Review: Colberg, Photography After Photography?, 2012

Painting erupted once its burden of depiction was lifted. Maybe as photographers we can do our own lifting, realizing what it means, for example, to say that every photograph has already been taken. Seen in that sense, photography could maybe be the first medium to move forward because it has made itself obsolete, at least to some extent. 

Now that we’ve done all that stuff that you can see in history-of-photography books, now that we’ve become obsessed with re-creating that past over and over again - how can we turn around, to look at and move into the future? 

Joerg Colberg
Photography After Photography?

This is a question that comes back to me from time to time – what do my photographs mean in a world where there are trillions of images, with millions more being taken each day?  If everyone has a camera, what does it mean to be a photographer?   Colberg seems to be concerned primarily with discovering a new technique, but I think the way forward, if there is such a thing, and the answer to my own question, is intention.  Why make photos?   Colberg sees digital techniques replicating old forms as hopelessly nostalgic for the very reason that the intention behind such photos is sentimental.  There’s no real need to communicate anything except – look what I can do!

His analogy to jazz may point to a related problem.  That particular form of music has for the past few decades been open to only a very small circle of musicians and listeners.  It is now irrelevant to the vast majority of human beings, as well as the vast majority of humans who listen to music regularly.  There are a number of reasons for this, but part of the problem is the musicians themselves, many of whom seem unable to meet the general public halfway.  They want to play jazz as they like it.  And that’s fine.  But what then does finding a way forward mean?  A way forward for whom?  For what purpose?  What if you invent a new form, but no one’s there to listen? 

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