Posthuman

The camera has commonly been considered a tool to be mastered by the photographer. Furthermore, images resulting from photographic processes have been understood as replicas of human vision, addressing a human spectator. This technical reproduction of the human gaze, perceived as universal and homogenous, has instantiated a rational view of the world and led to the assumption of control and superiority of the human species. Rather than reinforcing this assumption, can we instead conceive photographic media in a different hierarchical system? One in which technological, animal and human agents negotiate their positions as viewers and photographers creating new power relations and alternative modes of seeing?

The current cluster (SITUATION #129 to #135) addresses questions that are at the heart of contemporary discussions on posthuman interpretations of photographic media. From animal spectatorship to machinic vision, from alternative relationships between photographer and apparatus to autonomous photographic processes that exclude the human viewer, SITUATIONS/Posthuman explores the possibility for a photographic world where humans no longer stand in the centre.