WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY (THE)

of SMITH Michael, MERESSE Christian

UNITED STATES, 1986, 00:24:35

Production : FISHER Mark, MIKE AND MARK Productions, SMITH Michael
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Contempory art, Humour, Performance, Photographs

Summary :
Michael SMITH and William WEGMAN are both artists who base their artistic strategy on second-degree humour. Their collaboration produces a satire on photographic art, and more generally on the process of creating images and the relationship between the "major arts" and "mass culture". This video is conceived like an educational guide to developing the notion of "a day in the life of..." as a photographic method, in terms of technique, attitude and approach to the subject of the photograph. WEGMAN plays the role of a cynical and bitter artist, a professional photographer who hires the innocent but assiduous Mike as a trainee. The art market, the "realism" of the photographic image and its growing place in contemporary culture are some of the subjects that are irreverently dealt with by the SMITH/WEGMAN duet.

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