WEEK 3: New Documents?

Online Course LENSCAPES: Exploring Urban Identities through Photography as a Fine Art Medium by Niklas Goldbach
Photo by courtesy of Niklas Goldbach, Magaluf 2020

“Documentary testifies, finally, to the bravery or (dare we name it?) the manipulativeness and savvy of the photographer.” (Martha Rosler)  

Ever since its invention, the art of photography has been popular for its unique qualities as a form of documentation, and many photographers often follow their topics over a long period of time. Gestures of the documentary have established themselves in the production of power relations and transformed them as well – for example, through empowerment and self-representation of traditionally marginalised bodies that were previously objectified by the camera, our current understanding around diversity of bodies has also changed.
The social documentary or socio-critical context often attributed to the generation around the exhibition New Documents (1967), however, is less characterised by social investigative or reformist approaches than by the personal, subjective point of view, which in extreme cases was criticised as ‘exploitative’ towards its subjects – Susan Sontag titled one of her last books Looking at the Suffering of Others. In this interpretation, a documentary classification becomes impossible; the photographic product is seen as the result of social and cultural practices, conventions, codes, and ideologies that merely produce a reality effect.

The photographers presented in this week share a common interest in the social aspects of their subjects and the environment surrounding them. They explore issues of class, race, gender, and power dynamics in their photographs, revealing the social and political context in which their subjects exist. Through their photography, they contribute to the ongoing dialogue about social issues and the role of art in addressing them.

Artists: Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, August Sander, Allan Sekula, Martha Rosler, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Jo Spence, Zahene Muholi, WolfgangTillmans, Sunil Gupta, Thomas Ruff, Ara Güler, Phillip Lorca DiCorcia, Boris Mikahailov a.o.

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