Magda Stanová – In the Shadow of Photography

#1 min Markéta Kinterová

5. 12. 2023

#45 HypertensionPhotobooksPhilosophy

There is power in simplicity. In this book, the author has managed to touch the very essence of photography and uncover stereotypes that no one thinks about anymore. In this, and the simplicity of the chosen form of the drawings, resides its great charm. With the help of the most economical illustrations, as well as handwritten short texts, the author manages to present in all its beauty the strangest situations that the medium of photography evokes. For whom do we put a smile on our faces? Since when does a child understand that they have to look into the lens and why do they have to do all this? Why does a group of people tend to cluster in a frontal composition and look at one spot? Why does the caption for a photograph list the photographer and not the person depicted? Why is it impossible to experience a holiday without having to define one's attitude towards taking pictures? Does anyone ask the victim in the photograph if they mind being depicted? A hefty package of questions that everyone must answer for themselves, and where else but in the shadow of photography. 

 

Magda Stanová, In the Shadow of Photography, Prague: AVU, 2023

#45 HypertensionPhotobooksPhilosophyNarrativeIdentityExperimentInstitutional critiqueAuthor's review

Markéta Kinterová

is the artistic director of Fotograf.zone and the editor-in-chief of the online magazine Fotograf. Her practice focuses on artistic research related to public space. She teaches at the Department of Photography at FAMU, Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

#45 Hypertension

Feelings of hypertension, a hyper-tense body, hypertension of the heart, hypertensive impulses, hypertensive images, hypertensive stimuli, hypertensive behavior, hypertensive individuals, hypertensive situations, hypertensive information flows, hypertensive media, a hypertensive flow of notifications. Is your blood pressure still the same? Is it rising? All fine? Are you feeling okay? Elevated blood pressure, or hypertension, is a metaphor for the question of the new virtual “I” and the changeability of a newly formed identity, the theme of this year’s Fotograf Festival, hypertension23, and also of this issue, which this time breaks away from the usual concept due to the connection to the festival, bringing a more concrete form, more akin to a catalogue.

Tourism

#2 min Markéta Kinterová

Tourism

#46 TourismEditorialHistory

It is interesting how much the world of photography is connected with tourism, in other words, how much the two domains may have in common. If we look at them through the lens of a mass phenomenon, they may even be similarly old. And it is in this perspective that a number of controversial questions arise in all their clarity. To what extent has tourism affected many of the coastlines and unique destinations that attract tourists? And to what extent does photography influence our perception of the places we visit?