The exhibition Dear Aby Warburg, what can be
done with images? began with the observation
that handling photographic material constitutes
a key practice in recent contemporary art.
Soon the legendary art historian and fascinating intellectual Aby Warburg (1866-1929)
appeared as a figure of historical reference;
with his continuing research and above all
with his 'late work,' the Mnemosyne Atlas
he set about tracing the cultural memory
of images in the late 1920s.
(...)
How can photographic images thought lost
– due to a lack of place or name-
be re-found and made to speak to us again?
The significance of a photographic image
does not lie in the image itself;
the decisive aspects are its context
and actualisation as material object.
Every work in the exhibition makes this obvious.
Although all the works named implicitly formulate
the part of the viewer,
the ‘user’ through their openness and
temporary nature, in paula roush’s work
strategies of participation are foregounded.
She tracks down photos that have become homeless. roush calls them ‘orphans’
which can be found at flea markets or in junk shops.
She invites others to ‘adopt’ these ‘orphans’
in their own configurations.
contact
paula roush ::: paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio ::: msdm@msdm.org.uk