Examining the materiality of the photographic medium
Examining the materiality of the photographic medium

Author(s): Matei Bejenaru
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts
Published by: Editura ARTES
Keywords: materiality of photography; projection; slide; print; medial archaeology;
Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes a series of artistic projects whose focus is the study of the materiality of the photographic medium within contemporary visual arts. More than two decades after the digital “revolution”, the relevance of this type of artistic research lies in the analysis of analogue photographic language and medium as part of a post-conceptual approach. The artistic projects have examined the nature of photographic print, slide and visual projection. The photographic images used are pretexts for medial analysis, they should not be interpreted in isolation, but in the context in which they are presented. In this sense, artistic interest was guided towards the subject of representation, at the expense of the representation of the subject. For projects analyzing the nature of the photographic slide, multi-channel slide projections were used to amplify the visual perception. In the case of the photographic print, its objective dimension was emphasized by resorting to installation-type exhibition solutions. In the study of the projection process, a photographic object was designed and made with the function of obscuring a part of the light flow and creating the illusion of three-dimensionality by superimposing two projections.

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