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The Contemporary Centre of Photography’s Autumn exhibition “States of Disruption” brings together twelve Australian and international photographic artists Mishka Henner, Kensuke Koike, Krerkburin Kerngburi, Anouk Kruithof, Danny Lyons, Ali McCann, Kent Morris, Rebecca Najdowski, Tommaso Nervegna-Reed, Izabela Pluta, Aaron Christopher Rees, and Danae Valenzac with the combined focus of investigating the destabilisation of image and the self in the post-truth age. Set against the backdrop of social, cultural and economic disruptions that have occurred over the last two years, this exhibition provides a broad topographic retrospective of the radical changes that have resulted in the last two years through the embodiment of visual expression. Teasing at the reality that the image is self of an individual amongst a digitised age. Almost inseparable due to the reality that public perception of the world is amassed by images, which by extension links others’ perceptions of us to images as they are the only form that often comes into interaction. The unexplainable divide but connection between a person-to-person relationship, a relationship created through knowledge and understanding of one another through images that we see of them as well as what we physically understand of them.
Walking into the Contemporary Centre of Photography, I am instantaneously engulfed by Kent Morris' "Unvanished" series, a stunning body of work composed of twelve 80 x 120cm white wooden framed inkjet prints on archival rag behind 1/4th tint glass. Morris' "Unvanished" operates within visual semiotics by abstracting familiar objects to the Australian eye. What we see are digitally manipulated suburban roofs, inverted on themselves to create a shield-like object. From the first impression, we ask what is substantial about a duplicated roof? For Morris, it is this subliminal internalisation that houses are objects rather than "Aftertastes of the colonizer: delineating objects of ownership."[1]. Further expanding on this relationship between the abstracted image and its connection to the world, curator Clothilde Bullen roots this intent as "indigenous mechanisms to re-frame self-representation and reclaim agency in the representation of 'our' culture, countries ad kinship ties." [2]. Tying it all back in, when I look at Kent Morris' "Unvanished," it evokes a feeling of "post-memory."[3]. Distinctly familiar but also distinctly foreign. Academic Marianne Hirsch coined post-memory terminology to describe the lasting impact of the past on generations who were not present during the trauma but still suffered from it within their context. As I discuss Kent Morris' work, there may be a need for an explanation of terminologies. I prefer to make the references I use to the audience known rather than hope that these terms are already commonplace knowledge. Linking Morris' "Unvanished" back to the exhibition's goal, I believe that the body of work effectively discusses the ongoing cultural confrontations of indigenous history amongst the de-colonization of the Australian narrative. This function disrupts viewers' perceptions of common visual relationships with the society surrounding them. In this regard, the positioning of the work within the group exhibition is superb, simultaneously allowing itself to "extend the frame outward"[4] to audiences and breathe individually amongst the chaos to follow the exhibition.
Next up on my visual dining experience was Mishka Henner's 2020 "The Fertile Image" installation. Composed from a set of 300 photorealistic C-Type prints at 10.2 x 12.7 cm in scale, which is hung in glassine envelopes aligned in a grid with a centre-framed inkjet print of 30.5 x 38.1cm in size. For this work, Henner utilised an open-source engine built by generative adversarial networks, which essentially takes two "parent images" and cross-analyses the visual properties of each in contrast to develop new references. As artificial intelligence progresses, it uses new images to create descendants from existing descendants. Ultimately leaving the dataset as an entirely new visual experience from the source it began with. Henner aligns this work with the contemporary relationship between images and their representation of the world as he "thinks of this series as machines attempt to represent our own representations of the world."[5]. I love the methodology and process behind this work. The works' recursive properties of an archive, re-representation, and creation are highly relevant to the ongoing discourse of photography as a medium. Essentially calling into question how humans create and consume representations of our own world. Faintly, I relate this to Ruth Rosengard's early thoughts on the archive which photography "acted as distillation of time and embodiment of memory."[6]. Visually speaking, the work is extremely repetitive and disinteresting once my eyes move past the centre-framed work. In the end, Henner's work is extraordinarily charged with conceptual relevance but significantly needs to improve in the conversation of aesthetics. The slight difference in a repetitive catalogue of images is not enough to hold an audience's attention without a prior explanation of the intention of the work.
Continuing into the depths of the CCP, you are greeted with the beautiful sight of Rebecca Najdowski's 2020 explorative work "Surfacing, Chromogenics." Rebecca Najdowski has quite an interesting approach to her photographic practice with her concise consideration of the balance that exists now between "humans, technology, and more than human nature entanglement."[7]. Composed of 5 vivid abstract 101.6 x 213 cm chromogenic prints draped from the ceiling by darkroom paper cardboard rolls that support its weight, this work by Najdowski intends to achieve a visual response to the resonance between nature and the photographic surface. Submerged in salt lake water amongst the algae and bacteria, the negatives function as a portrait of life, resulting in somewhat of a subliminal decay of the negative. Random blotches of pink and blue across the mural scale prints, accompanied by the slow fade of nothingness. However, Najdowski's cameraless approach is neither innovative nor new. This creation methodology comes from a long line of artists before her, namely Susan Derges and Nikala Bourke, for example. Although I am personally not a fan of photographic approaches that elaborate on past explorations by other artists, it is relevant to say that Najadowski's work still excellently fits the "States of Disruptions" criteria artistic ideology for the exhibition. Despite not being new, the work still functions strongly as a discourse between the photographic and the representation of the world. Removing the human hand and allowing the world to create its own photographic representation, Najadowski's work effectively informs audiences about the world. By these means, Najadowski's elaboration on previous processes by another artist can be deemed acceptable as it still contributes to the ongoing discourse of photography in an innovative form.
As I experienced the exhibition, I noticed a pattern of behaviour with the participating artists' works. The concept is the underpinning motive for all the works in the front section of the CCP. With brief information provided on their exhibition panels about the how and why of the works, a lot of understanding is left up to the audience's interpretation. Continuing on, these works rely on their conceptual underpinning, lacking in terms of aesthetics and viewer enjoyment. With direct mention to Danae Valenzac's "The windows become a glass drum" and Danny Lyon, these works had intricate intentions of dissecting loss and retrospectively existing within a post-internet age. However, they did not leave any impression on me; I found them hard to look at and hold my attention when viewing the work. Honestly, I spent more time reading the blurb than enjoying the art. With this in mind, the outdated postmodernist desire to undertake work that is conceptual as a justification for why art, when it lacks aesthetics, is quite disappointing. I may need to do better with that comment. It could be the artist and the artwork simply not finding the right balance between concept and aesthetic.
What stood out the most to me was the main room of the contemporary centre of photography. Located at the back of the venue, this room usually entails a salon-style installation for its exhibitions. This feature is quite problematic if the right artists aren't curated well. I commend the curation of "States of Disruption" in the back room. Somehow amongst the overwhelming visual chaos that bounces across the works of Kensuke Koike, Krerkburin Kerngburi, Anouk Kruithof, Ali McCann, Tommaso Nervegna-Reed, Izabela Pluta, and Aaron Christopher Rees, featured in the backroom. It thrives. Despite the artists' retrospective styles and conceptual underpinnings, the works bounce off each other very strongly. Communicating the essence of image consumption within Tommaso Nervenga-Reed's video installation, personal fragmentation showcased in Kensuke Koikes "Single Image Processing" and environmental decay in Anouk Kruithhof's "Trans-Human-Nature ."At first, when I entered, it was overwhelming trying to digest so many diverse photographic approaches. But then it dawned on me that it would be expected if I saw an image of this room with all the work on my phone or computer. I would need to grasp the level of information present. The theme of abstraction emitted from the unison of McCann's, Rees, and Kerngburi's works communicates an intense feeling of personal disruption, the loss of self amongst the rapid technological developments of society. Resonating the "immense material stress. Stress created through shifting paradigms of material. The world and their representation"[8] that Charles Merewether dissects in his review of contemporary archival practice.
A brief intersection to the review. I had the pleasure of assisting Izabela Pluta in the darkrooms when she was visiting the Victorian College Of the Arts. Working closely within the confines of pitch-black rooms, faintly lit occasionally by the monotone illumination of the enlarger: I got to learn firsthand about how Pluta interacts and operates with her work. Measures of refraction stood out to me on my first impression of the work. The opaque blue pallet masking the subtle curves and folds of light encapsulated within the confines of 25 individually framed pieces created a sublime experience. An experience that I don't often get to have when viewing photography. Camera Obscura. The simple creation of visually pleasing works without contemporary technology. Pluta's work in this example intends to "subverting the exactness of photographic interpretation,"[9] seeking to highlight the veracity of image making. The photographic ability to create infinite different versions of itself from nothing. A methodology that resonates strongly with Mishka Henner's "Fertile Image ." It is pleasing to see the thought taken by the curator to isolate these works from being too close in proximity to each other.
In retrospect, the "States of Disruption" exhibition, was thoroughly enjoyed. Despite the institutionalised cyclical barrier of discounting photography to be more than a visual form, "States of Disruption" has thrown that outdated thought back into the critics' faces. Illuminating the photographic to be a form of conceptual conversation, which can thoroughly rebound ideas and opinions of the contemporary back on the world. The Contemporary Centre of Photography embodies this, creating exhibitions like "States of Disruption" featuring amazing artists who utilise photography for more than just its representation properties. Expanding on the narrative of the image, an urgent narrative and nothing less than forefront to our contemporary existence. We are shaped by images as much as images are shaped by us. I would like to conclude with a quote that embodies my experience of the work in"States of Disruption “as a result of disconnection"[10] these works were inspired. I Understand that inserting Hal Foster's words may be a tad ironic; however, the notion still stands. As a result of the disconnection between art, the world, and audiences, these works were able to operate so effectively. Acting as a glue to bring the world back into the photograph and the world back to the audiences. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibiton and hope to see the continued expansion of conceptual photograph in the coming future.
[1] Morris, Kent. “Unvanished”. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the university of Virginia catalogue. 2019
[2]Bullen, Clothilde. “Kent Morris: Unvanished”. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the university of Virginia. 2019
[3] Hirsch, Marianne. “Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory”, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
[4] Morris, Kent. “Unvanished”.
[5]Henner, Mishka. "The Fertile Image”. 2022.
[6] Rosengarten, Ruth. Between Memory and Document: The Archival Turn in Contemporary Art, Museo Coleção Berardo, 2012. p14
[7] Najowski, Rebecca. "Surfacing". 2017-2018.
[8] Merewether, Charles (ed). The Archive: Documents of Contemporary Art. London: Whitechapel Gallery; Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, 2006. 4
[9] Pluta, Izabela. "Measures Of Refraction. 2020
[10] Foster, Hal. 2004. “An Archival Impulse.” October 110 (October): 3.