Should we start a new photographic movement?

[George Mann]

Can we have a serious discussion about starting a new photographic movement? Yes, no, maybe and why not?

 

[Vaughn]

Should that be "Yes, no, maybe, or why not?"?

On second thought, the answer is probably all four. But it is an interesting question...can one discuss/create a new movement before it starts to move? Or is it a matter of reconizing a new trend and/or possibility, and then moving that trend forward?

Avoid Nostalgia: I do not think photography would be moving forward by embracing any back-looking trends as a new photographic movement.
I use older alt processes for all my work, and the use of historical processes should not carry the images.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Would you please elaborate on the concept of "movement"?

Is it a 'school', like the one in New-York during the 1960s?
Is it an aesthetic 'frame' in which a certain 'style' is practiced?
Is it a kind of (time/historic related-) designation, like the 'Pictorialism', 'Modernism' or 'Surrealism'?
Is it a kind of 'label' to differentiate an actual style amongst other existing styles?
Is it an other state of mind to approach the practicing of photography?
Is it a social movement for which photography is an exclamation or a tool of communication?
Is it just a blend of these questions, and if so what is it?

These are just a handful of questions, amongst many others, I have to consider before answering, but I know that they are tough to answer...

 

[George Mann]

Would you please elaborate on the concept of "movement"?


Is it an aesthetic 'frame' in which a certain 'style' is practiced?
Is it a kind of (time/historic related-) designation, like the 'Pictorialism', 'Modernism' or 'Surrealism'?
Is it a kind of 'label' to differentiate an actual style amongst other existing styles?


These are just a handful of questions, amongst many others, I have to consider before answering, but I know that they are tough to answer...

These 3 seem to be reasonable.

 

[George Mann]

can one discuss/create a new movement before it starts to move? Or is it a matter of reconizing a new trend and/or possibility, and then moving that trend forward?

We need varying ideas grounded in practical approachs.

 

[grain elevator]

I think you have it backwards, the movements that start with an intention, a manifesto or something like that follow a purpose. Your feel we need a movement but are looking for a purpose? Why the need for a movement then?

 

[awty]

Why not just do your own thing, you don't have to be like everyone else.

 

[guangong]

Usually in the artistic sphere, “movements” are identified and described by critics rather than by artists. Artists create, critics categorize.

 

[Chuck_P]

I think you have it backwards, the movements that start with an intention, a manifesto or something like that follow a purpose. Your feel we need a movement but are looking for a purpose? Why the need for a movement then?

Exactly.......just keep photographing, preferably with film.

 

[Helge]

Can we have a serious discussion about starting a new photographic movement? Yes, no, maybe and why not?

Absolutely. Dogma, mantras, mental idioms, mottos and ideology can be a very strong driving force and magnetic field. It’s like a tidal wave that affects everyone, involved or not.
Did you have anything in mind?

 

[faberryman]

Can we have a serious discussion about starting a new photographic movement? Yes, no, maybe and why not?

Sure. Why don't you start us off with your ideas and concepts? For example, is there anything new and creative with your photography which could serve as the basis for a new movement?

 

[nmp]

Movements do not happen by planning and design. They happen. Organically.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Movement do not happen by planning and design. They happen. Organically.

Indeed!

 

[Vaughn]

Do they? Did the f64 'movement' just 'happen', or was it somewhat directed by a bunch of artists?

Which brings up the question, can one have a movement without something to move against or to move away from? Which is the case of the f64 movement in photography.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There are all kinds of new stuff that could be considered a movement.
1. Posting pictures on social media.
2. Using your TV as a projection screen
3. Combining stills and video clips to produce home productions.
4. Using weird lenses and cameras to produce unusual styles.
5. Home photo book making and magazines.

 

[gone]

Sure, absolutely, that's a great idea. But we would have to all get together and agree on what type of movement. You've maybe read the posts and discussions here on the forum? Good luck!

 

[markjwyatt]

Would you please elaborate on the concept of "movement"?

...
Is it a kind of 'label' to differentiate an actual style amongst other existing styles?
...

These are just a handful of questions, amongst many others, I have to consider before answering, but I know that they are tough to answer...

This has been proposed here already: https://www.photrio.com/forum/group/photrio-photographic-arts-standards.154/info

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Usually in the artistic sphere, “movements” are identified and described by critics rather than by artists. Artists create, critics categorize.

Dadaism, fauvism, surrealism, brutalism, futurism, suprematism, to name a few early- to mid-20th century artistic movements, were all started by artists, and got their names from the artists who started them. The importance of critics is always overblown, and the artist as solitary creative spirit is one of the most enduring myth. More often than not artists have felt a need to gather and share a common artistic spirit and common artistic intents and goals, this without ever feeling that it went against their individualism. Romanticism is the perfect example.

Now, didn't we have this conversation just a few weeks ago?

 

[BrianShaw]

Now, didn't we have this conversation just a few weeks ago?

Perhaps that should be the theme of the new movenent: repetitvism.

I think there may even be filters to help support that theme!

multi-image filter - Google Search

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Perhaps that should be the theme of the new movenent: repetitvism.

I think there may even be filters to help support that theme!

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am too busy taking photographs to be concerned about an photographic movement.

 

[nmp]

Do they? Did the f64 'movement' just 'happen', or was it somewhat directed by a bunch of artists?

Which brings up the question, can one have a movement without something to move against or to move away from? Which is the case of the f64 movement in photography.

f64 group didn't start saying let's start a movement. They liked something and started hanging together. Others recognized it and joined them. Years later, people realized it was a movement.

 

[Chuck_P]

Exactly.......just keep photographing, preferably with film.

.......to add, let a "movement", if there's going to be one, take care of itself, then perhaps it would be a genuine thing.......just keep photographing.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I would recommend Group f64: Edward Weston, Ansel Adams et al. by Mary Alinder as a history of a photographic 'movement.' I imagine a biography of Stieglitz could also apply, but he was rather a mess of ideas.

My take on it is:

First a number of photographers independently, and at the same time, develop a style out of the thin air of the zeitgeist. They take notice of each other, coalescing around a common aesthetic. Then they formalize the style as a movement by giving the style a name, developing a statement of aims and then proselytizing the movement through museums, galleries and media. Hopefully the movement catches on, attracting new members and practitioners. The f64 style is still going even though there is no longer a formal group. I count myself a convert.

-Or- I suppose it could start with a song:

...I went over to the Sargent, said, "Sargent, you got a lot a damn gall to
Ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
Sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench
'Cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
Kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
Said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints
Off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
Study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
Singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
Situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if you are in a
Situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
The shrink wherever you are, just walk in and say "Shrink, You can get
Anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
One person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
They won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
They may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
Singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
Organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said
Fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
Walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement, and
All you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
Guitar...

-- Alice's Restaurant Massacree, Arlo Guthrie, 1967

--
Maybe the song could be translated into Russian. They seem to have themselves a little Vietnam moment over there.

 

[MattKing]

For a movement to happen, I think you need something that people coalesce around. Either a central principle or a developing trend.