PHOTOGRAPHY BEYOND THE VISUAL: IS THERE A WAY TO PLURALITY

Abstract

The article briefly affecting the material of the history of photography, focuses on successive forms of speaking about photography preferred in this or that period. It is shown that iterference of these different forms of discourse containing such different terms as «document» and «media» is possible if the photo is regarded as a form of reaction to the cultural processes of a given period. Accordingly, choosing to analyze technologization as latest cultural challenge the article indicates the leveling of photo content in favour of photography’s «informativity» thus tracing the shift of photography as image to photography as information for electronic data exchange networks. In connection the problem is formulated, that of saturation of typically humanities discourse on photography with language of natural science, which seems to be a result of the processes of «anthropodecentretion» going on in academy. The author argues in favor of maintaining deunification of photography interpretations, refering to recent theoretical studies, as well as specific examples of work with photos in the past few years (Gursky, Steyerl).