READERS 2.6 (online) // Indeterminacy: Thoughts on Time... and Race(ism)

For the August and September sessions of READERS we will be reading an excerpt from Indeterminacy – Thoughts on Time, the Image, and Race(ism) by David Campany and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa. This book can be purchased in our bookshop at 6 William Street. The chosen chapter is: Fixity, slippage and indeterminacy

We will be looking at the increasing ambiguity of the portrait image and its uses and how the context in which images are used, placed and distributed affects the ‘truth’ and the ‘reality’ of the person pictured. A digital copy of the excerpt will be sent out to bookers ahead of the session.

‘Post conceptual art, post-colonial theory, and feminism had in their different ways pushed portraiture if not into crisis, then into a position where its status in and as art had to be, in one way or another, a conspicuously reflexive questioning of what a portrait is and does.’

‘Truth has always been multifold, but photography has contributed to the expectation that it can be fixed and singular.’

‘Photography presents selves without consciousness, and invites the psychological projection of the viewer’

Below are links to other available material that feed into some of the above and might be useful to look at ahead of the session.

• I Weigh – Jameela Jamila and Beanie Feinstein // Podcast exploring themes around the portrayal of women and female friendships in cinema, body image and the misrepresentation of someone as a result of image use in the media: https://www.earwolf.com/episode/beanie-feldstein/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C56SNRMxl0q/?img_index=1

• #iftheygunnedmedown // An online site discussing what image of the victim would be used if they were killed in a gun attack: https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2342/chapter-abstract/920659/Black-Futurity-and-the-Echo-of-Premature-Death?redirectedFrom=fulltext

• Dana Lixenburg -Imperial Courts // A documentary project about the Imperial Courts area of Los Angeles, that spans over 20 years: https://www.imperialcourtsproject.com/

In a series of written exchanges, David Campany and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa consider the options for photography in resisting the oppressive orthodoxies of racial capital, conservative history, and neoliberal visual culture. How does the essential indeterminacy of photography square with the need to work out alternative practices? How is visibility achieved beyond the consensual categories of the mass media and the commodification of art? What models are there for the making and reception of photographic books and exhibitions that might cultivate an active spectatorship beyond boutique consumerism? These urgent questions and more are discussed in a spirit of speculation and possibility, in the light of signal events that have shaped the recent past.

READERS was created by Mayanne Soret and is now facilitated by Kat Gollock and Christina Webber. If you have any questions, please feel free to email [email protected]

READERS is open to all regardless of academic background. While it is encouraged to read as much of the text as possible, please don’t be put off joining us if you cannot finish the text for any reason.

A digital copy of the excerptwill be sent out ahead of the session. If you'd rather, we will have physical copies of the full book available to puchase both in advance of the session and at the event. Of course as Melissa will be joining us you'll also have the opportunity to get these signed by the author!

This is a ticketed event with limited capacity and you must book in order to attend. Tickets work on a sliding scale, and all proceeds help AGITATE continue to operate and programme events like this. Half of all proceeds from ticket sales go to the business, and half go to the speaker/host. The recommended ticket price is £6. Thank you - your donations ensure the survival of spaces like this, and allow us to keep a sliding scale system in place.

The venue is wheelchair accessible, including the toilet facilities. There is private breakout space available too for anyone who would benefit from this.

There are always two groups, one in-person in Edinburgh and one online. Digital copies of the selected text will be circulated in good time before the session.

• Book on this page to join online, Tuesday 17 September, 6:30-8PM.
• Book to join in-person: Tuesday 27 August, 6:30 - 8PM.

Host or Publisher Agitate