Theater of the Times: Contemporary Images and Their Many Interpretations

The exhibition “Theater of the Times: Contemporary Images and Their Many Interpretations” focuses on the evolution of reportage photography under the rapid advancement of technology, from the analog era with its professional photographic technology to the digital era with a camera in everyone’s smartphone, from paper media to digital platforms and even digital images generated by algorithms. It ponders the changes and ideas brought into being by photographers, image production, and image contents. In Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, the American conceptual art pioneer Solomon LeWitt (1928- 2007) wrote, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” This is the core value of contemporary documentary photography.

The exhibition adopts the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photo series Theaters as a metaphor, ruminating on the interrelationships among creators, camera functions, photography, time, and image production. In the era of digital photography, contemporary photographers have basically adopted the creative approach of “anti-reportage,” altering or slowing down the cadence at which reportorial photographs were taken in the past, paying less attention to decisive moments and conflicts, or using medium- or large-format cameras (instead of the usual 35mm cameras) in an attempt to present their subjective worlds in stylized manners, with attitudes of circumspection and contemplation.

In On Photography, Susan Sontag observes, “Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy.” This exhibition examines contemporary image works by Taiwanese and international artists from two main approaches—“The Cameraperson Carrying Their Camera” and “The Artist Using Images Recorded by Cameras.” It also exploring three subordinate themes: “Hidden Protagonists,” “Transformation and Rebirth” and “Visual Landscapes.” Delving into photography as a kind of art with its own unique qualities, presenting works by 17 artists in a diverse array of forms, such as photographs, moving images, video installation, photographic theater, and still photo film. Here, we ponder how contemporary documentary images reflect reality, as well as their outlook, influence, and meaning for human society.

Sources: Taipei Fine Arts Museum