MOP2 - Fachbereich Design, Aula, moderated by Prof. Susanne Brügger

The Trail in the Snow. Stillness and movement in the contemporary photobook 

Abstract:

Speed in photography, writes Michel Frizot, is always a „coupling of two speeds: that of the object and that of the shutter, which determines the duration of light entering the camera.“ Suppose we want to speak of movement in photography. In that case, several other values that simulate movement add to those self-evident: A photographic blanket of snow, to take a thematic example, suspends time by equalizing environmental information such as colors, shapes, and light fall. At the same time, we know that when snow falls, water has changed its aggregation state and become frozen, that is, still. While sign-theoretical and thus denotative readings have primarily immobilized the photograph and its reception, my talk aims to explore the movement of the photographic image in the book (Gerry Johansson & Lars Tunbjörk) and exemplify how that interaction between photographer and photographed, pages and images, people depicted and viewed comes about ‚as movement‘.

Bio:

Dr. Anja Schürmann is a Permanent Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (KWI). Since studying art history, older and modern German studies, musicology, and psychology at the universities of Düsseldorf and Konstanz, she has been writing essays for exhibition catalogs, art magazines, and artists' books, mainly in the fields of photography and contemporary art. In 2016, she was awarded Talent Art Criticism in c/o Berlin's C/O Talents series. Her post-doctoral project, titled "Bound Images: Visual Narrative in the Photobook," focuses on forms of narration in the photographic artist's book. In 2021, she will co-edit a thematic issue of the journal Fotogeschichte entitled „Weiterblättern! New Perspectives in Photobook Research.“ The most recent publication asks about the possibility of visual lists: „Et cetera photobooks? Reflections on Conceptual Documentary Photography as visual enumeration,“ in Anne Rüggemeier et al. (eds.), The List as Epistemic Practice, Palgrave/Macmillan: London, 275-300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76970-3_13

Images:
Fig.1: © KWI
Fig.2: Gerry Johansson, American Winter, MACK 2018, o.p. © Gerry Johansson.
Fig.3: Lars Tunbjörk, Vinter, Steidl 2007, o.p. © Lars Tunbjörk