Katrien De Blauwer, Noémie Goudal, Claudia Huidobro, Anni Leppälä, Catherine Poncin, Esther Teichmann, Pablo Jomaron & Quentin Leroy
At first, it may seem like photography defines a composition that isolates a small piece of reality. The result is a suggestive image, a recomposed reality to be perceived within the limits of the frame. In some artistic practices, the dialectics between subject, frame, and off-camera is emphasized through the addition of fragments from various origins in order to create a collage. The act of cutting that singularizes the subject, and that of fragmenting, which “implodes” images, are the processes employed by artists to create a visual gap and multiply reading levels.
Avant-gardes already practiced this fragmentary approach as shown by the innovative research led by the Bauhaus and the De Stijl, the graphic experiments of the soviet and Czech movements, the iconoclastic leaflets of the Dadaists and of course the surrealists’ collages, not to mention the outstanding Merztbau de Kurt Schwitters. This approach was, and still is, actively used in graphic design and for communication supports. Alongside advertising purposes, a tighter relationship between text and image enabled the development of political messages that could serve propaganda art as well as anti-government movements. The anti-establishment approach of the great John Heartfield is one example among many.
