Lieven Gavaert Series 4
"Critical realism is a way of seeking to understand the social
reality by critically 'making notes' of it. . . . As scratches of
reality, Sekula's photographs and films leave their traces in our
minds. They encourage, yes, even force reflection, and through
that, slow changes can probably become a reality, certainly at the
level of the individual." from the Introduction, "A Note on
Critical Realism Today"
The American photographer Allan Sekula teaches at the California
Institute of the Arts. His oeuvre features a number of unique
characteristics that instigate a strong plea for art to become once
more critically engaged. Sekula's iconography rediscovers the theme
of labor and his photographs, on the verge between art and
documentary, reflect on the possibility that visual art might again
deliver an "act of criticism." In the art world, for several
decades now, realism has been relegated to the museum of premodern
styles and devices, and the idea of social commitment in art has
become confused; even when contemporary art carries a strong
political message, it often does so in a way that masks the message
within a tangle of conceptual devices and abstractions.
Sekula's photography has triggered intense debate about the ways
in which art can take a critical position on social questions
without succumbing to a plainspoken or partisan stance. In Critical
Realism in Contemporary Art, leading theorists of art use Sekula's
work as a starting point for wide-ranging discussions of
technology, history, and society as they are reflected in today's
photographic practice."
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