DELAY AND REPETITION: PHOTOGRAPHY AS WAY TO PROTECT AGAINST CHAOS OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

Abstract

The current article is dedicated to two social functions of photography that are connected with its scientific and industrial roots, namely delay and repetition. These functions are closely related to the specifics of comprehension in the current society and suggest a reliable method of adaptation to the increasing speed of the social world. Photography as a regular practice of the many connected to the informational society, as an individual but collectively shared practice, becomes a somewhat ritual activity freed from sense and appearing as «the grand delay», «fixing» the world’s virtual condition «in an image» and repetition of this image in photography. Pressing of the button and looking at images appear to be two metaphysical procedures responsible for the sense of historicity and connectedness in a human life. The possibility to capture and see what’s captured once again, to obtain a certain stable form and to prove identity become fundamental functions of the photographic practice aimed to negotiate speed of changes in the social world. Delay and repetition, the two methods of expansion of social experience supported by photography, allow a new interpretation of the urge to photograph and the constant increase in production of images. The amount of photographs produced can be used to evaluate the society’s rate of change, the regression of traditional complex forms of defense and ethos. Industrialization has created a situation when, having abandoned any ethos in favor of mechanic repetition, society has, on the one hand, freed itself of the substance of limiting and restraining ritual, and on the other hand, refused the predictable order that ensured stability. Such double cancellation has defined the further development of social environment towards the increasing velocity of life. Thus, making photographs is needed for actualization of the world, and the more the faster life becomes.