EXIT # 16 ‘WRITING PICTURES / ESCRIBIENDO IMAGENES’
November – December 2004 / January 2005
EXIT MAGAZINE
Cover: Inigo Royo, Collaboration, 2000. Duraflex Photography, 180×120 cm EXIT # 16 “WRITING PICTURES / ESCRIBIENDO IMAGENES”
Text as Image in Contemporary Photography and Art
Main artists: Victor Burgin, Robert Frank, Hamish Fulton, Jochen Gerz, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Rogelio Lopez Cuenca, Ken Lum, Boris Mikhailov, Muntadas, Inigo Royo, Charles Sandison, Matt Siber, Gillian Wearing, et al.
Texts by: Rosa Olivares, Rod Slemmons, Victor Burgin, Jochen Gerz, Rogelio Lopez Cuenca, Ken Lum, Matt Siber, Joao Fernandes.
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Words, sentences, entire paragraphs…, texts in the context of the photographic image in contemporary art. We usually speak of visual arts, of the visual, of the iconic, and doubtless imagery prevails, yet texts, and by extension theoretical discourse, are key for understanding many works. Thus, the confluence in one and the same work of both iconic and textual aspects may reduce or increase its interpretation, depending on the intention. We can consider artists such as Henri Michaux, Antoni Tapies, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ed Ruscha who deployed text mainly as a plastic element, producing works wherein graphics is more a formal signifier than a verbal meaning. In other cases, such as Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner and Christopher Wool, it seems that the work is approached more like a blank page where the text inscribed is meant to enounce a more or less clear and direct content. In this EXIT # 16 we have addressed the subject through our customary focus on contemporary art photography, and the result runs into the grey areas of a visual poetics we have decided to dub “Writing Pictures”.
As always, the texts are introduced by an editorial by Rosa Olivares, in this case simply titled “Words”, the eloquence of which goes beyond the hackneyed cliche one picture is worth a thousand words. This is followed by the essay “Between Language and Perception” by Rod Siemmons, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, who addresses the friction caused by the direct usage or presence of texts, sentences and words in images. From the foremost contributions of the avant-garde to the influence of photographers from Walker Evans to Barbara Kruger and Shirin Neshat, while not failing to touch on semiotics and advertising, the overview explores the conflicts and collaborations of the two communication systems.
Five portfolios of individual artists, whose work manifests the employment of textual devices, give rise to this issue’s central pages. The artists selected are the British Victor Burgin and the German Jochen Gerz, two conceptual classics of the so-called photo-text; the Spaniard Rogelio Lopez Cuenca and the Canadian Ken Lum, who use text with clearly critical and socio-political undertones; and lastly the young American Matt Siber, interested in digital imaging and textual elements within the urban environment. Each portfolio consists of ten pages and comprises a series of images and texts written specifically by the artists themselves.
A concluding article, “Text and photography in contemporary art: two examples”, by Joao Fernandes, Director of the Museu Serralves de Arte Contemporanea, in Porto, focuses on the British artist Hamish Fulton and his hikes that resemble those involving land art, and the Ukrainian Boris Mikhailov with his autobiographical diary-like tales of the former Soviet Union, and other ironies in modern society. The magazine ends with the habitual index of biographical information on the participating artists.
In addition to the five aforementioned portfolios, images by the following artists are also reproduced: Sophie Calle, Jorge Dragon, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert & George, Raoul Hausmann, Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, Jorge Macchi, Duane Michals, Boris Mikhailov, Abelardo Morell, Leonel Moura, Muntadas, Shirin Neshat, Martha Rosler, Inigo Royo, Charles Sandison, Juliao Sarmento, Lorna Simpson, Milagros de la Torre, Gillian Wearing, among others. Replete with words and pictures, the new issue of EXIT therefore embodies a nexus of proposals with regard to the use, the presence and the reading of text as image.
* Upcoming issue, in February 2005, EXIT # 17 “CITIES”.
EXIT. Quarterly, thematic publication on image and culture, photography and contemporary art.
Bilingual edition with articles in English and Spanish. Published by Olivares & Associates.
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Also published by Olivares & Associates: Exit BOOK -one magazine per year on art and contemporary visual culture books) and Exit EXPRESS -monthly magazine of information and debate on contemporary art. (Spanish editions only).
In November-December 2004, Exit BOOK # 4, the Annual. Save your copy
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