chapter 5, photography arts infrastructure: towards 2050. a transformed world: chapter 5,...

I am sure this as happened to other people who regularly give public lectures. You turn up at the venue with your lecture on a USB memory stick, you pass this on to the technician, check all is ok, give your PowerPoint presentation and after the lecture the technician returns the memory stick.

Sometime later you are invited to give another lecture and you check the presentation and you realised that the memory stick is not yours, and the presentation is definitely not yours. This happened to me recently. I am not sure when my memory stick was inadvertently switched, but I am am convinced it was at a higher education establishment either in North America or the UK.

The PowerPoint presentation I found on this other memory stick gives the impression that it was made by or for a government department. It is similar to the reports produced by the U.S. National Intelligence Council that identifies key trends that will shape world events over the next twenty years.

However this presentation is not directly focused on conflict, politics or economics, but looks at culture and arts infrastructure. In particular it looks at the future of photography and reads like it is only one section of a much longer presentation that may be on another memory stick somewhere else in the world.

It would be good to see the full presentation, but for now you may find this of some interest, so instead of my lecture please find this PowerPoint presentation that I found on the misplaced USB. Of course this will be without any voice over.

I am not sure if the use of American spelling in the presentation is significant or not, because it might have been made for a wider audience to highlight issues that will affect all Western liberal democracies.

Paul Wombell

Arts Infrastructure Towards 2050

A Transformed WorldChapter 5, Photography

Arts Infrastructure: Towards 2050. A Transformed World: Chapter 5, Photography

Introduction

Using existing data from government departments, reports from think tanks and other information on social trends, it is possible to forecast what the arts of the future will look like and what kind of cultural infrastructure will be required by 2050

As started in the preceding chapters this report highlights the framework and the key intellectual concepts that will inform our decision process at national level. These concepts will be central in understanding what is required in terms of cultural provision and the role of photography in the future

We define infrastructure as buildings, technologies and the environment. Infrastructures define what is made and seen

In this section we shall look at the implications for photography and how it will fits into this new framework


Infrastructure

It is not possible to calculate the amount of money spent on cultural buildings over the last twenty years because records are not precise, but we have witnessed a once in life time building boom in cultural projects

Major arts buildings like museums are now more likely be funded by private individuals to display their own collections (See Chapter 1)

It is important to recognize technology as a form of infrastructure that increasingly plays a more significant role than buildings in cultural provision

The camera should be recognized as infrastructure

With the decline of the middle-class due to technological innovation we shall witness a decline in audiences for the arts and decline in attendances for cultural buildings


Over the last twenty years these two issues have been at the forefront in investment decisions

Creative Industries

Regeneration Private and public partnership approach to arts funding

Increase Participation

Wider involvement in the arts Improved accessibility

However these two issues have run their course and we are now at the beginning of a new era which will be defined by five issues


The New Agenda

Limitations of the State

The Domestication of Art

Climate Change

Rights of Nonhumans

The Democracy of Things


Limitations of the State

As national boundaries are undermined by the globalization of trade, telecommunications, multinational corporations and non-government organizations, the role of the State in national affairs will continue to shrink

With international terrorism, pandemics and climate change resulting in extreme weather, the State cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens, as it functions more like firefighters rather than planning for catastrophic events

Like welfare and education, the State will move away from direct funding of cultural organizations and their activities (See Chapter 1)

The State has had little involvement in the development of photography


The Domestication of Art

As art becomes more a private activity that is shared on the Internet then this will have fundamental implication for the existing building infrastructure

We shall also see the domestication of the production and the display of art with private homes having their own workshops and museums

The growing interest in ‘Make Culture’ will become more central to the daily lives of millions of people (See Chapter 6)

This will be assisted with more powerful computers and additive manufacturing (3-D printers)

Photography is already well integrated into domestic life with camera phones


Climate Change

With the need to reduce emissions from fossil fuels and carbon dioxide, more restricted practices are needed in response to climate change

From 2025 all man-made objects will be required to be audited and record the material and energy needed to manufacture the object

No distinction will be made between objects like cars, electrical items or fine art - including photographic images - regardless if they are printed or for use on the screen

Every object and image will have their material and energy usage marked on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest use of material and energy

Taxation will be placed on on objects and images that record higher than 3 on the scale

Objects and images that are recycled will receive a tax credit

Already companies are developing apps that will do the calculations that will be embedded in all objects and images

By 2020 a green paper will be published for consultation


Rights of Nonhumans

It is now widely recognized that other living species have their own social structures, language skills and intelligence

Legal personhood for some mammals like primates and cetaceans is becoming more widely accepted

By 2030 certain animals will gain rights in law to be recognized as cultural producers and by 2050 they have the right to make their own art like humans

The camera is a suitable form of technology that will play an important role in giving other species the opportunity to create their own culture and vision

With reference to photographers and artists that have depicted other species in their work, it will become mandatory by 2030 to give equal authorship by naming the other animal in making the work, plus they will receive 50% of fees for reproduction and sales


Example of Good PracticeFrom Here To There, 2003. Jana Sterbak/Stanley The Dog

Arts Infrastructure: Towards 2050. A Transformed World: Chapter 5, Photography Example of Bad PracticeThe Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991. Damien Hirst and unknown tiger shark


The Democracy of Things

The Internet of Things will become the Democracy of Things

As manufactured objects become more connected and communicate between themselves with their own agency that will eventually achieve certain rights in law

We are approaching the moment when there are the same amount of cameras on the earth as humans

Since many objects will last longer than the human race it will be important that humans relinquish their political, economic power to objects and other species

This will be the human legacy, that other forms of life will be able to exist beyond the extinction of mankind


Photography

As a form of technology, photography is well placed to respond to the changes outlined in this report

The computation of photography will continue as the camera becomes more robotic and the role of the human photographer diminishes

The definition of the photographer will change to include other animals

The camera will continue to be integrated into all forms of technology

By 2025 cameras will be able to exchange images between themselves without direct human involvement

From 2030 the concept of authorship of the photographic image will be shared with technical objects and other animals


Conclusion / 1

A new cultural agenda is developing that will require fundamental change to human values that have evolved since the Enlightenment

The definition of infrastructure has been defined to rigidity and should be widened to included technological objects

We shall see a major withdrawal of State involvement and funding in the arts

We shall see the development of the ‘creative house’ where making and display of art becomes private and domesticated

The arts need to recognize its complicity in climate change


Conclusion / 2 All man-made objects and images will be audited on energy and material usage and

will be rated on a scale of 1 to 10

It will be recognized that other species can make art

That photography can play a major role in this new era

This is the first edition of Arts Infrastructure and we have plans to produce a future edition looking towards 2070

This will be co-edition with the Species Authorship Committee and the Technology Object Institute


Bibliography

Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation. Gary L. Francione. Columbia University Press. 2009

Beyond Nature and Culture. Philippe Descola. University of Chicago Press, 2013

Leaning to Die in the Anthropocence: Reflections on the End of Civilization. Roy Scranton. City Lights Books. 2015

The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground. Pew Research Center. 2015

The Future of the Professions: How Technology will Transform the Work of Human Experts. Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind. Oxford University Press. 2015

The Internet of Things. Samuel Greengard. The MIT Press, 2015

The Machine Question. David J. Gunkel. The MIT Press, 2012

The Nonhuman Turn. Richard Grusin. University of Minnesota Press, 2015

The Universe of Things. Steven Shaviro. University of Minnesota Press, 2014

Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Jane Bennett. Duke University Press, 2010

chapter 5, photography arts infrastructure: towards 2050. a transformed world: chapter 5,...

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