From Limbo to Mashup and the Spell of the Fake: Relating contemporary photographic practice and the photographic archive through a framework of Material Engagement Theory

Abstract

In this paper, Cognitive Archaeology’s Material Engagement Theory is engaged as a means to consider some of the current material interests and the social dimension of contemporary photographic practice in relation to photographic archives. First the social fabric at the foundation of the John Marshall Photographic Collection and the research methods and working practices of its founder are described. Then, three contemporary photo-mediated artworks, whose inception lies with archival material from the John Marshall Photographic Collection held at The British School at Rome, are discussed through a framework of MET’s three working hypotheses. These are the hypothesis of the extended mind, the hypothesis of enactive signification and the hypothesis of material agency. By drawing together the current material and social interests of contemporary photographic practice with MET, in specific relation to archival photographic material, this paper aims to shed new light on some of the diverse ways in which contemporary photographic practitioners are engaging with photographic archives. Presented here is a preliminary introduction of contemporary photographic practice to the practical applications of MET’s three working hypotheses, so that those in the field of cultural materials conservation may be able to consider its application in their own practice-based activity and discourse.