I'm thrilled to let you know about the recently published article, "Seeing a Century Through the Lens of Sovetskoe Foto," where I discuss some of the findings of my research of the history of the leading Soviet photography magazine, Sovetskoe Foto, which was published in Moscow, Russia, from 1926 to 1991.
Read moreDefining competitive photography
In this article, I introduce a term competitive photography and define its historical emergence in the international juried exhibitions of photography in the 1950s. I believe that this term, competitive photography. brings into focus a large segment of photographic practices, contemporary and historical alike, which so far has escaped the attention of scholars.
Read moreClash of theories: New Objectivity versus Subjective Photography
In an interesting historical turn, what was meant to be non-art, became the very epitome of art (as exemplified by Albert Renger-Patzsch’s followers), whereas the most artistic photography of the 1950s (Otto Steinert’s Subjective Photography) turned out to be a dead end, at least from the perspective of today's art history.
Read moreGood photography is a game of rules
There’s two kinds of photography, one that follows the rules and one that does not. When you follow the rules, you get good photography. When you break the rules, you might either get good art or waste the resources. After years of studying photography that breaks the rules, I’m turning to photography that follows the rules.
Read moreGisèle Freund about women photographers
Gisèle Freund in 1954 wrote that "Women are interested in things more than in their relations to each other. They are not easily attracted by political or current events, but they distinguish themselves in portraits, children’s photographs, and they know how to capture with subtlety every expression of everyday life." From today’s perspective, it may sound outrageously “anti-feminist” and patronizing. But what if she was right?
Read moreWork in progress: The aesthetics of Instagram photography
At the CUNY Digital Humanities event, November 20, 2015, I'm presenting work in progress, a research article co-written by Lev Manovich, where we discuss the aesthetic qualities of photography on Instagram and are attempting to answer questions such as: is "Instagram killing the art of photography" or rather "Here comes the new photographer" again?
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