Urgent Temporality - What is it?
What is Urgent Temporality?
As I have been looking at images for the last 30 years and a little more differently in the last 5 years (in recent times it’s possibly been a closer viewing….maybe???)
I have started to see a shift in the way images are made, looked at and consumed. Obviously its clichéd to say that this is all about digital but that’s a massive part of it but even the analogue is mostly now viewed through screens
So what happens when the majority of viewers see your work through a screen, it changes the way you shoot things, the amount you shoot (gone are the days of picture of the week??) the amount of time the image is relevant for and the desire for images.
In response to this I’ve coined a phrase “urgent temporality” to try and decode my theories, thoughts and reasoning.
By this term I mean that we have an urgency to see an image, so in conversations someone mentions did you see “x” the other day, the other persons says no and then the phone comes out to show this image and to discuss, that’s the urgency in imagery.
The temporality comes from the way images are consumed then left behind, it seems that the image has such a short shelf life these days, not many images are constructed to be long term iconic images, there are a few notable ones but when you deconstruct them they don’t always measure up, sometimes the general public gets hold of an image and elevates it through social media shares but that can be very dependant on geography and usage.
I know this needs further work and discussion; it’s an outline, a green shoot, a embryo…
I feel that this has too many areas to explore technology, psychology, sociology, visual literacy, image consumerism, visual geography etc etc etc but it’s a journey that should yield interesting results hopefully not just for me. ..
Thank you for reading
Add in:
Thinking of a research questionnaire to ask people: Maybe the old school approach of inviting to meet people rather than the digital where they were ignored quite routinely.
Questions like:
1. When was the last time you looked at an image?
2. What was it?
3. When was the last time you really looked at and considered an image?
4. What was that image?
5. Can you describe it in 10 words it?
6. When was the last time you went to a gallery?
7. What did you see?
8. How long did you take to look at each of the exhibits?
Yes I think I will start this off, anybody interested?
*Later add in:
Covid19 has shelved much of what we do and one which is breaking my heart is the fact that we can’t go to galleries for shows, the student shows will be un-viewed in physical form and other shows will pass by the wayside, already missed a few and looks like I’ll miss even more.
This subject also borders on the virulent image curse of nostalgic viewing, where people look at image more kindly because of its date. The effects of nostalgia manifest themselves in many guises none of which I’m completely sure about…..as Tony said it’s “crap”
Deliberately lo-fi - Seth Godin (notify@sethgodin.com) DATED 27-07-20
The resolution of communication has been on a downward slide for more than a decade.
Careful hand-tuned typography shifts to endless Helvetica, poorly kerned.
Face to face goes to landline phone call goes to cell phone call, goes to yelling into a speakerphone goes to lazy Zoom etiquette.
Music goes from live to vinyl to mp3.
Much of this is driven by the need to squeeze more and more stuff into a narrow pipe combined with a cultural desire for more instead of better.
But…
It will flip.
It always does.
Because better is better.