Forced to cancel the fair in 2020, Paris Photo was back in the French capital from November 11 to 14, 2021 for a new edition on site (in the Grand Palais Ephémère) and online. With 150 galleries from 28 countries, 30 publishers from 9 countries, 58.000 visitors in 5 days, Paris Photo is, by far, the largest International Photography Fair. A market, a networking opportunity and a place to start an apprenticeship.
Some 3.2 billion images are shared every day on social media, according to data published in December 2019 by Brandwatch. These staggering figures invite reflection not only on the circulation, accumulation, consumption, memorization of images in our society, but also raise, with new strength, the problem of the Economy of Images.
This was the central question of the 2020 Jeu de Pomme exhibition Le Supermarché de l'image [if you missed the event, the exhibition book, in French, can still be purchased on the JdP Bookstore]. Why extravagant sums of money should be paid to possess art photography ? Or, as Louise Buck and Philipp Dodd put it, in Relative Values: "How can we justify the commitment and passion lavished on objects which look insubstantial and seem to be of no practical use?".
The Grand Palais Ephémère stands as a potent, articulated argument against the idea that digital and 16.8 billion smartphones are devaluating art (photography).
If you have missed the opportunity to meet the largest organised resistance to Walter Benjamin's critical theory [technological reproducibility emancipates the work of art from its parasitic subservience to ritual], you will have a second chance in this Workbook.
In this space I will collect materials which can support an apprenticeship in art photography: classic art history readings, elements of the contemporary art debate, practical exercises to develop skills (for art producers and consumers), art market data and issues, links on collecting ("as play, creativity and aesthetic practice"), and a review of "Best of Show" from Paris Photo and other events.
In very short curatorial highlights (often with "deep dive" links for those who can afford the time needed by serious readings) I'll propose "ways of seeing" and present key claims of value. Let's get started with a first selection of six works presented in November in Paris.