Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, Kiosk at the Bal, Offprint at the Beaux-Arts—never has photography publishing been so present on the Paris cultural scene. And it seems as though it’s here to stay. While the photography market is still reserved for an elite, photography publishing is accessible, independent and creative, the way the publishing scene for music and cinema once was. This November, Paris was the capital of Zineland.
Taken together, these initiatives demonstrate the extent to which publishing today has gotten itself organized. Its recent explosion has had an effect on creation itself: the world of photography publishing has helped spread a particular aesthetic, showing photographs of all kinds, which is a reflection of the constant stream of images on the Internet. Today these images have made their way onto the walls of the most prestigious galleries, displayed next to the work of masters.
One example this weekend was the installation at the stand of Robert Morat (Hamburg) at Paris Photo. It featured photographs from Christian Patterson’s Redheaded Peckerwood, illustrating the project’s richness and variety. Extracts from the press were available for viewers to consult.
For the past ten years, many photographers and artists have turned towards paper in order to give their projects a more concrete and permanent life. Here that logic was pushed even farther: photography was just one element in this multimedia narrative composition. Trends in the publishing industry tend to catch on. So we should expect more original multimedia projects of this kind.
Antoine Soubrier
To reminds you the contents of the three major photo events of last Parisian weekend :
Paris Photo at the Grand Palais : http://www.parisphoto.com
Kiosk at the Bal : http://www.le-bal.fr
Offprint at the Beaux-Arts : http://www.offprintprojects.com
