Photography has become so fundamental to the way we see that 'photography' and 'seeing' are becoming more and more synonymous. The ubiquity of photography is, perhaps ironically, a challenge to curators, practitioners, and critics.
Interpretation
Photography influences our perception of the world, making it an integral part of how we observe reality.
This quote by Trevor Paglen highlights the profound impact of photography on our understanding and interpretation of the world around us. As photography becomes increasingly prevalent in society, it challenges those involved in the art and critique of photography to navigate its pervasive influence on human perception. The irony lies in the fact that while photography enriches our visual experiences, it also complicates the ways in which we curate and assess artistic expressions.
In practice
In a gallery discussion about the influence of digital media on art, this quote can emphasize the relationship between photography and perception.
The Internet was supposed to be the greatest tool of global communications and means of sharing knowledge in human history. And it is. But it has also become the most effective instrument of mass surveillance and potentially one of the greatest instruments of totalitarianism in the history of the world.
What would the infrastructure of the Internet look like if mass surveillance wasn't its business model?
People like to say that my work is about making the invisible visible, but that's a misunderstanding. It's about showing what invisibility looks like.
Perhaps 'photography' has become so all-pervasive that it no longer makes sense to think about it as a discreet practice or field of inquiry. In other words, perhaps 'photography,' as a meaningful cultural trope, is over.
All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings.
Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.
When I perform, I simply follow the music, and my heart; everything comes from me in a very natural way - it's not a show; and I believe in this way, it also touches the hearts of those in the audience.
I do not aspire to be in fashion. For what is in fashion, goes out of fashion _x000D_ If, on the contrary, your work is contested today, it doesn't matter. _x000D_ For when it is finally understood, it will be for eternity.
In art, at a certain level, there is no 'better than.' It's just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.
Music, feelings of happiness, mythology, faces worn by time, certain twilights and certain places, want to tell us something, or they told us something that we should not have missed, or they are about to tell us something; this imminence of a revelation that is not produced is, perhaps, the esthetic event.
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