The emotional clock
There are many books about photo technics and photographic know-how. Photography was born together with a very specific kind of literature that combines in equal manner subjectivity and objectivity. In those handbooks is often explained how to use a technical device but also most of them guide us through the complicated paths of composition, color adjustment and artistic perception. Photography might be one of the best examples of what the 20th century wanted to be – an emotional technical society.
Anne Pöhlmann collects photographic handbooks. Der Grosse Photo Helfer, Kunstlicht und Photographie, La Ampliación are only a few titles in her collection. If we once have the opportunity to flip through one of these handbooks we will realize that photography is closely linked with horology, the science of time, timekeeping and timekeepers. If we are able to understand the mysteries of time and more precisely timing, we can be excellent photographers. After I walked through Anne Pöhlmann’s exhibition at Aachen-Kornelimünster I could remember how many steps I made and how many minutes I spent in front of every single image. Pöhlmann engineered a very accurate ‘emotional clock’ in which every single piece performs with precision its individual task and at the same time a main collective task – measuring our times without the need of a tick-tock.
text published by inspire me, again
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