The gaze of a stranger. Artistic journey as image producing Cover Image

Obcym okiem. Podróż artystyczna jako produkcja obrazów
The gaze of a stranger. Artistic journey as image producing

Author(s): Ewa Wójtowicz
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts
Published by: Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku
Keywords: Google Street View; cartography; documentation; non-places; exoticism; album; atlas; recontextualization; translation; rebbilib; dokumentacja; nie-miejsca; egzotycyzm; album; atlas; rekontekstualizacja; translacja; dyspozytyw

Summary/Abstract: The theme of the text is the production of images, understood as the result of an artistic journey, both in relation to the physical movement and the collecting or curating of mediated images. The analysis is based primarily on the opinions of Nicolas Bourriaud from The Radicant and anthropology-based perspective present in the book Apetyt turysty by Anna Wieczorkiewicz. The key issue is not only the mode of the artistic journey, but also the mutual relationship of the images which are produced in the process of traveling, both as documentation of the specifi c journey and the artwork produced. Traveling does not necessarily have to be a direct experience nowadays; it can be mediated; not even necessarily through reading travelers’ diaries or virtual simulation. Tools, such as Google Street View create a common, shared realm of memories for all who view the same image. If the ‘Innocent Eye’ does not exist anymore, neither does the individual travel experience. Therefore, experience is often trivialized and searching for authenticity is ineffi cient. Sometimes the presence of the exotic means being the Other always disintegrating presumably authentic situation. In addition, not only an artist but any user can become a curator of content (images) from the ever-expanding networked repository. However, the question of dispositif of a journey, which emerges from an alternative space for the circulation of images, still reminds open. Being aware of the overproduction of images, is it still possible to fi nd an alternative? A fi nal metaphor is Rebbilib, a tool for navigation, requiring memory skills and ability of interpretation.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 11
  • Page Range: 79-89
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish