A gesture of unity against the distance created by photography

On Saturday 17th of September I participated in a collective action with a group of photographers as part of the Creature Live Art Festival . Our instruction was to walk with our cameras on hand directing toward a middle point, a point of union. We decided to plan the duration of the journey of about 30 minutes but we could not check our watches. The idea was to walk as slow as possible, nearly reaching stillness (but never quite), and while concentrating on the viewfinder to record mentally any thoughts that came across our mind. At the meeting point we would sit down, discuss the experience and describe our recorded thoughts.

The place of the performance was called Union Square and it was next to the War Museum.

The 30 minutes become more then 1 hour, we all felt hypnotised, we all felt the weight of our cameras (of photography), we had a lot of time to connect with our body, we felt isolated but at the same time completely interdependent, we all felt very focused and aware of the surrounding,

I experienced a sense of not knowing or walking toward the not knowing. I though that the role of the photographer is to become an image. I felt like a point, a coordinate of time and space. I thought that it was impossible to stop thinking and in a way the image on the view finder was disturbing my memory. I felt like a tree. I felt exposed to the comments of the passersby. I was enjoying the wind as I was really hot inside.

Intersubjective Photography

A visual interplay with others.

Intersubjective Photography involves a series of exercises and experiences aimed to imagine how 'things' can see photographically so to humanise them.

Rather than photograph a thing how can I photograph with a thing?

Seeing is a genuinely interactive experience that unfolds in intimate interplay both with the other senses and the things perceived (Gibson 1966, 1979; Merleau-Ponty 1968).

Far from being detached from any corporeal engagement (we cannot separate what is seen from how we see it), seeing is grounded in a dialogic relationship, an “inter-subjectivity” and “coincidence” between the perceiver and what is perceived, and thus involves an acknowledgement of the impact of the latter on the former (Merleau-Ponty 1968, 134–135).

Seeing does not take place in front of things, but always among them, in a situated perceiving where things not only draw our attention but where we also are made part of the visible, as if exposed to their “look” (Benjamin 2003, 338)

Collective Photo-Actions

-Exchange between participating artists -Exchange between the different practices, cultures, languages, ages -Exchange between different mediums of expression -Exchange between each artist and the locations, where the actions were taking place -Exchange between the work produced and the viewers

The subject of investigation is the process, which is identified with the word ‘Becoming’. The artwork is process, the artwork is in constant transformation and our understanding of the artwork is in constant change. The process is the closest representation of who we are as human beings.

PhotoPerformers in Collective Action

Our photographic cameras could become our worst enemy specially if we rely on them to produce our memories…