ABSTRACT
Most of the photography discussed so far sits firmly within the pictorial paradigm of wall-bound pictures depicting recognizable subject matter.1 This dominant form of photographic art is currently being challenged. This chapter looks at works that combine photography with other art forms and activities. Works by Walead Beshty and Rachel Harrison have a material, spatial dimension, overlapping with painting, sculpture and installation. Projects by Sharon Lockhart, Clifford Owens and JR include elements of action and the passage of time, opening up towards film, performance and audience participation.2 This small selection gives a sense of the great variety of possibilities for photography within the broader arena of contemporary art. In light of such practices, many critics and art historians argue that photography as a discrete discipline is over, that art has entered a “post-medium condition” in which artists move freely among forms as suits their practice. Alongside this claim, we will examine the possibility that the photographic offers more than just a set of forms or technologies. There are still tangible benefits to discussing many such works in photographic terms. Visual art has transformed beyond recognition in the past few decades. While
traditional art forms persist, they have also combined and dissolved, often resulting in open-ended or participatory works that might not previously have been recognized as art at all. More than ever, artists are engaging with a broad range of concerns from the world at large, ranging from politics, physics, geography and history to popular music, pornography and sport. Any object, event or activity may be proposed as a work of contemporary art – even if not all audiences will accept it as such. Photographic artists have not just participated in the erosion of disciplinary boundaries and the exploration of new forms, in many cases they have led the way. The works discussed in this chapter have been chosen because they all operate within the broader framework of contemporary art while retaining specifically photographic elements.
