To Be Determined: Photography and the Future

by Duncan Wooldridge

How photography transforms the future as much as the past This book proposes a radical that the photograph is as much an object of the future as it is of the past. Exploring a familiar medium through a new lens, the book asserts that photographic technologies, processes, experiences and products are geared toward a world to come, not a world that has been. Written as a sequence of short interlinking essays, To Be Determined takes its cue from Czech-born philosopher Vilém Flusser in its quest to reconceive the tools of photography and show how they inform the world around us. Moving between contemporary photography and fine art, the book proposes that artists and photographers who question photography’s capacities can also alter our understanding of the medium and change our perception of our own agency, and our capacity to see, think and act.
Duncan Wooldridge (born 1981) is an artist, writer and teacher at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London (UAL). He is the author of John Not Black and White (Ridinghouse) and is a regular contributor to 1000 Words, Foam and Over .

Genres: Art, Photography

175 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2022

Reviews

[Fernanda Armada · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I seek what photography is not already, but what it might be, because I note that its current form is only a fraction of its possibility”

una serie de ensayos que abre el panorama de que es la fotografía y hacia donde se dirige, como rompe el tiempo ve hacia el futuro y se expande en la contemporaneidad

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of short essays charting the potential for the medium of photography (and architecture, and painting, and writing) to transcend the tyranny of the past and present and strive to represent futures which challenge the current paradigms.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read, a new perspective (for me) on photography's utility and purpose.