ad ends wih he dscovery hat s dencal to mllos o oers Acqso getng od of an obje a close rage) and consump

on srppng away [ts] ve") are he eans hrogh whch we ge rom

e ormer o he ater Te passage Benjam devoes o he cul of he

move sar" sows ha hs logc ad also vaded he sphere of human

reatos by e d930s, and snce ten i as colonzed viraly evey

aspec of or lves

Warol as repeatedy sown he nducon o chance varatos

nto hs reg of copes poses a far more powel callege o capalis

han a rcepto wose sense o sameness n e wold' etracs

sameness fom wa s unqe" s also more nerely poograpcPoograpy as no more o do w dey ha does wih absolute

dference: eaces us o se ad embace smarty. dd so n 1839

trogh he noon o he lkeness s dong so now by epng us o

se he small dferences" at render every being no only pa o he

sae oaty bu also oe of a knd

Alog he ree ariss wo Crp dscusses The oograpc

Acviy of ostmodesmSerman Levne and rceare assoc

aed wh mechancal repoducion the work of Shera and Levne

s acally closer n spri o Ltle Hsoy of otogapy (rnce s

ndspaby a appropaion ars ad a vey fuy oe at hat b he

aso as a peomenologcal prec wc keeps some of s lookng

long ae e lagter as sopped s s however a topc or anoher

essay Te same s re o Lose awle anoer as n s crce

wose phoograps gre promnenly n Crps 3 book On the

MuseumS Runs

As I argue a eng The Theshold of the Vsbe Wod sel

preseaon s a cucal pa of Sermas Uned m tils (19-0).

The woe n hes e poograps appal o us to see he n a pacularway rough e pos he cong and he objects wih whch hey

srround heselves ey ask s o rafy her seldsplay so a can

become real5 Te as erself s also present in s work as Marina

Abramov woud say Unttled Fm tlls s a eenson of wa Ser

man ad been dong fo yeas before se began makJg gvng ersel

o be se Se ook nuerus blackandwhe phoographs of erse

n he peod exedng fro 1964 o 1975, and pu wenys of the

ino an abum called A Cndy Book Beneah eac phoo she we he

words That's me followed by a comma67

n a 0 conversaon wh Andrea Fraser a hsora George Baker

sggess a Lawler's phoograps are no represeaos bu rae

epresentaons He also oes teir openness o beng preened

aga ad becoming dferent hrogh each of ese represenaons

e le of Lawler's bookAAangement o Pctres foregunds

hs aspe of her wok and lks wa she ds o wha se shows The

word pcures" desgnates bo Lawes poograps ad te panngs

poographs and scupures at appear n hem and he word arragemens refers to hre nersecng dsplays te oe creaed by te ofical

o uofica curaors of he spaces Lawer photographed he one creaed

rogh he framng of eac poograph and he one creaed hrg e

selecon and orderng of e phoographs

Mos o te unofca craors wheer n homes aucon hoses or

esewhere are people bu tee s no han teoay behd a few

of he arangeens awler shows s we can see fro ter ed

backs he cavases n e Dawng Is or ae (1985 have bee removed

fom vew and he ouwardfacg drawg was presably prpped on

op of one of em for a quck nfomal look bu e drawgs colorsrhye wh tose of he wod rames suggesng ta ey belog ogeh

er Te staes wrappd plac n toge 98) and he framed a

works lyng nealy on selves lned wh ble paper n Pctes that May o

May Not Go Togethe (199/98) om a even more aeshecaly sa syg

enseble aough hey oo ave b pu away by er huan careak

ers7 And Lawer preves s frm abung e craora panace of

hese unplanned arrangeens o er hrug e les whch regster

her own surprse ndeed se ofers the followng descrpon of he wok

process ' o comoable akng poogaps whe kow wha

' taking feel as approachng soeng wih o muc clay n ad

vance could elmae possbles

Snce An Aangement o Pcts s a book rahe ha a ebto

a medum o a gaey we canno ener he space in wc Lawler's p

ogaps ae dsplayed Cosequetly aloug ese poogaphs are

presenaoal hey are no presen e way a pcoral poograph s

They are aso enoogcaly eprodced ad ese reproducos have

b wdely dssemnad nteresngly Lawler coents on hs hersef

a nevew wh Crmp a appears n he same volume Se ells h

hat e phoogaps n An Aangement o icts straddle e le bewen beng er wok and beg represeatons of her wok ereby sg

249

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250

gsting that they ae not ly themsles in this fom. Lawler and Cimp

also snd most o thei iteview discussing he galey shows72

Most viewes d it vtally impossible to dstigish the photaphs

in Levine'sAer Wa ker Evans (1979)om Evanss photogaphs, o the

photaphs in vans and Jaes Agees Let Us Now Pise Famou Men

(194)fom simple epotage Lev ne's wok aso seems "ecessioal

athe tha pesentational: to efe back to an eale mage, which (sce

the photogaphic mage has no oiga efes back to a yet eaie image

etc., thereby dog away bth wh the atho ad the notio of a oiginal

Te s-effacing way in which Levine dsplays the photaphs this se

ies also st them of convetioal exbton vale Howeve anyone who

hks that Levine is nt inteested physcal pesence o aesthetic pe

sentaon wold b wel advised to look at he 99 wok untan Aer

Mael Ochamp: A. e sclpte's Bacsi-esqe beaty and ped

estal eplant wo things that ae oot in the pastDchpss n and

S1egltzs 197 photaph o tfimy i the soil of te "hee and now"Newbo, Levies 1993 instalatio at the Phladephia Mse of

A, was an even moe damatic demonstatio of he iteest i spatia

and tepoal pesece She lled the fot hall of he mseum with six

gand piaos and placed a glass vesio of Bracsi's Newbo (920) on

top o each of them Te paos which had a Minmalist gith eleced

the scuptes that ested o the glossy sfaces ey also nctioned

simultaneosly as expensive eadymades ad as sppotng bases

weang havoc on the distctio betwee a ad "object

he show was inspied by and in dialoge wth two mages, which

Leve displayed in the cataloge instead of the installato a ephotographed photogaph of Bacs's Pmetheu 1911) restig on a gand

pao i the esdence of HS Ede, n Cabdge nglad, ad a epho

togaphed podcto still fo Bsby Bekeleys 1935 im Gold Dgge

of 193 that displays a miseenye of dencaly dessed woen

sittg at gand pianos Bt do ot mea to sggest that these two pho

taphs wee sent fom the showto the contray. Although they were

no dsplayed o the wals of the Philadelphia Msem ofA, they wee

mo psent than they had ever b een be becase the installaton

taspoed elements fom each ito the thee-dimensioal space o the

mseum The six pianos i the msems fot halway made the iae

a piaos in the two photogaphs pat of the physcal nvese, and the

glass sculptes that ested on them did the same bth fo the simlay

shaed sclpte the Ede photogaph ad the women sitig at the

piaos in the Bekeley photogaph Newbon also showed those who

had the good fotne to se that we d to stop lookig at athe than

thugh Levies othe photogaphs.

The fst time I sveyed the exhbitio catale, I costed the pho

togaph of Bacsi's Prometheus as a sigie of the geos vaues

that Benjami ages agast (ognaliy, sigaity, genis, an elite view

e) and the Beeley podcton still as a sigifie of what he champions

(mechanical epodction Snce evie's instaatio cosst of mltiple

pianos ad sculptes, I aso saw it as an edosement of the late athe

ha the fome owever, I sn ealized that ths is a usstaiable

reading, since Pometheus ad Newbo ae both Bacs woks ad

wee both indstialy made The Bekeey photogah aso attests to the

chling coseqeces of echanca epodction fo hman elational

ty; its had to embace sealiy whe t is embodied thogh a ong lne

o intechageable wome Fnally, the eections of the sclptues o

the shiny saces of Levne's gand pianos had the delicacy and eva

escence that Bejam associates wth the dagueeotype. "Dagee's

photogaphs were odzed sve plates exposd the caea obsca,

he writes at the begiing of the aleadydiscussed paagaph in Utle

Histoy of Photogaphy which had to be ted this way ad that ntl

the pop lgh, a pale gay iage could be disceed Tey con

seqently evoked an nepodcible athe tha a epodcible kid of

photogaphic image.In addito to thse wo photogahs and a numbe of ancllay m

ags the exhibton cataloge conans a sho essay by evie called

Afe Bancs, and a egthe essay by Ann emkin/4 the cato of

the show Both of these texs aso poit esoltely away om haica

epodction evie notes in he essay that althogh she ies epetitio,

she gaviates to the contgent ad the nstable, and tha she is inte

ested, as Bracsi was, n "oiginality5 emkin eminds s n her text that

the Romaa aist had an nconventioal view of oignaliy e ade

may vesions ofBirMue and Neo some of wc ae emak

ably smila bt he always insisted that each vesio stemmed "om aew inspiation, ndendent o the precedng oe Te title of one of

his ost famos woks, Newbo extends ths pinciple to hua beings,

and evie showed that also has social tactio Te glass scptes

estg on the gad paos n he 1993 wee not mltiples, as I had ii

tally thoght they wee, athe a miplicty

I am o couse thinng hee of Hanna Aendt who foges a lin

between the bith of a child and the plaliy of hman bengs ad who

opposes both to mechanica epodcto Acton wold be an ueces

say lxy, Aendt wites in The Human Condtion (198) if en were

endlessly epoducble epettions of the same model, whose atue o

essece wee the same o all and as pdictable as the nate o essence

of any othe thig Plaly s the conditio of hman acton becase we

ae l the same, that s han in sch a way that nobody s eve the

same as ayoe else wo lved lives o will lve"78 Nataity and moality

ae the two most capacios and enabling of all analies they both link

s to, and difetiate s fom evey othe being

Presentaton is eve bit as ipotant in Aer Walke Evan, athough

ay be hade o s to see Whe Evans and Age st aved al

Alabama to wok o the essay on teant fames, vans photogaphed

his sbjects on the sly bt they fond this expeience laceatig9 Sice

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he wanted tem to feel "at hoe i their settg and n comand of

temseves, e bega waiting until tey wee eady to be see-let

tig te gow into te photogas e made o the Evans showed

a smla defeence towad e faes' ouses ad beongigs. As

Lico Kste ts it eve te iaimate tngs n his potogahs

beau dawers ots ties brcks s gns -see waitng in thei ow

paiet digity posing for tei ictue.81 Levie aso maes roo for the

faes ad the tigs i e otogas bt se does so i a new

tie ad a new ace: e .

OS

. Dogls Cp Pictres" X- 8 no 1, (Fa 5 8 h1s s a repr o te oignacaoge esay2. bd 7.3. bd. 22.

4. ef Wal 'Mks of lnderece :sts of hoography i a as Cocepa A Wall Sltd Essays ad Itvws New Yok Me of Me A 7 445. Cmp Picres 2

6. ouglas Cmp "Pcs. Octob 8, Spng 979 758 s eay was repu bsedi a bk appopatey cled A A Modrsm: Rethikg Repsetato ed. BnaWalis ew Yok ew Mse o Cntempoay 984 75-7 ad it s fom hssoe tat I wll e ong.7. Cmp Pictues 75.8. Ibd., 1769 Mcael e A ad Obect n At ad Objthd Ccago nvers oChicgo Press 1999 160. bid, 5 55.

1. e qotes e page i wc Mos e hs oruato o page 5 wthouctg te rce

2. Cmp Pcres" 6773. S acues Deda Gmmatology rans. Gayat Chakavoty Spvak BatioeJohs opks Unversty Pre 97) ad Wig ad De tas. a BassChicgo vey o Ccago Pe, 978).4. Jacques acan Te Miro Stage" i Ecnts tas Be ik (ew Yo Noo 7.

5 Jacqu aca Fou udmeta Cocts of sychoas trans. Ala Sheda(New Yo Noon 978 629.1 Michel ouca "Wat s an Auhor? n guag Cout-Mo cte Std Essa ad tews tas Daiel F chad and She Simo taca : Conelivei P 977) 3-38.7 Wae Bejai "e Wok o A e Age of is Toica eprcibi ecod verso i Beja Slt Wtgs, Volume 3: 935938 oward Eiand adMicae W Jenigs Cambdge MA Havad Unvesi Pess 2} 3

8 I am hikng i patcua hee of Chrs Brden Maa Abaoi ad Vo Acconc9 Beam atais ha constes the dde poica sgncance" o phoraphy.S The Wok o A 0. Athoug a sing he lae translao o ths eay wc is caed he Wo o A te Age o s ecoica eprodcibiy I efer to ee throg he e nde whc tcrcuate dung te eig of is ce: Te Wrk of A n he Age o Mechaia epcion2. Ibd . 082. Ibid 3 03. Ibid . 024 Water Beai Le Hsto of Photaphy," Slted Wtigs olme 2 92934 e. Mcael W Jegs Howard Ead ad Ga Sih (Cambrdge MA: aardnvesi Pre 999) 5825 Bejai Te Wo of A 0102 ad 2022

26 Cstian Metz "Phoography and etsh" e Ctcal mag e Caol Ses eae: Bay ess 990) 56

27 Sgd Fud Fetisis e Stad Edtio o e Complete ycholgaWs tns. aes Stachey Lodo Hogah 96 vol 2 55728 o rh A Shot Organm fo he etre," Bht o at trans ohn Wilet New Yok il Wag 957), .29 Iid 205. Wale enjan, e Athor as duce i enjain, St Wtrgs olume 292934 75.31 Crimp Pies" 177

3 ugas Cp otogrphi Atvity of Ptderi" tobe 5 ier980. Cmp ublshed his essay i O t Musm' Rus Cabrdge MA MTPrss, 1993), 02 ad s ro hs soce hat quotig O the Musm Rus109. lbd 1083.bd. 10935 Ibid 11836 Ibid . 1337 eami Lle stoy o Photogrhy," 508-510.38 Ibid . 5039bid Wa Bnjain "On the Cocp of sto and aalipena to O he Cncepo so, i Beami, et Wtgs lume 4 92940 icae W JenngsCambridge MA Haad ivesy Press 23) 389.

4 Beja "Utle Hisoy o Photaphy, 522 bd 5.43 d, 544 bd 5.

5 en ox al ew isve in te Fne s New Ye 7 o 4 p 3 8995

6 develop tis arge o fly n the st hap of e bok a unt wnge Mac o al7 Ma Hedger Te Qesto Cneing oy" i Questo ogTeho ad Ohe ssas tras. Wiliam ot New ok: ar Row, 977) ad 335 I a o orse speang somewha algoaly ee, ad basig y acco o hemoen bet o esaes 637 s he yar w e publshd Te scouse o Metho, i wh e desbes te pres tough wh he a at hs famous axom k

eefore I a" Te passage I qoe i his aagaph comes om a closey eatd vome,Descaess Medas t osoph See Ren Dsas, iscoue o Methd adMtatos o st hoshy avid Wessa (Nw av, C Yale nves Ps9 77 I deveop his agment more ulyad moe discusveyn e Mcle

49 exor t relatoship he aa obscua ad emial phoogaphy icosdeabe detai n e s capter o e Micle Aal5 B1g mans peseng" dgge ws O me ad Beg trs. a Saaug (ew o: Har & ow 1972) 55 Chaes Baudeare he Salo of 89" i Bauae Sected Wgs A A-ists as P Chae Cabdge Cabdge Unvesiy Pess 1972) 295. bd 95 97.53 bd 985 d 97

55 Te sor of his qotato wich is impossbe to ve s Joacim Gasquet oveats with ae d. Micae oran eey ivesy o Calorna Ps 2 ,1106 Marcl Prost, Seah Lst me lume I me Regaed tas dreas Mayor,Teree Kilman ad D ng ew or: Mm Ub, 23) 274-75 a 616-17;ad Rainer Maa Rle ees 90926 rans. ae anad Grene nd M.. eoon (ew o: Noo 9 .57 Robe ashenrg htghs ondo: hames & dson 98 3. e phracomes rom Riher. wo ses to dsis is pantng. e Ged Rihter ayactce aitg Wgs 9299 . as Ul Obrs rs. Davd t (a-bdge MA: MI, 99 73. Cems bass ost o e drawngs ad pangs on hoto-gaphs ad some of her sptal wo s also mpily phoogaphc58. Mhae . Wy htgaph Mae as A as Nee Bee ew av C YaeUniersy r 28.

Ibid 2554 f . Ibid. 43.

5

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252

61. I aso wan o eto thee exos n ths cotext ctr at a Exhbon aaa recrat'on of the o'gal 1ues ehbtn cratd b Jene Porte a At'sts

Space i New ork 2 e st Pcue how Aiss Usig Pogapy 9-982.

cuad by ougas e at te Walker A enter i Mieals in 24: and he cresGeeatio, 974984" caed b Dogas kd a the Metrolia Mse of n

ew Yo in 209

62 Jean-Fraois Ceer. e Advees o the icue Fo n e Hstory of otaphy, tas. Mchael Glso n The as Ptcu ho. d ogas Fogle Mneaos

Waker Ceter 23) ee Aso Cheve Te Taea ad te Den of Eeece i ik doblek: e Documena Facor e oas Wes (Mch aus der

Kust 26

6 ejai The Wok o "' 0

. Ibid. 3 Kaja Sive. he eshold of he Vste Worl New Yo Rot ge 99 97 I udad s radng o U m Ss a he reques o Johana rto a edo

of and ontributor to Cdy hea Cbge MA M ress. 2 I appears therender the tite ow to Face te Gze 40)

66 I o cor reerecng the ttle of AraovC's 0 eoace a e Musem ofModen ew Yo "e rtist Is Ps 67 Al weve ages of e ab a rproduc at e egng o Cdy hema, die Roa ad Cl i, tas. ose es ais Jeu de Pame, 20,

Geoge Bake ad A da rae Dispaeme d Coaio Cveron o e

W of ouse wl," i Lowse a ad Oh Osild-i: Hae Gt 24, 269 oise awler Aagme o ce ew o Assoulie 2 Baer aso coents on tis asect of Lawers photaphs. Lawle' pct s ojus sng tgeh at wod psions. to reae reatons betwe the fuctios of artis,craor ad galey wo. e s i Dslacen and desato" She s nvoed

eeaig elaons that iere etween dsaae oes n e wod (39) I og om a eview with Lawe ha was condce by rip cald onece Ge Auhoy ae" It aeas tn . agm o cs. beoe e plates.

ld

3 eai. e isoy o Porapy 08 An ekn. Newn. n hee eve: Neo !Piladelha iladelha Museumo A 993 9 erie eVe. ntroducto here eve: Ne (Padlhia Philadelpha M

sem o , 993 78

6 Tkm 78 is pasage wic ei qotes o ag o her te. comes fro a 936ette om ancs to the Mahaaja of doe. cusi woe ths ete e yea eshd the seod veon o e Wor o M' d one ear ae the ease of The GoDgges o 19358 anah Arend Ha od1o Cgo Unve o cago Pess 98} 8

9 Jes Agee ad Waer ans e s o Prase ams M Bso ougoMf 988\ 36480 Jon Heey Itrodcon: gee. i e Us No s amos M xvii8 ncol rste i Wak Evas Aeca Phoogphs ew o: Msem of Me

A 938) 97