Retracings

I also was drawn to Zaatari's statement refering to the use of photography as a subject rather than a medium. I dont think he was questioning the validity of photography as a medium just referring to his specific role as an artist working with photographs as an archive rather than a photographer working with the camera as a tool for self-exploration or social commentary. It would be difficult to create a project based on an archive of fine art photographs that already embody a conceptual intent (unless you were commenting on the art world, or trends in fine art photography), but photographs intended for media use or basic documentation of life (family photos, editorial images, etc..)are latent with hidden societal information. The Raqs Media reading states "The challenge of working with documents in an art space is the possibility of decrypting the aporias in the representation of the real".

The Atlas Group discussion of FACTS was really straight forward and well written (a breath of fresh air). Their position that the Lebanese Civil War was not a chronology of concrete facts but rather an ABSTRACTION of various discourses rang true to me. I also wondered how people could outright deny history. Take for instance those jerk-offs who claim that the Holocaust never happened. I guess if they were brought up amongst another discourse concerning WWII, they might disregard all factual information regarding that event. Its a little scary to think that all history is an abstraction.