Photography, Perpetratorship and Responsibility

Ever since its invention in 1839, photograph has shaped reality and the way in which we experience it. Photography has authority. An air of neutrality surrounds the medium, stemming from its inherent technological core. Hints of imperfection can be easily considered to be truthful translations from the real context or attributed to characteristics of the apparatus. With authority comes power. Photographs not only support the news, they have the ability to channel them. Frequently referred to in medical, historical and forensic analysis, they are used as plausible evidence to convince and potentially convict. They are, moreover, a useful instrument for surveillance and control. In their work, photographers make numerous choices, consciously as well as subconsciously, regarding what to focus on, what to exclude, when to shoot, how to edit and what results to share with their audiences. Depending on what the photographer wishes to convey or question, spatial-temporal decisions are made, allowing us to deeply engage with the images and experience the captured situation in the present, from up close – as if we were there in person. One could question how a medium – believed to objectively represent reality – could be subject to such a vast array of options. In other words, can a photograph ever be the objective means of representation that we take it for? Through their photographed installations, Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger appear to address this question, while redesigning the borderlands between reality and fiction. World history in photographic record now turns into a crafted stage and once again into photography, framed with props – functioning both as toolbox and archive. Skilfully pointing out how our perception can be manipulated, the artists invite us to remember and review the original iconic images upon which their series is based and contemplate their historical reception. In this way, they dare us to critically reflect on the daily