David Bate
The idea and belief that photographs invoke a presence is increasingly compromised by the haunting sense of an absence.
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We used to believe that photographs always “refer” to something beyond themselves that already exists, like an actual place, space, object or person(s). Even though this was never always true or completely convincing, such strongly held convictions have been profoundly shaken by the effects of popular digital culture. It is no longer a matter of any specific photograph itself being unreliable, so much as the whole edifice of social and cultural life, and its media platforms, being taken over by a pervading sense of doubt.
The idea and belief that photographs invoke a presence is increasingly compromised by the haunting sense of an absence. As explored in this work, a house in Germany is the site of a machinic vision, whose “consciousness” is implanted as an instrument of human vision.
David Bate is an artist, theorist and teacher who has exhibited and published extensively on photography. His own practice and writings engage with contemporary culture and the history and theory of photography, often refusing the common division between critic and photographer. His monograph books include Photography as Critical Practice: Notes on Otherness (London: Intellect 2020), Photography: Key Concepts second edition (Oxford: Routledge, 2019), Art Photography (London: Tate Publications, 2015), Zone (London: Artwords, 2012) and Photography and Surrealism (London: IB Tauris, 2004). Alongside the many atworks, exhibitions and publications of his artworks and writings he is also a co-founding editor of Photographies theory journal since 2008. He has given lectures all over the world. He was recipient of the Royal Photographic Society Education Award in 2018 and is currently Professor of Photography at the University of Westminster, London, UK.
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