October 16, 2003
Picture Imperfect
A wonderful essay by Steven Shaviro, professor of cinema studies at the University of Washington, Seattle, posted on artforum which I found linked on Buzznet.
Here is a quote from a favorite passage, as I dare not republish the whole article, describing the spirit of camphone picture taking, it's low-resolution snaps and other shortcomings, way-outweighed by instant gratification.
""The street finds its own uses for things," to borrow a phrase from science-fiction writer William Gibson. Camera phones are now being used for a purpose the manufacturers never anticipated: less for person-to-person messaging than for posting instant photos on the Web.
Moblogs do not bear witness to epiphanies or significant memories. Rather, they are entrenched in the ebb and flow of everyday life, in our routines, in the little incidents that we notice for a moment and then forget. These pictures are, in their very essence, inessential. They do not strive to perpetuate the fleeting present so much as they underscore its very ephemerality".
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