Living in the wake of the withering signified.
- Quote; "The public does not want to know what Napoleon III said to William of Prussia. It wants to know whether he wore beige or red trousers and whether he smoked a cigar".
This immediate introduction somewhat represents what is to be said throughout the article. The public doesn't always need a story to enjoy an image.
- Talks about the exhibition held at the Photographer's Gallery near Leicester Square, London - from the 19th April to 18th May.- Exhibition is essentially a 3D version of magazine The Face (a British fashion, culture and music magazine that could be purchased monthly. First published in 1980 by Nick Logan).
- Split into "five categories corresponding to the regular sections around which the magazine itself is structured..." (pg.107) these include Intro, Features, Style, Expo and Disinformation.
- Touches briefly on the Second World ideologies and how this in turn applies to the magazine itself; "The Face is not read so much as wandered through...a text to be 'cruised' as Barthes - a leading Second World spokesperson...used to say."
- This then leads on to a more detailed explanation of the differences between the First World and the Second World (although in this article they are labelled as "Planet One" and "Planet Two" pg. 108)
- Divides between these two 'worlds'?;
In terms of photography, the contrast seems to be around the involvement of text or the 'story' behind the image. Using examples such as John Berger (a First World critic) and the Second World People of the Post, this article shows how First World photographers believe that photos should be encased within a text "...in order to make the image 'tell' its true story." (pg.108) whereas Second World critics believe the very opposite; "...but rather to liberate the signifier from the constraints imposed upon it by the rationalist theology of 'representation'." (pg.108).
- Goes on to suggest that First World philosophy is essentially 'outdated'; "...perpetuating submission to an outmoded and disabling metaphysic." (pg.109)
- When continuing on, I think it is being suggested that the People of the Post (Second World) are potentially trying to 'undermine' the views implicated by the First World, as it seems to be saying that these opinions are more controlling than 'enlightening'; "...the Post identify the centralised source of this oppressive power...which is seen to hover like the ghost of the Father behind all First World discourse guaranteeing...the order of things." (pg.109) Therefore, the Second World is "refusing all law and demanding a subjectivity without guarantees." (pg.109)
- However, it recognises a similar theory of that written by Baudrillard - when a symbol (or in this case, a photo), is constantly reused and replicated, it beings to lose its meaning. If we no longer have a 'story' behind a photograph, it can soon find itself in a state of simulacra; "First the referent (the world outside the text) disappears. Then the signified...left in a world of...'empty' signifiers. No meaning...just a ceaseless procession of simulacra." (pg.109)
It even goes on to mention Baudrillards radical views on the state of 'reality', in which it is said that he believes that this constantly changes and "flickers". Our memories and desires always blur into one and therefore "...'we' never did exist...thus 'I' is nothing more than...an optical illusion" (pg.109) We lose touch with what is 'real'.
- There is also a paragraph between this that quickly summarises the Third World. Apparently this group believes "...we are free to serve whatever gods we choose...to play in the blank, empty spaces of now." It appears to be an option in-between the First and Second World, neither telling us to believe in a higher power or not, but simply stating that we have the right to choose our realities.
- Coming back to Baudrillard, the article begins to use an analogy for his opinion that we are just acting out what we are being told or feed by media. We are no longer in control, but we still have the chance to be...""like the heads on a video recorder, we merely translate audio and visual signs back and forth from one terminus (the tape) to another (the screen)...'by' is the unspeakable preposition...it suggests that there's still time...for intervention...somewhere left to intervene" pg.110.
If we don't do anything, on the other hand, then "...we are - all of us - merely stations on the endless, mindless journey of the signifier; a journey made by nobody to nowhere..." (pg.110)
- This is then applied to the world before and after war. ("industrial to a 'post-industrial...society") where the process of production changes along with the amount of production. Narrowing everything down again so that it is highly refined and delicate ("'etherealised'.")
- Using philosopher, Karl Marx, as another example to this theory, this article ends on the note that 'hypercapitalism' and the "capital mode of production" has "...'abstracted' production..." to a scale that has left us not questioning what is going on far further than that of Marx's previously thought out scale for the future. We are worse than he had predicted.
Bibliography:
Evans, J. Halls, S (editors) Visual Culture: The Reader (1999) Sage Publications Ltd.
Anon (2013) The Face (magazine) [Online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Face_(magazine)
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