On this coming Tuesday, June 18, 2013, I hope to visit the ever-controversial Deutsche Börse show at The Photographers’ Gallery. I can’t remember missing a year and I can’t remember a year that didn’t throw up some argument about its status as Britain’s best known photography prize (There isn’t much competition; so little that a British organisation can’t even sponsor it). I should add that it is an international prize.
Here’s a link to TPG’s site and DB page: Link
The arguments tend to involve one or several of the following issues:
1. This is not a photography prize, it is for conceptual art that uses photography.
2. The pattern is often the same: four photographers (or artists), one long serving and very established, one established but more contemporary and edgy, two that no one outside of a few London post codes and international photography festivals will have heard of (the latter never win).
3. Re-framing point 1 in a different way, if you are a straight photographer you stand either little chance, or the established but edgy practitioner isn’t that good. The Guardian’s Sean O’Hagan mordantly noted that Chris Killip, nominated for a retrospective covering 20 years of work on the UK, might as well have not been included as the ‘straight man’ “given that a straightforward documentary photographer, even one as esteemed as Killip, is so unlikely to ever take the award again.” (Link)
Here is O’Hagan’s short review of the prize when the nominees were announced. (Link)
There are other arguments but it’s late on a Sunday evening and I can’t think of any right now.
Like the Turner Prize, the arguments against are often made by worthy but more conservative commentators or those that feel the need to defend straight photography or documentary over conceptual work. This year’s winners, the Ant and Dec of photography, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin with their piece War Primer 2, are no exceptions, often polarising opinion with works that squeeze, pull and tear the malleable fabric of documentary photography. This irks those that either feel that documentary practice is sacrosanct (or at least sacrosanct from a couple of upstart photo-pranksters) or those that feel that Broomberg and Chanarin are being glib with the very serious subject matter they often address. Editor of foto8 website, Jon Levy, criticised the choice of winner because of long associations between The Photographers’ Gallery and B & C, including positions as trustees etc.
TPG director, Brett Rogers, stated at the prize giving:
“The jury awarded the prize to Broomberg and Chanarin for their bold and powerful reimagining of Brecht’s War Primer. [It] applauded the way in which the project pushed the boundaries of the medium, exploring the complex relationship between image and text while drawing on elements from both the past history of photography and the present image economy.”
To me the issue is this. I stand as a defender of the traditions of straight photography. One of Broomberg and Chanarin’s positions has to be vocally antithetical to that belief; they frame photojournalism as being in crisis. Of course they do because such discourse is helpful to their cause, to the defence of their own work. But the arguments stirred up, as well as the work itself, are important. There is a danger that photography will become more and more involved in a discussion with itself and this will exclude not all but part of the audience. However, the necessity for discussion is undeniable and, for all the wrong reasons but also many of the right ones, it is important that Broomberg and Chanarin’s seat at the table is maintained and celebrated.
It would be a shame if this prestigious prize became the preserve of a narrow range of conceptual artists who utilise photography but don’t powerfully represent it as a medium. In 2010, French artist Sophie Ristelhueber won the Deutsche Börse for work not dissimilar (in theme, not form) to that of Broomberg and Chanarin. At least, in 2013, we can say that the contemporary photographic world is more central to the ambitions of the winning team. I’ll add any other thoughts after seeing the exhibition, I might even mention the other two nominees.