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R A a D O Hi M. E J v F, C pn19 x 4 78 n. (43 x 36 e) B b lt NoG S 1
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ONE O A KIND
Kaja Sveran
Tis essay s about pictorial poography: largeforat analogue and
digia images tat look scenic" or saged reqire a prologed and at-
tetive vewng and are ade to e g o he wa of a mseum. Util
ite rcently those of s who came of age n te seventies and egties
associated is kind of potograpy wit possructuraist theory ad the
aestetcs o postmodernism It seemed a ec illustran of the xiom
at a potogaph is only a represetationor beter ye, a representatio
of a representation, sce evehing we beieved, s a cutural costrc-
ion But not only as pictoia potograpy contied unabaed i has
gained more and moe momentum as also proved resstant o all of
o attempts o derealie tto treat it as a tool a comodty a cio,o any other kd of human afac Sometng else s happening ere,
something big and impoan, and we need to figure out what i s.
I 1977, oglas Crmp cated an exhbiton at Artists Space in New
Yo that addessed a tendency ta e had noticed in contemporay
art, whc e called the reewed impse to make pictres of cogiz
able tings1 e sow inclded wor by a diverse group of aists: Troy
Bratc ac Goldstein Serie Levie obe Longo and Phiip
Smth n his cataloge essy, Crimp descibed this wor as a semiotc
inerrogation of te images throg whc we experence eality," and
some of te eatued wok smed to support ts reading2 Te profiledeads Levnes Sos ad Love 1977) re at and diagrammatc en-
coagng us o read tem raer han o took at tem Te thr prins
in Brauntch's 197&76 ptych Play/FamSong esemble blackboard
drawngs and the words wrtten below each prints actctral scema
heigten te discrsive eft Goldstein's A Sue o Nne 7-ch Recods
wh Sound Ees (196 stages a witty ecounter between Mimaism
Pop and Conceptualism. However Longos See Seals for Msso
Breaks (196 and The Amecan Solde (977 do not eve pretend to
be deconstructive" They ae unabasedly pctorial assume te shapes
of wat ey depict, and have a pleasig sheen ey renew not just the
iplse o make recogiable thigs bt also the pleasure tha we take
in ooking a tem
Crimp was also cely drawn to the wors in te show for is eason,
as we as te one stat above ecuse e devoes sever long nd p-
preciative pragraphs to te vsua quates of Godstein's fims, ad e til
he sow Pictures" rater thn Repsenations" 3 Representation is
a alpupose designator fo rcognzable things respective of whethe
they re cans, adveisements movies, ilstrations in childen's color-
ing books or igrative aworks It s s impciy tiaeseic Aog
pcture" s also a cpacous categoy it deves fom pca, te atn word
for panting, nd t reain s menng fo centuries It is also a crci
word for any contempory iss.
Gehad ichter for instance ses i to refe both to is abstract paint-
ings and s photo paintings wic pavd the way for largefomat pho-
tograpy eff W also cals his trasparencis pctes nd te concep
of the estern picture" or taea igures prominenty i s wrting. He
defines the latter as the indepedently beautful depiction and comsion
tat deves rom the nstttionalizaion o perspective and drmatic fgura
ton at the oigins of odern Western a"4 I menton this e bcase
the notion of an independely beatif depicion suaces in Crips
catloge esy as wel As e remks thee, the goal of the aists hs
sow s not to tar away the veil o te image in oder to expos is under
lyng meaing but rather to lberate e image fom its semntic burde so
tat it can e seen in a diffeent way ey demostae tat the pictre is
separable fom that whic t migt sid to picte"
wo years ater, Crimp publsed a signcatly dfferent vesio of hscataJogue essay in te journal Ocober.6 I te preface, e brings his argu-
ment into conformity wit what was fast becoming critcal othodoxy by
eqatg picte wih representation"7 He uses the fomer word, e ex-
plains becuse it overrides e distinctions between te aesthetic nd the
onaestetic, metal and extera images, and dierent mediums (pnt
ing, sclpture, drawing peoance photogrphy and flm) n the essay
poper e distngishes his vew of art from tat o he grt defender of
edim spcicity ad the autoomous awor: Mcael ried
Crmp begins wi a spirited deense of wor tat is sitated betwee,
o otsde te traditional ats" 6 which Frd had denonced as theatri-c" and associated w te degeneation of a n is 1967 essay A
and Objecthood9 He then sis his attention to anote ity ha Fied
nds aboent: presence. Somethng has pesence, Fied ages in A
and Objecthood, wen i encorages us to elate it to ourseves ether
trogh its scale, or rogh is refusl to look lke an atwork Miaist
sclpture as presence spades becse i is a pyscally massve ob
ject that occupies the same space we do Suc wor also appels to s
to ook a t, nd so is confrontatonJ" and aggssive10 And tis is only
pa o e problem Alough Minimal sculptre beaves like a buly it s
embarrassgy dependent snce i cannot be tself wiou an adence .
Since it is ge and teedimensional we cannot do tis all a once; we
ave to w arond t wich takes time urng ts extended situation
as Robe Morris cals i, we and the sculpre re temporally as wel as
spaially copreset.
Crip defends pesence trough an a form tat s even ore
theatrical than Miimalist scuptre perormance. The mode t hat was
to become exeplary dring te seventes was peormance e writes,
and not only that arrowly defied activity called perormance art bt
all those works tat wee constituted in a situaion and for a duation y
te atist or the spectator or oh togeter It can be said qite lteally of
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the seventies that you had to be here '" Crimp then advances a sur
prising caim: the claim that lms and potographs can become present
in the same way
he notion that a recorded mage might be capabe of becoming tem
rally and spatialy pesent was nconceivable in 979 First, presence"
was a compeey discredted concept Derida had denounced as
metaphysical and champion absence and the tace;3 Lacan had
caacteized it as oe of the illuso eects o the maginary4 and ident
ied lack as te basis of desre5 oucault had transformed te atho
om a eshadblood person nto a discrsive fncton"16 and Benjamin
had declared he here and now of the original" to be one of the tadon
souces of as auhoriy and had argued for its destuction through h-
oical reproduction Even lve peomes had begun to organie their
pefomances aound pain loss separation and near o possible death.8
Sond the phoographic image was stil fimy tetheed to the twas" of an eae moment and another space s gave it an evidenta
focehe wer to exse what mght othewise escape justce Benja
min links this dimension of photraphy to absence in The Wo o A in
the Age o Mechaica Reproducton It has jstly been d that [Atget]
photographed [the empy streets o ais] like scenes of cime, he writes
A crime scene, t, is deseed Benjamin also makes potraphy the
privileged representative of a numbe of other absences most of which e
spells o in the same essay otogrphy is the appaatus pa excelence
for reprodcing tradtiona wos o a, he argues tere, whc its us
o view them in absenta ad o creating atwos tat ack an ognalthat exst only as copies 22 It is also able to fom actvties that had pre-
viously bee peromed ony by humn ngs theeby endering te latter
supeuous inally potaphy purges mages of their aesthetic value,
nd scks the aura ot of realty."2 These absences are democratizing
ad are ceating the conditons that wil make it possibe for capitalsm
to aboish iself. "25
There were only two ways for a l eftst wter to connect the poto
graphic image to pesence in the late 1970s and neiher of them had
anything to do th the hie t nunc. The st was to compare i to the e-
tish as Chistian Mez does n a 19 essay Lke the shine on the nose
descibed by Fred,2 this argmet gs the photraphic mage stands
in or, and assmes the vaue of somethig that is missing the maternal
phals in the fomer case and the referent n the atte Its presence is
coseuetly an effect of absence The second way to connect phot-
apy with presence was to treat this qaiy as a theatrcal effecto
dene it as what something has when it is presented" as a epresenta
ion. Brechtan theate was the model or this understanding of presence.
[Epic heater ephasies the genea gest o showing" the dratrge
writes in A Shot Organum for the Teater" of 99 wch ways un
dermines that which is being shown The actors ought not to ' dop into
song,' but should cleary mk it o o the rest of te tex ad this is
best reinforced by a few theatca methods sch as changing the lighting
or inseing a tex.2
Neher of these accounts of pesece incldes the here and now,"
o is either one compatible wit the notion of a independently beautiul
pctre. Freuds account o fetishism is conophobic the shine on the nose
s te egoc defense through which the fetshist protects himself against
the intolerable knowledge o maternal lack, ad te goa of psycoanalysis
is to dismante ts defense The sal has a more coplicted status in
Brecht's writings When something is presented in a Brhtin way it s
styized which heghtens s pictoia values, but t is aso derealzed The
tenson betwn these two things is enomosly interesting, ad gener-
ated many of the mos visually compelling lms of the 1960s, 970s nd
190s Jeanuc Godards Wknd and La Chnos (both 1967) Masa-
hro Shnodas Dobl Sud 1969) Nagisa Oshimas Nght nd Fog n
Jpan 1960 and T Crmony (197 ) and vitually all of Rane WernerFassbinder's ouere However Brechtian theater is also a means to a pre
given end Our repesentaions mst tae second place to what is rep
resented" we read in the nal paagaph of A Sho Organm" and he
pleasure felt in their peection mst be conveed into the higher pleasure
fet when the les emerging from this society are treated as impeect and
provisonal"The more ths nctionaism comes to the fore, the more
sspect the pictorial becomes
Te lonely hour of absolue instumentaity never aives in Brechts
own wrings, but t makes a dramatic appeaace in Te Auhor as
Produce," Benjamins 19 tak to the Pars Institte for the Stdy ofFascism Uke The Work of A" this essay is full of hghly uestonable
assumptions. One of the most damaging and distressingly durableo
these assumptions is that auty is conterrevolutiony, paclarly
when r saces in a photograph [he medim] has become moe and
moe sbtle more and more modern and the resut is that it is now inca-
pable of photraphng a tenement or a rubbisheap thot trnsfigur
ing " Benjamin excoriates ]n front o these, photography can now ony
say 'How beautiul
Since these were the ony dentions of presence that were avaiable
in 1979 and t is impossble to think otside one's episteme," Crimp had
no choce bt to use them owever, he clearly saw that neither was ad-
equate to the task a hand becase he tres to expain pictoa photogra
phy by ombnng them The kinds of potograps and films that interest
him, he explains in the second version of Picts ae those that pres
ent themseves as repesentaions thereby foregronding he absence of
the referen. This absence confers a kind of pesence on these worksa
splus reality" ike that enjoyed by the Freudian fetish Bt these wo
theoretical modes are incompatible snce Brechtin presentato abol-
shes the condtions fo fetishstic beief and when that belef evaporates
so does the fetshs surplus relity"
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Crmp taks au his dge," as he cs in a hird essy, The Phoographic Acivy of Posmernism (1980)." Wa I waned o explainn my 1979 Picres]," e wies nea he beginning of e 1980 essaywas how o ge from e being the necessiaed by peoance .o e kind of pesence ha is ssibe ony rough he absence which we
kow o be he condion of represeaion
Cmp aso chasises imsefor ying o eap over his dfficty n hS 979 esy by qoing a ine romHeny Jams: he pesence before him was a prsence " e devoese rs of The Phoogaphic Aciviy o ree photogaphers a of whommake picures a refer o ohe images, abei in vey dieen waysCindy herman herie Levine and Richd Prince He chaacerizes ereaionsip bewn heir wok and what i references s appropiaion"ereby inking no jus o one b \o absen erms Ther images" ewis, are aways poined, conscaed, appropriaed stolen In teiwok, he orgina canno be oced, is aways deferd; even he sef ta
migh ave geneated an orignal s sown to be isef a copy
Tis accon of herman's Levines and Princes wok, wich nowhods amos nvers sway is frmy grond in e principes Benaminespuses in e Wo of A" Ineesingy toug Crimp prsiss n is980 essay n mainanng ha picoria phoography has pesence andahogh he once again atribues tis prsence o absence he notesta Benamin defines e hi et nunc vey difereny in Lite Hisoy ofPoogapy an he does in The Work of A Insead of the she nwhich a nque wor of ar is embedded, i s e iny spark of cancewi which reaiy" has sea the charace of te picue"3 Benamin
ereby gesures toward a difeen ind of pesenation an the one described by Brect-a pesnaion hat is condced by he wod raherhan a huma agent d hat is realing raer an dereaiing. Theeis aso he aimpoan peposion in he senence Crmp qoes fromJames (te presence befo him was a presence) whic remnds us haf we wan o se a picoria phoograph, we ms go o he pace werei angs, and sand in fron of This peposion ransforms wha wodoewise be a auoogy ino a reaionsip, one based on a myseoskind of equaiy.
e paragraph fom Le iso of Photography" ha Crimp invokes inThe Phoographic Aciviy of Posmodernsm" is one of he mos imporan passages in al of Benamin's wriing. t begins wih a dscussion of hedaguerreoype wic he cals one of a kind, and sgus no a deepymoving accoun of David Ocavs Hs Mr. Elzabeth Johnstone Hal,Newhaven Fishwife (843-6) and Kar Dauhendeys Ka Dauthendeyather of the Poet wh his Ran (857) Benamin aks au heemoions awaend n him by te women in hese poograps who areas singar as e dagueroype and whom e nds myseousy rea"
In Hi's Newaven shwife e wries ere remans someing hagoes beyond esimony to he poogaphers a, somehing ha cano
be sienced a s you wih n unuy desie o now wha er namewas he woman wo was aive ee, who even now is si rea ad winever consen o be whoy absobed in 'a '3
e veriginos sense of presence at Benamin expeences whieooing a hese photographs promps im o deveop a dfeen ac
con of poographc emporay an he eaboraes n e Wok oAr one based on he fure perfec, nsead of simpe aneriory andha hinges on te momen in he hiso of evey phoograph wen ibecomes conemporay w is viewe The phase Cmp quoes in esecond version of Picures is embedded in hs senence No maerow arf he poograper, Benamin wries e beoder fees an iesistibe urge o search such a pcre fo the ny spark of coningencyof the here and now wih whch eay has seared e subec o nde inconspicuous spot whee in he immedacy of ha ongforgotenmoment he fure ness so eoqeny ha we ooking back may e
discove i39
is account of phoograpic emporaity anicipates whaBenamin wi ae ca the now of recognabiiy 0 which is he basis ofhis messianic accoun of histo
Benamins mdiaion on he women n e il ad Dauendeypoaps aso eads hm o aoher crcia concep he opica nconscios Uke eveying ese in tis passage, he opica unconsciosprives te wod over te hum eye and arbs a dscosive powero phoography he paagrap ends wih a qoaion from Dauhendeya oops bac o he topic with which Benamin begns e empora andspatia copresence of he behoder ad he gures who appar n eary
phoraphs We didn' s ourseves a rs o ook ong a he rs [daguerreoypes] We were abashed by he disincness of tse hma images and beieved hat e ie iny faces in e picure coud see us 1
Benamin evenuay aunces into a paia version of he argumen hemakes in he Wok o A," bu he rurns fore doing so o e noionha e word raher ha ecnoogy is he sorce of e phoogaphicimage. urpisingy e aso aributes he aeseic compexiy of eayphoography o his wody sorce Duing he consderabe perioddurng whic peope were iniiay obiged o si in front of he camera, ewres, hey grew into he picure42 Bause of hs, he pope in earypoographs don' ook o at e word in so excuded and godforsakena manner as those in aer phoographs do I is aso wha maes hephoographs hemseves oo ike wedawn or wepaind picures.
Eary viewers of e photographic ima descrbed in srikngysimia ways: as an aesteicay saisfying picure drawn wih he pnciof Natre hroug whic e word presened se o te human eyeWonde wonder of wondes Heny Fo abo wroe n 1839 Vanishacuains and meons-as chimneys a consume er own smokedevor yourseves! engravers copper engaves ad echers drnk
up yor acquafois and die . B]y vie of e suns paen a nareaimae and inanimate, sha be encefoh is own painter engraver
247
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prnter, and publiser. Here is a revoluio in at ...! ey did so beaus
poograpy is te word's way of showing iself to s46-wat Hdggr
cals poss i igs sns7
T word ad a ot o slfsow1g to do in e rst al o te nine
eent centry Wen mn decided tat e was e measre o al tigs
e eliinated e exernal atorty tat e ad created o vouc or te
ut o is peceptions and ta opened te door o doubt e ed
is doubt at bay or aost two centues but 1637 e ond msel
wondeng weter te ea skies stars and al ote objects ta [e]
appreended by eans o te senses" do i fact exist Unab to prov
tat is sensoy perceptions were a reliable sorce o knowldg d
cided o clos [is yes" stop [s ars and bas al futu dtmna
tions on is mntal rprsntations T world contued to be pysicaly
prsnt bt it was psycically Ngone48
e word tred revelig isel trog te camera obscra as i ad
been dong or cenes bt makind soon devised ways o subordinatingis device to te uman loo9 so in 139 it presented tsel in an
even more empatically pctoia fom: troug cemical poograpy
ot eveyone was as entsiastic abou tis as Fox abot I raly
s a world and it is capabe o presencing toward" us n tis way as Hei
deggr wold say tn w ar ot ts lod and maser We cannot eve
clai te aestetic domai as our exclusive preseve
Badelare was wling to cede te world to potograpy but no at
e pried te two apart by dening te poograpic iage as te me
cancal eproducion o pysical realiy positng idsy as ts sorc
and deniying its viewer as te idolatrous ltitud1 dimisd tpotograpic imag ur by associating it wit exacttude ie wt
an videnta raer tan a discosive u ad assgnng t a tltara
function t e unction o docmeting and arciving crmbling buldngs
pins and books52 Aworks Baudelaie decaes are te complete op
posite. ey are made by individal sbects or dividual viewers ey
are also nique and nonimtc. Rater tan represntg matrial rea
ty wic is selss" and tdious y ar cocerned wit a ger
tut one ta is created toug te addition o ms sol54 e
indstriaizaton of potograpy reinorced tis macinic denition o te
mediu d subordinated t to ts uma ser.
Bt te discovey o cemical potograpy was as epocal an vet
as te Coperncan evoutio and is sock waves continud to b lt
well into te weniet centy-in psycoanalysis pilosopy and (ost
impoantly) itratur and a A aist s ony a receptace for sensa
ions a brai a r ecording devce" Canne is repoed to ave said
around 1900. He ust orget orget be qiet be a peect eco. en
te fll landscape will record itse on is potogapic plate. Poust
ad ilke aso copared e uman psyce to a potograpic pat
ad saw e exposre o tis meaporc plat to t xral world as
te basis o teir witig.S Robe Rauscenberg wote tat te camera
focd im o see waever e lgt or darkness tocs and [to] car
and Ricter and Va Celmins conceptaie wa tey do as potogra
py by oter eans7
iytree years aer e publicaton o t scond verso o Crimps
cataloge essay Micael Frd pblisd a book o pictorial potog
rapy Why Photography Mats as A as Neve Befoe5 ese two
events are opposiionally connected; Crimp dened is sow against
rids Ar and Obctood and rieds boo is cleay a attemp to
rbut Crmps arguet Tis migt see a waratless clai since
rid relgates Crimp o a ootnote5 but e ator o Why hoogaphy
Mates spends a o o time ting o sow a pictorial poograpy
isn present in e way a live peoance is. Altog we can no onger
ignore e fac tat picures are made to be seen e wits taricality
s sill acceptabl Conepora ar needs o acknowldge its obe
seeness" in ways tat do not ncld spctator Largefomat potograpy accomplises ts by omalizing ts specuarty by deiing i as
a atur o t pictr rar a of wat appeas in e picture. Fred
cals is eate facingness"6
Bt Crmps essay and Frieds book are ore tan wo arrows ovng
in slow moion across a teedecade divide. Pictoria potograpy is also
an mpotnt cpter wti a larger narratve-one tat bgan wit te
st pinole camera and will end only we w do Tr ae aso oer
payers in ts capr o t narativ on of e mos notable o wom
is JanFranos Cevrier1 n a 199 essay called e Adventures o te
Picture om in te Histo o Potograpy Cevier presets a mucmore ully elaboraed verson o te clam tat Crmp makes in te second
verson o Pictures" and tat Fried atepts o reute. nlke radiioa
poograps e wries pictoria potograps are not mr prins
mobie, manipulabe sets tat a amd and monted o a wall or e
duration o an exibition and go back into teir boxes aterwrd" ey are
designed and prodced for te wa ave a man scale and summon
a conrontatonal experience on te pa o te spectaor ta sarply
cotrasts wit te abitual processes o appropration and proction
wereby potograpic iages are normally receivd and cosmd ';
Atog I wold no call pctoial potograpy confrontaioa e
ally lik Cvrrs account of its arbutes As e prepares us to see ts
knd o potograpy breaks evey ue in te Wok of A Bible ae
tan one o a potentialy nnie number o copes tat eets s alway
in te or o a poscard a boo or magine ilustraton o a poster and
tat we can exibi wnever and werevr w want a largomat po
tograp is a nu arok o pa o a v lmid don tat ngs on
t wall o a useum or a galery We ainated o a seet of Plexiglas
or oused in a ligbox t aso as te ticness o a paintng t isnt
evdeniay doesnt ave a capton ad cat be reduced to its eaning
Fnally if we want o see i we ave to go o te mseum or galley were
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i s exhbied and stand front of Wen we do so, we fd ourselves
faceo-face wh a pcre ta behaves more lke a person ha a hg;
hat resss ou ateps o asslae or sbordnate o or look and
ta says .s Is" Insead of ts was" he hs n s s also ndees a
elaonshp ae ha an absen referente relaonshp we ave wt
he poogap for e duraton of our vewng epeence
The mse m mgh seem a nlike ly venue fo a rendezvos wih he
world b raher han hasenng capals's dea dustal poog
rapy as exeded s fe No only s i oe of he pa vecles for
coodifcaon i also speaks he anguage of coodcaon e
marke depends pon he sbsu1on of mulpe copes for a que
ognal ad ore ofen han not tere is no origna The creaon of an
aura ad is subsqen quidato are aso denig eves in e so
of eve comody A successfl naca ransacon begis wh he
lson a a comody s eer que, or e ebodime of a que
caegoy ad ends wih he dscovery hat s dencal to mllos o oers Acqso getng od of an obje a close rage) and consump
on srppng away [ts] ve") are he eans hrogh whch we ge rom
e ormer o he ater Te passage Benjam devoes o he cul of he
move sar" sows ha hs logc ad also vaded he sphere of human
reatos by e d930s, and snce ten i as colonzed viraly evey
aspec of or lves
Warol as repeatedy sown he nducon o chance varatos
nto hs reg of copes poses a far more powel callege o capalis
han a rcepto wose sense o sameness n e wold' etracs
sameness fom wa s unqe" s also more nerely poograpcPoograpy as no more o do w dey ha does wih absolute
dference: eaces us o se ad embace smarty. dd so n 1839
trogh he noon o he lkeness s dong so now by epng us o
se he small dferences" at render every being no only pa o he
sae oaty bu also oe of a knd
Alog he ree ariss wo Crp dscusses The oograpc
Acviy of ostmodesmSerman Levne and rceare assoc
aed wh mechancal repoducion the work of Shera and Levne
s acally closer n spri o Ltle Hsoy of otogapy (rnce s
ndspaby a appropaion ars ad a vey fuy oe at hat b he
aso as a peomenologcal prec wc keeps some of s lookng
long ae e lagter as sopped s s however a topc or anoher
essay Te same s re o Lose awle anoer as n s crce
wose phoograps gre promnenly n Crps 3 book On the
MuseumS Runs
As I argue a eng The Theshold of the Vsbe Wod sel
preseaon s a cucal pa of Sermas Uned m tils (19-0).
The woe n hes e poograps appal o us to see he n a pacularway rough e pos he cong and he objects wih whch hey
srround heselves ey ask s o rafy her seldsplay so a can
become real5 Te as erself s also present in s work as Marina
Abramov woud say Unttled Fm tlls s a eenson of wa Ser
man ad been dong fo yeas before se began makJg gvng ersel
o be se Se ook nuerus blackandwhe phoographs of erse
n he peod exedng fro 1964 o 1975, and pu wenys of the
ino an abum called A Cndy Book Beneah eac phoo she we he
words That's me followed by a comma67
n a 0 conversaon wh Andrea Fraser a hsora George Baker
sggess a Lawler's phoograps are no represeaos bu rae
epresentaons He also oes teir openness o beng preened
aga ad becoming dferent hrogh each of ese represenaons
e le of Lawler's bookAAangement o Pctres foregunds
hs aspe of her wok and lks wa she ds o wha se shows The
word pcures" desgnates bo Lawes poograps ad te panngs
poographs and scupures at appear n hem and he word arragemens refers to hre nersecng dsplays te oe creaed by te ofical
o uofica curaors of he spaces Lawer photographed he one creaed
rogh he framng of eac poograph and he one creaed hrg e
selecon and orderng of e phoographs
Mos o te unofca craors wheer n homes aucon hoses or
esewhere are people bu tee s no han teoay behd a few
of he arangeens awler shows s we can see fro ter ed
backs he cavases n e Dawng Is or ae (1985 have bee removed
fom vew and he ouwardfacg drawg was presably prpped on
op of one of em for a quck nfomal look bu e drawgs colorsrhye wh tose of he wod rames suggesng ta ey belog ogeh
er Te staes wrappd plac n toge 98) and he framed a
works lyng nealy on selves lned wh ble paper n Pctes that May o
May Not Go Togethe (199/98) om a even more aeshecaly sa syg
enseble aough hey oo ave b pu away by er huan careak
ers7 And Lawer preves s frm abung e craora panace of
hese unplanned arrangeens o er hrug e les whch regster
her own surprse ndeed se ofers the followng descrpon of he wok
process ' o comoable akng poogaps whe kow wha
' taking feel as approachng soeng wih o muc clay n ad
vance could elmae possbles
Snce An Aangement o Pcts s a book rahe ha a ebto
a medum o a gaey we canno ener he space in wc Lawler's p
ogaps ae dsplayed Cosequetly aloug ese poogaphs are
presenaoal hey are no presen e way a pcoral poograph s
They are aso enoogcaly eprodced ad ese reproducos have
b wdely dssemnad nteresngly Lawler coents on hs hersef
a nevew wh Crmp a appears n he same volume Se ells h
hat e phoogaps n An Aangement o icts straddle e le bewen beng er wok and beg represeatons of her wok ereby sg
249
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250
gsting that they ae not ly themsles in this fom. Lawler and Cimp
also snd most o thei iteview discussing he galey shows72
Most viewes d it vtally impossible to dstigish the photaphs
in Levine'sAer Wa ker Evans (1979)om Evanss photogaphs, o the
photaphs in vans and Jaes Agees Let Us Now Pise Famou Men
(194)fom simple epotage Lev ne's wok aso seems "ecessioal
athe tha pesentational: to efe back to an eale mage, which (sce
the photogaphic mage has no oiga efes back to a yet eaie image
etc., thereby dog away bth wh the atho ad the notio of a oiginal
Te s-effacing way in which Levine dsplays the photaphs this se
ies also st them of convetioal exbton vale Howeve anyone who
hks that Levine is nt inteested physcal pesence o aesthetic pe
sentaon wold b wel advised to look at he 99 wok untan Aer
Mael Ochamp: A. e sclpte's Bacsi-esqe beaty and ped
estal eplant wo things that ae oot in the pastDchpss n and
S1egltzs 197 photaph o tfimy i the soil of te "hee and now"Newbo, Levies 1993 instalatio at the Phladephia Mse of
A, was an even moe damatic demonstatio of he iteest i spatia
and tepoal pesece She lled the fot hall of he mseum with six
gand piaos and placed a glass vesio of Bracsi's Newbo (920) on
top o each of them Te paos which had a Minmalist gith eleced
the scuptes that ested o the glossy sfaces ey also nctioned
simultaneosly as expensive eadymades ad as sppotng bases
weang havoc on the distctio betwee a ad "object
he show was inspied by and in dialoge wth two mages, which
Leve displayed in the cataloge instead of the installato a ephotographed photogaph of Bacs's Pmetheu 1911) restig on a gand
pao i the esdence of HS Ede, n Cabdge nglad, ad a epho
togaphed podcto still fo Bsby Bekeleys 1935 im Gold Dgge
of 193 that displays a miseenye of dencaly dessed woen
sittg at gand pianos Bt do ot mea to sggest that these two pho
taphs wee sent fom the showto the contray. Although they were
no dsplayed o the wals of the Philadelphia Msem ofA, they wee
mo psent than they had ever b een be becase the installaton
taspoed elements fom each ito the thee-dimensioal space o the
mseum The six pianos i the msems fot halway made the iae
a piaos in the two photogaphs pat of the physcal nvese, and the
glass sculptes that ested on them did the same bth fo the simlay
shaed sclpte the Ede photogaph ad the women sitig at the
piaos in the Bekeley photogaph Newbon also showed those who
had the good fotne to se that we d to stop lookig at athe than
thugh Levies othe photogaphs.
The fst time I sveyed the exhbitio catale, I costed the pho
togaph of Bacsi's Prometheus as a sigie of the geos vaues
that Benjami ages agast (ognaliy, sigaity, genis, an elite view
e) and the Beeley podcton still as a sigifie of what he champions
(mechanical epodction Snce evie's instaatio cosst of mltiple
pianos ad sculptes, I aso saw it as an edosement of the late athe
ha the fome owever, I sn ealized that ths is a usstaiable
reading, since Pometheus ad Newbo ae both Bacs woks ad
wee both indstialy made The Bekeey photogah aso attests to the
chling coseqeces of echanca epodction fo hman elational
ty; its had to embace sealiy whe t is embodied thogh a ong lne
o intechageable wome Fnally, the eections of the sclptues o
the shiny saces of Levne's gand pianos had the delicacy and eva
escence that Bejam associates wth the dagueeotype. "Dagee's
photogaphs were odzed sve plates exposd the caea obsca,
he writes at the begiing of the aleadydiscussed paagaph in Utle
Histoy of Photogaphy which had to be ted this way ad that ntl
the pop lgh, a pale gay iage could be disceed Tey con
seqently evoked an nepodcible athe tha a epodcible kid of
photogaphic image.In addito to thse wo photogahs and a numbe of ancllay m
ags the exhibton cataloge conans a sho essay by evie called
Afe Bancs, and a egthe essay by Ann emkin/4 the cato of
the show Both of these texs aso poit esoltely away om haica
epodction evie notes in he essay that althogh she ies epetitio,
she gaviates to the contgent ad the nstable, and tha she is inte
ested, as Bracsi was, n "oiginality5 emkin eminds s n her text that
the Romaa aist had an nconventioal view of oignaliy e ade
may vesions ofBirMue and Neo some of wc ae emak
ably smila bt he always insisted that each vesio stemmed "om aew inspiation, ndendent o the precedng oe Te title of one of
his ost famos woks, Newbo extends ths pinciple to hua beings,
and evie showed that also has social tactio Te glass scptes
estg on the gad paos n he 1993 wee not mltiples, as I had ii
tally thoght they wee, athe a miplicty
I am o couse thinng hee of Hanna Aendt who foges a lin
between the bith of a child and the plaliy of hman bengs ad who
opposes both to mechanica epodcto Acton wold be an ueces
say lxy, Aendt wites in The Human Condtion (198) if en were
endlessly epoducble epettions of the same model, whose atue o
essece wee the same o all and as pdictable as the nate o essence
of any othe thig Plaly s the conditio of hman acton becase we
ae l the same, that s han in sch a way that nobody s eve the
same as ayoe else wo lved lives o will lve"78 Nataity and moality
ae the two most capacios and enabling of all analies they both link
s to, and difetiate s fom evey othe being
Presentaton is eve bit as ipotant in Aer Walke Evan, athough
ay be hade o s to see Whe Evans and Age st aved al
Alabama to wok o the essay on teant fames, vans photogaphed
his sbjects on the sly bt they fond this expeience laceatig9 Sice
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he wanted tem to feel "at hoe i their settg and n comand of
temseves, e bega waiting until tey wee eady to be see-let
tig te gow into te photogas e made o the Evans showed
a smla defeence towad e faes' ouses ad beongigs. As
Lico Kste ts it eve te iaimate tngs n his potogahs
beau dawers ots ties brcks s gns -see waitng in thei ow
paiet digity posing for tei ictue.81 Levie aso maes roo for the
faes ad the tigs i e otogas bt se does so i a new
tie ad a new ace: e .
OS
. Dogls Cp Pictres" X- 8 no 1, (Fa 5 8 h1s s a repr o te oignacaoge esay2. bd 7.3. bd. 22.
4. ef Wal 'Mks of lnderece :sts of hoography i a as Cocepa A Wall Sltd Essays ad Itvws New Yok Me of Me A 7 445. Cmp Picres 2
6. ouglas Cmp "Pcs. Octob 8, Spng 979 758 s eay was repu bsedi a bk appopatey cled A A Modrsm: Rethikg Repsetato ed. BnaWalis ew Yok ew Mse o Cntempoay 984 75-7 ad it s fom hssoe tat I wll e ong.7. Cmp Pictues 75.8. Ibd., 1769 Mcael e A ad Obect n At ad Objthd Ccago nvers oChicgo Press 1999 160. bid, 5 55.
1. e qotes e page i wc Mos e hs oruato o page 5 wthouctg te rce
2. Cmp Pcres" 6773. S acues Deda Gmmatology rans. Gayat Chakavoty Spvak BatioeJohs opks Unversty Pre 97) ad Wig ad De tas. a BassChicgo vey o Ccago Pe, 978).4. Jacques acan Te Miro Stage" i Ecnts tas Be ik (ew Yo Noo 7.
5 Jacqu aca Fou udmeta Cocts of sychoas trans. Ala Sheda(New Yo Noon 978 629.1 Michel ouca "Wat s an Auhor? n guag Cout-Mo cte Std Essa ad tews tas Daiel F chad and She Simo taca : Conelivei P 977) 3-38.7 Wae Bejai "e Wok o A e Age of is Toica eprcibi ecod verso i Beja Slt Wtgs, Volume 3: 935938 oward Eiand adMicae W Jenigs Cambdge MA Havad Unvesi Pess 2} 3
8 I am hikng i patcua hee of Chrs Brden Maa Abaoi ad Vo Acconc9 Beam atais ha constes the dde poica sgncance" o phoraphy.S The Wok o A 0. Athoug a sing he lae translao o ths eay wc is caed he Wo o A te Age o s ecoica eprodcibiy I efer to ee throg he e nde whc tcrcuate dung te eig of is ce: Te Wrk of A n he Age o Mechaia epcion2. Ibd . 082. Ibid 3 03. Ibid . 024 Water Beai Le Hsto of Photaphy," Slted Wtigs olme 2 92934 e. Mcael W Jegs Howard Ead ad Ga Sih (Cambrdge MA: aardnvesi Pre 999) 5825 Bejai Te Wo of A 0102 ad 2022
26 Cstian Metz "Phoography and etsh" e Ctcal mag e Caol Ses eae: Bay ess 990) 56
27 Sgd Fud Fetisis e Stad Edtio o e Complete ycholgaWs tns. aes Stachey Lodo Hogah 96 vol 2 55728 o rh A Shot Organm fo he etre," Bht o at trans ohn Wilet New Yok il Wag 957), .29 Iid 205. Wale enjan, e Athor as duce i enjain, St Wtrgs olume 292934 75.31 Crimp Pies" 177
3 ugas Cp otogrphi Atvity of Ptderi" tobe 5 ier980. Cmp ublshed his essay i O t Musm' Rus Cabrdge MA MTPrss, 1993), 02 ad s ro hs soce hat quotig O the Musm Rus109. lbd 1083.bd. 10935 Ibid 11836 Ibid . 1337 eami Lle stoy o Photogrhy," 508-510.38 Ibid . 5039bid Wa Bnjain "On the Cocp of sto and aalipena to O he Cncepo so, i Beami, et Wtgs lume 4 92940 icae W JenngsCambridge MA Haad ivesy Press 23) 389.
4 Beja "Utle Hisoy o Photaphy, 522 bd 5.43 d, 544 bd 5.
5 en ox al ew isve in te Fne s New Ye 7 o 4 p 3 8995
6 develop tis arge o fly n the st hap of e bok a unt wnge Mac o al7 Ma Hedger Te Qesto Cneing oy" i Questo ogTeho ad Ohe ssas tras. Wiliam ot New ok: ar Row, 977) ad 335 I a o orse speang somewha algoaly ee, ad basig y acco o hemoen bet o esaes 637 s he yar w e publshd Te scouse o Metho, i wh e desbes te pres tough wh he a at hs famous axom k
eefore I a" Te passage I qoe i his aagaph comes om a closey eatd vome,Descaess Medas t osoph See Ren Dsas, iscoue o Methd adMtatos o st hoshy avid Wessa (Nw av, C Yale nves Ps9 77 I deveop his agment more ulyad moe discusveyn e Mcle
49 exor t relatoship he aa obscua ad emial phoogaphy icosdeabe detai n e s capter o e Micle Aal5 B1g mans peseng" dgge ws O me ad Beg trs. a Saaug (ew o: Har & ow 1972) 55 Chaes Baudeare he Salo of 89" i Bauae Sected Wgs A A-ists as P Chae Cabdge Cabdge Unvesiy Pess 1972) 295. bd 95 97.53 bd 985 d 97
55 Te sor of his qotato wich is impossbe to ve s Joacim Gasquet oveats with ae d. Micae oran eey ivesy o Calorna Ps 2 ,1106 Marcl Prost, Seah Lst me lume I me Regaed tas dreas Mayor,Teree Kilman ad D ng ew or: Mm Ub, 23) 274-75 a 616-17;ad Rainer Maa Rle ees 90926 rans. ae anad Grene nd M.. eoon (ew o: Noo 9 .57 Robe ashenrg htghs ondo: hames & dson 98 3. e phracomes rom Riher. wo ses to dsis is pantng. e Ged Rihter ayactce aitg Wgs 9299 . as Ul Obrs rs. Davd t (a-bdge MA: MI, 99 73. Cems bass ost o e drawngs ad pangs on hoto-gaphs ad some of her sptal wo s also mpily phoogaphc58. Mhae . Wy htgaph Mae as A as Nee Bee ew av C YaeUniersy r 28.
Ibid 2554 f . Ibid. 43.
5
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252
61. I aso wan o eto thee exos n ths cotext ctr at a Exhbon aaa recrat'on of the o'gal 1ues ehbtn cratd b Jene Porte a At'sts
Space i New ork 2 e st Pcue how Aiss Usig Pogapy 9-982.
cuad by ougas e at te Walker A enter i Mieals in 24: and he cresGeeatio, 974984" caed b Dogas kd a the Metrolia Mse of n
ew Yo in 209
62 Jean-Fraois Ceer. e Advees o the icue Fo n e Hstory of otaphy, tas. Mchael Glso n The as Ptcu ho. d ogas Fogle Mneaos
Waker Ceter 23) ee Aso Cheve Te Taea ad te Den of Eeece i ik doblek: e Documena Facor e oas Wes (Mch aus der
Kust 26
6 ejai The Wok o "' 0
. Ibid. 3 Kaja Sive. he eshold of he Vste Worl New Yo Rot ge 99 97 I udad s radng o U m Ss a he reques o Johana rto a edo
of and ontributor to Cdy hea Cbge MA M ress. 2 I appears therender the tite ow to Face te Gze 40)
66 I o cor reerecng the ttle of AraovC's 0 eoace a e Musem ofModen ew Yo "e rtist Is Ps 67 Al weve ages of e ab a rproduc at e egng o Cdy hema, die Roa ad Cl i, tas. ose es ais Jeu de Pame, 20,
Geoge Bake ad A da rae Dispaeme d Coaio Cveron o e
W of ouse wl," i Lowse a ad Oh Osild-i: Hae Gt 24, 269 oise awler Aagme o ce ew o Assoulie 2 Baer aso coents on tis asect of Lawers photaphs. Lawle' pct s ojus sng tgeh at wod psions. to reae reatons betwe the fuctios of artis,craor ad galey wo. e s i Dslacen and desato" She s nvoed
eeaig elaons that iere etween dsaae oes n e wod (39) I og om a eview with Lawe ha was condce by rip cald onece Ge Auhoy ae" It aeas tn . agm o cs. beoe e plates.
ld
3 eai. e isoy o Porapy 08 An ekn. Newn. n hee eve: Neo !Piladelha iladelha Museumo A 993 9 erie eVe. ntroducto here eve: Ne (Padlhia Philadelpha M
sem o , 993 78
6 Tkm 78 is pasage wic ei qotes o ag o her te. comes fro a 936ette om ancs to the Mahaaja of doe. cusi woe ths ete e yea eshd the seod veon o e Wor o M' d one ear ae the ease of The GoDgges o 19358 anah Arend Ha od1o Cgo Unve o cago Pess 98} 8
9 Jes Agee ad Waer ans e s o Prase ams M Bso ougoMf 988\ 36480 Jon Heey Itrodcon: gee. i e Us No s amos M xvii8 ncol rste i Wak Evas Aeca Phoogphs ew o: Msem of Me
A 938) 97