Panel discussion
"To keep (something) in position: props in contemporary photography"
Kotama Bouabane, Sameer Farooq and Bojana Stancic, in conversation with Gabrielle Moser
May 14, 2pm–4pm
Gladstone Hotel
Click here to watch "To keep (something) in position: props in contemporary photography"
What kind of work do objects perform in contemporary photography? How do human agents activate these inert materials to make new meanings from them, and when might these objects act on us instead?
Join artists Kotama Bouabane, Sameer Farooq and Bojana Stancic, in conversation with art historian Gabrielle Moser, as they discuss the varied uses of the prop in contemporary photographic practice. The prop occupies an unusual position in both theatre and the visual arts: neither costuming nor part of a set, not an installation nor a sculpture, the prop suggests an inanimate but moveable object that must be activated by a human subject. It is a “thing” that gains meaning through the context of its use. And yet, these artists’ works demonstrate that props are more than mere things. Spanning graphic design, set design, performance, video, and photography, these artists' practices deploy props as tools for writing and rewriting histories and imagining different futures for the objects that surround us.
