NEW YORK, NY.- Instead of presenting an objective, historical overview, Conversations on Photography grapples with the rapidly expanding and forward-thinking nature of the photographic field from the perspective of the Nordic region by putting national and international contributors into conversation. These discussions between some of photography’s foremost contemporary practitioners provide unique insights into overlooked or erased stories, moments, and movements in the history of the medium, and of Fotogalleriet. Their voices contribute to analyzing a discipline whose potential is yetto be fully acknowledged within the larger field of contemporary art – a discipline that continues to spearhead new thinking around the role of art and its social motivations and responsibilities.
Texts by Dag Alveng, Zayne Armstrong, Bjarne Bare, Liv Brissach, Susan Bright, Antonio Cataldo, Lill Ann Chepstow-Lusty, Ann Christine Eek, Matias Faldbakken, Michael Andrés Forero Parra, Marthe Ramm Fortun, Eivind Furnesvik, Bente Geving, Ane Hjort Guttu, Bjørn Hatterud, Marianne Heske, Paul Hill, Kåre Kivijärvi, Silja Leifsdóttir, Lotte Konow Lund, Gry Martinsen, Robert Meyer, Eline Mugaas, Cathrine Opie, Maria Pasenau, Martina Petrelli, Karen Fosse Rosness, Aaron Schuman, Fin Serck Hanssen, Shirana Shahbazi, Helle Siljeholm, Mike Sperlinger, Stephanie von Spreter, Hanne Hammer Stien, Nina Strand, Susanne Østby Sæther, Anna Tellgren, Nikhil Vettukattil, Ellisif Wessel, Susanne M.Winterling, Sara R. Yazdani
From the foreword by Antonio Cataldo: The book you hold in your hands is the result of a dialogue with individuals who have shaped a critical photographic discourse during the last half of a century in the Nordic Countries and beyond. These conversations were held between 2018 and 2020,and all the practitioners have contributed to Fotogalleriet’s programming, as well as participating in important international exhibition venues around the world. Each conversation unravels a story from photographic history – something that was missing or unacknowledged. In opposition to academia,which privileges a self-referential way of writing history, the conversation form leaves spaces open; it is less assertive, and threatens the canonical idea of the singular artist as a genius. Therefore, the oral conversation, here transcribed and edited for readability, becomes politically motivated and, in the spirit of Fotogalleriet, calls for an experimental approach refusing singular forms of categorisation.
The conversations collected in this book are not classic interviews. There is no univocal principle connecting them, and there is no single tendency towards definite answers. Institutions’ histories are complex. Artistic work and artists’ long-term research are complex. Intricate networks of storytelling and platforming are needed in order to honour these complexities. In this assemblage, we did not aim to highlight artistic successes,but to unveil the strategies and motives behind their unique productions, as well as the effect of world events taking place at the time their work was being shown. In addition, we aimed to discover why certain images are still meaningful to this day, and how that meaning can change – to put it in Walter Benjamin’s words, how history is driven ‘irresistibly into the future’
