Tonight at 18h, “An Aspect of Contemporary Photobooks from Turkey”, FUAM Limited Edition Photobooks exhibition, in Belgrade University Library, Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 71.
Curated By Volkan Kızıltunç
Why do we need photobooks ?
“verba volant scripta manent”
Tuna Uysal
Why do humans need books? Why are they constantly in the act of recording what is said or witnessed? What is the pursuit of keeping records? Various answers can be given to all these questions. To be permanent, to be immortal, to transfer knowledge, to warn, to satisfy the needs of belonging/possession… etc.
Recognizing the importance of recording, human consciousness is rapidly focusing on different recording methods and their displays. Every symbol and code system that has been recognized as communicative power has been used efficiently and studies have always been made to develop a different communication system. Photography has taken its place in all of these communicative symbol indexes from the moment of its discovery up until today. As Willem Flusser said; “In the past, texts were describing images, and now, conversely, photographs visualize newspaper articles”. Therefore, as much as photography is art, it is also a form of communication, which reveals its narrative power. Why would not a form of communication that has narrative power be a book? “Photography has turned into a visual language, and we are now talking with images eminently”.
How can photography, which is exhibited on the walls as a singular object by galleries or magazines of the modern age, take up the form of a book, even though the communication phenomenon regards photography as a language? This can be answered with a statement by Quentin Bajac, curator of photography department of MOMA; “The photo is not hung on the wall anymore. The book form constitutes the basis of the photo. We should be aware of this and cooperate with museum libraries. Our surroundings are filled with many examples that consist of this form and we need to collect them”.
“FUAM” (Photography Practice and Research Centre) aimed to respond to the “PHOTOBOOK” phenomenon, which directs the forms of production and sharing in the art world. The artists had the opportunity to work with and present their own photographs to the outstanding artists of the photobook world such as Ania Nalecka, Rafal Milach, Nico Baumgarten, Michela Palermo, Matthieu Charon, Remi Faucheux, Marcus Schaden, Frederic Lezmi, Calin Kruse, Valentina Abenovelli and Alex Bochetto. The photobook as one of the basic forms of photography is of great importance in terms of being the main project of FUAM. The first goals of this project were to focus on the production of photobooks, which have become a rising value in the last few years, in an academic setting, to bring various artists to the art world through new productions and to establish a center for gathering this accumulation.
With the support by Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – Turski kulturni centar Beograd
