A string of data_ : disrupting, altering and generating the photographic image : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
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Date
2016
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Massey University
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Abstract
Through a body of photographic work, this thesis examines how an
engagement with photographic technology presents the opportunity to
destabilise the established conceptions of the performance of the medium.
Historically photographic technology is presented as a series of seamless
mechanised transactions that is potentially free of human interaction and
situated as a mute participant in the technical production of the photographic
image. Acknowledging the role technology manifests in the production of
photography, I examine through my work and critical reflection, how my
creative practice can harness these technical processes to alter the aesthetic
and theoretical positioning of a photographic practice.
Three key bodies of work: Uninhabited Space, The Reflective Field and
Machine Time_Nature Time explore a successive development of a studio
practice through a series of Contextual developments to uncover and
interrogate the procedures at play. The Contextual developments employed
a range of fundamental materials, techniques and processes native to
photographic practice. The first key work, Uninhabited Space explores the
role film processes play in the authoring of a photographic image. The work
specifically investigates the limitations of film technology as a means to
demonstrate how a ‘void of information’ might be reinterpreted as visual
information within a photographic image. The subsequent key work,
The Reflective Field conceptually challenges the connection between the
photographic image and its presentation to resituate the photographic image
as a transformable surface. The final key work, Machine Time_Nature Time
is presented through extended Contextual developments that examine the
role of contemporary technology in the creation of the photographic image.
Digital, electronic and computational processes are deployed to augment
the capture of the photographic image. Reflection on the outcome of this
final body of work led to the positioning that technological disruption was
used as a creative strategy. This conceptual revision initiates a theoretical
evaluation of photographic practice that allows the opportunity to resituate
the subliminal role of technology in the production of the photographic
image.
The research concludes with a final body of work, Machine Time_Nature
Time in which I argue the disruption of technology contributes to an
alternative understanding of photographic practice and questions how
might deviation of these subliminal processes alter or augment a body of
creative photographic based work. By presenting a series of photographic
works in exhibition format, the research incites a recursive questioning of
what constitutes the photographic image, what is selectively included, and
what is silently occluded.
Key Words: Photography, Technology, Disruption, Generative, Archive, Digital
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Keywords
Photography, Artistic, Nishioka, Mizuho, Criticism and interpretation, Photography, Technology, Disruption, Generative, Archive, Digital