Photography and the Unconscious Panopticon: Part Two

The writer and critic David Levi Strauss says in his short essay, Click here to disappear: thoughts on images and democracy,

"I used to think that more people making images would necessarily lead to more conscious image reception, but I'm less sure of that now. It seems that it's possible to make images as unconsciously as one consumes them, bypassing the critical sense entirely."

The process of consuming images has always been largely unconscious, and the process of manufacturing them and distributing them for the public has tended to be so as well. In the past, that process, which includes taking the photographs, editing them, preparing them for publication, and then distributing them in printed form, was kept mostly secret and away from public view, and so it had an aura of mystery and intention. The inherent difficulty of this process forced a process of consideration and intention into the mix. There was just too much at stake to risk otherwise.

But the recent explosion of social media has all but eliminated the difficulties inherent in distributing images widely and in volume. By eliminating the resistance and the cost of distribution, these new media and the ease with which they operate make unconscious participation and unconscious content more likely, rather than less. Difficult processes provide a kind of resistance that requires deliberation and intention to overcome. The easy process requires less and less consideration from those participating. And the aesthetic forms with which we communicate are more and more dictated by efficiency, mass success and popular appeal.

This is part two in a summer serial posting. Click here for part three.

Content and Platform

A decade ago, I gave a speech at a college graduation. I told the graduates that corporate ownership of media, particularly publicly traded media conglomerates, had changed the equation for journalism and its consumers. You could have an excellent product with adequate profits, I said. Or you could have an adequate product with excellent profits. Perhaps that is no longer the case. Maybe online niche publications represent the future. However this proceeds, it is the content, not the platform that delivers it, that represents the greatest challenge. As long as economic uncertainty, unreasonable profit margins, staff cuts, and low wages mark the boundaries of journalism… well, you get what you pay for.

This is from a piece up on Columbia Journalism Review by newspaper veteran Jim Spencer from the Denver Post. You can read it all here. The italics are mine.

Photography and the Unconscious Panopticon: Part One

In Wim Wenders' beautiful, epic, 280 minute film Until the End of the World, Dr. Farber has made an electronic machine that can electronically project images directly into the brain, effectively restoring sight to his blind wife. She is able to see with a pair of electronic goggles wired to her head, viewing the video without optical vision. This is an incredible development for her and the characters spend much energy and time bringing video of their shared lives so that she can catch up on the visuals of what she has been missing.

They soon discover that the machine is also capable of the reverse process. Images can be recorded directly from the brain and played back on a screen for the viewer to watch in real time, making it possible to record one's dreams and then watch them back while awake. Soon, some of the characters find themselves completely addicted to looking at images from their own dreams, spending their days watching ghostly pictures on static filled computer screens, peering into real world depictions of their mysterious inner lives while the world outside increasingly threatens with isolation, mass destruction and environmental collapse.

Wenders' film was first released in 1991, before the widespread explosion of the internet, but the core critique of images and their addictive properties seems even more relevant today. If images can liberate us, they are just as capable of trapping us in unconscious processes and systems of rewards and penalties beyond our conscious awareness.

The popularity of photo sharing electronically across the media through vehicles such as Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and hundreds of other sites has made it possible for us to take the 'real' as it may be, and transform it into visual metaphors that can be transmitted out to an invisible public where the images perform in ways separate and independent from their origin and subject. A great head shot on MySpace can get more traffic than a bad one, regardless of the real appearance of the person depicted. We are rapidly becoming addicted to the transformational ease by which photographs can trade in identities and personae. It is possible through photography to see ourselves as we would like to be, as we fantasize ourselves to be, stripped away of the flaws, messiness and complexities that life in its totality entails. The word fantasy here is the key, for we are looking in these moments for images that reinforce the ego. They require little effort. Instead they clarify and perfect our fantasies rather than amplify our vision.

This is part one in a summer serial posting. Click here for part two.

C*cksucker Blues

In 1972 Robert Frank was commissioned by the Rolling Stones to make a documentary film of their United States tour that year. He traveled with the band, shooting footage himself as well as providing cameras for band members and others in their entourage to use. The final piece is a completely unexpected and haunting film that explores the darker sides of the 'Stones' celebrity; dislocation, loneliness, drug use and life on the road. It is almost painful to watch as Frank punctures the cult of celebrity around the band with long cinema verite scenes of the mundane moments between shows. Band members shoot up, roadies and groupies nod off in the background--is that Allan Ginsberg in the next room?--a young woman discusses her love of acid, the band members go on outings, order food, discuss drugs and fame. Frank did not blunt the impact of the film then, and the images are even more unexpected now in an age of carefully managed celebrity public relations.

When the members of the 'Stones saw the final cut, titled "C*cksucker Blues" after a never released song of the same name written by Mick Jagger, they immediately sued to suppress its release. As a result of the final legal ruling, the film can be shown in public only if the director, Frank, is present. We are in summer blockbuster season and if you are getting tired of the public relations circus and manicured public appearances, this is the antidote. There are unofficial versions of it in underground circulation, and some pieces of it can be seen here:

Part 1
Drug Fallout
The Acid Girl Interview
Mick & Bianca

New York City Photo Restrictions

Today the Mayor's office released the new and updated guidelines for what kind of film and photography work requires permitting when shooting on public property in New York City. What is most important about this new set of guidelines is that it is a step in the right direction in establishing a balanced perspective on shooting in public everywhere. The guidelines not only specify what actions require a permit, but they also specify what kind of photography and film work do not require one. Almost anyone who has spent a significant amount of time shooting in public in New York has encountered either police officers or private citizens who treat photographers as threats to national security.

This set of rules is the second draft. The first set proposed by the Mayor's office two years ago, if read literally, would have placed restrictions on almost every aspect of picture making in public, right down to the tourists in Times Square. That would have been disastrous, given the paranoia already out there. This set, by specifying what does not require permitting, clarifies the legitimacy of public photography and takes a step back from the aura of danger that has been applied to it. You can read a synopsis of the new policies and download the entire document here.

Declaration

From the Declaration of Independence, signed this day in 1776, signaling the separation of the thirteen colonies from England and it's King; a list of grievances and unacceptable treatments of all people everywhere.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power...

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences...

(thanks to Detritus for inspiring a re-reading of the Declaration of Independence on this July 4th)