The Resurgence of Instant Photography: A Practice of Technological Resistance

THE RESURGENCE OF INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY: A PRACTICE OF TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE

Sergio Minni: Department of Communica:on and New Technologies IULM University

The Impossible Project

A NEW ENTRANT IN AN EMPTY MARKETPLACE •  In February 2008, Polaroid announced the stop of film produc:on. The

final batches were going to pass their use-‐by date in the fall of 2009. In October 2008, The Impossible Project (founded by Florian Kaps, André Bosman, and ten of the former Polaroid employees) bought the last Polaroid produc:on plant for integral instant film in Enschede (NL) and started to produce totally new instant film materials for tradi:onal Polaroid cameras. New films started to be released in 2010.

CASE STUDY: •  An Italian online community of photographers devoted to instant

photography (self-‐defined “Polaroiders”). Founded in 2010, it now counts 1.995 members.

•  Data: 11 semi-‐structured interviews (length: 1:30 to 4:00 hours).

Film Photography in the Digital Age

•  New prac)ces, mainly held by hobbyist photographers, based on the use of popular obsolescent technologies (e.g. plas:c automa:c cameras, instant cameras).

•  New small and medium-‐sized manufacturers/suppliers of films,

cameras and accessories.

Coexistence of the mainstream digital market with analogue niche markets

LONG TAIL OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY

Film Photography in the Digital Age [-‐] Linear theore:cal perspec:ves: •  Film photography as ex:nct technosaur (Nosengo 2008)

•  Film photography as zombie medium (Hertz & Parikka 2012)

Film Photography in the Digital Age [+] Non-‐linear theore:cal perspec:ve: The “interpreta:ve flexibility” of ar:facts increased aher the

digi:za:on of photography

Social re-‐construc:on of photographic technology

Contemporary photographic prac:ces show both con:nui:es and discon:nui:es with the past

Instant Photography as Technological Resistance

THE TWO MEANINGS OF TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY INSTANT FILM PRACTICE

1) TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE AS NON-‐APPROPRIATION: •  Subcultural opposi:on of film use to the mainstream use of digital

cameras. Technological resistance takes here the form of a voluntary rejec:on (non-‐appropria)on) of digital photographic equipment (Kline 2003; Wyak 2014).

2) TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE AS CREATIVE APPROPRIATION: •  Reinterpreta:on of the seman:c associa:on of popular cameras with

snapshot photography. Reloca:on of use to the “serious” ac:vity of hobbyists. Crea)ve appropria)on (Eglash 2004) becomes meaningful in its opposi:on to the consump:on of digital cameras (described as “fe:shized” commodi:es).


•  An “essen:alist” discursive strategy: non-‐appropria:on is explicit (“buy film not megapixels”). Yet, non-‐use is limited to the hobbyist prac:ce, while digital cameras and mobile devices are used for other purposes (family photographs, visual memoranda, and commercial works).

•  Digital photographs as “deviant” ar:facts:

a few excep:ons to the non-‐use of digital devices, yet photographers do not share digital images.

Instant Photography as Technological Resistance •  Interviewees reported an anecdote, well-‐known in their community,

about the depreca:on of digital photography through its use:

“Ho appiccicato il mio i-‐Phone al finestrino del treno; poi mentre leggevo un libro ho con:nuato con il dito senza guardare a schiacciare sul pulsante di scako, ta-‐ta-‐ta-‐ta-‐ta-‐ta-‐ta, per tuko il viaggio. Ho riempito la memoria di fotografie, u:lizzando un filtro Instama:c che mi piaceva. Al rientro ho selezionato 10 foto. Sono andato da uno stampatore e gli ho deko ‘qual è la carta più bella in assoluto che hai?’, ‘Ho questa carta stupenda da retroilluminazione’, ‘Bene’. Poi sono andato da un corniciao e gli ho fako fare un telaio di carta. Le ho impaginate in un libro lungo un metro e alto 40 cen:metri, e l’ho presentato alla lekura porrolio al Photoshow, in:tolandolo ‘Noia’, scrivendo quakro righe di fuffa, e ho ricevuto i complimen: di tut. Geniale, fantas:co. Ho deko: bene, signori, io non ho fako nulla se non portare in giro un telefono e scakare a caso. E poi sì, ho del gusto, lo so, lo so che ho buon gusto, ho selezionato 10 foto. Su 3000 che erano, non ci voleva mica un fenomeno. Quindi ho aperto questa pagina che si chiama ‘I Shit Photo’, così la gente sa quello che penso di questo :po di lavoro.”


“I Shit Photo” Project 2013


MATERIALITY/IMMATERIALITY

•  Manual interven:ons mark photographs with individual authoriality.

•  Imperfec:on, unpredictability, uniqueness.

•  A scarce, expensive resource. Thoughrul, limited produc:on.

•  “Light users” of film.

•  Ordinary life metaphors (For example, a photographer compared the act of using a digital camera to that of paying for having sex, and the use of film cameras to courtship).

•  “Passionate” approach.

•  Digital photographs are “indis:nc:ve”.

•  Digital photographs are “perfect”.

•  “Compulsive” produc:on of digital photographs.

•  “Heavy users” of digital devices.

•  Techno-‐centric discourse.

•  “U:litarian” approach.


THE REMEDIATION OF MATERIALITY

•  The final product embodies the “resistant” meaning: it is at the same :me a picture, a photo-‐object (Buse 2010), and the film itself

•  Photographers reproduce the contradictory logic of “remedia:on” (Bolter & Grusin 1999), transla:ng the aesthesis of instant photography into an “hypermediated” representa:on, while at the same :me construc:ng its “immediacy” and “resistant” authen:city.

•  Strategies to remediate materiality: visual imperfec:ons, Polaroid frame, no interven:on during the scanning process.


FILM AS DISTINCTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN “THE WORLD WHERE EVERYONE CAN BE A PHOTOGRAPHER”

TECHNOLOGICAL APPROPRIATION

LOGIC OF DISTINCTION

TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE

Conceptualizing serious amateur photography as a “technological prac:ce of dis:nc:on”

The Resurgence of Instant Photography: A Practice of Technological Resistance

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