Wim Wenders on his Polaroids – and why photography is now over

[rbiemer]

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/oct/12/wim-wenders-interview-polaroids-instant-stories-photographers-gallery?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=247684&subid=20938137&CMP=GT_US_collection

Fairly misleading headline, I think, but worth some thought.

Rob

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

"[Art form] is over" is always just a hyperbolic way of saying "[Art form]'s cultural niche has changed." People in my line of work declare the novel dead every eighteen months or so!

The headline's indeed kind of a shame—that's a thoughtful and charming interview. I'd love to see the show!

 

[DwF]

Got to love his response to did you ever "compare notes with Dennis Hopper" 🙂

Thank you for sharing this. I got to hear and meet Wim Wenders at a small presentation of his film "Alice in the Cities" NY in about '77. I'd already seen the American Friend which remains one of my absolute favorite films of all time.

The title "...why photography is over" is a bit over the top. I know I am drawn to images because it is about the image but more important, know that my kids who are millennials are as well.

That said, Wenders questioning and preoccupation with all things related to the "capture of real events" on some device or other is thematic for him and integrated into his cinema.... a poignant other example is the recorded message Harry Dean Stanton leaves in Paris, Texas.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Sorry, title is not misleading, but radical nonsense. It is next to "all Muslims are bad" title.
IMO.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks for posting, for me if you cut through all the mental hashing around, Polaroid was really a lot of fun. I have many from that time that are just as good because they are bad.

 

[karlin]

Thank you for the link!

 

[Michael Markey]

Thanks for the link ...

 

[robert blu]

I love Wenders work, both in photo and in movies.I'm actually reading "The Cezanne Pixels" which is a collections of his talks in various occasions. And I love Polaroids...
Thanks Rob for the link!
robert

 

[fireblade]

Interesting read. The title was from the imagination of a journalist who was bored.

 

[MaxElmar]

In 1995 Arthur Danto declared all art ended in the 1960s... yeah, I thought it was stupid too. But I read it and I realized that he was just saying art criticism needed to change. (Yeah, sure dummy what do ya think?) Anyway, the equivalent of a click-bait headline in academia...

 

[marko.oja]

Yeah yeah.. photography is dead/over/whatever. I have just spent the last seven days taking and editing photos while this stuff should take no more tha 20 % of my work time. Photography is dead when they figure out how to instantly transfer objects and documents to a digital format without someone setting up the lights and pressing the button. Ain't gonna happen in the next future, so please change the subject.

 

[BlackXList]

Interesting read. The title was from the imagination of a journalist who was bored.

Sean O'Hagan is the Ken Rockwell of writing about photography, so it's to be expected.

 

[Big Ursus]

Hi robert blu,
I'm also a Wenders' fan. Could you tell us more about his "The Cezanne Pixels," and where you found it? Google isn't much help.

 

[plummerl]

Sorry, but one of Seattle's own, Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam) has taken nearly 20,000 Polaroids during his career. He has documented them in his book, "Of Potato Heads and Polaroids, My Life Inside and Out of Pearl Jam" (https://pearljam.com/news/mike-mccready-polaroid-book-pre-sale), quite an interesting history of his life in the band. I attended a talk he gave at KEXP in Seattle about the book, quite an enjoyable evening. He had a Polaroid full of film, shot a number of shots during the talk and then gave the camera (and his shots) away to someone in the audience after the talk.

The one thing I'm desperately waiting for from Wim Wenders is a reissue of his film, "Until the End of the World"!!!!

 

[robert blu]

Hi robert blu,
I'm also a Wenders' fan. Could you tell us more about his "The Cezanne Pixels," and where you found it? Google isn't much help.

The book is part of a series about photography edited by Contrasto which is an italian editing house. I'm afraid for the moment there is only the italian edition. But very probably in a short time it will be translated in english.

robert

 

[Richard G]

I saw a vimeo online recently.(https://vimeo.com/225978710). Eleven photographers. The last word was from Wim Wenders. "Photographs are complex. They invite you to see more than any movie could ever show." Sets you thinking....