Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Black Magic To Black Box
Black Magic To Black Box
Prelude
Vilum Flusser was known for his philosophies on the way in which the mediums of
the media were changing and its effects on our societies and cultures. In Towards a
Philosophy of Photography Flusser explains that the technical image is the next
most important development in human history since the invention of linear writing.
Through out his book, Flusser uses esoteric terms such as apparatus, functionary
and program to relate to our society and culture and the roles played by us, and the
objects and systems we employ and the performances we delegate to these objects
and processes, particularly in this case with relevance towards the realms of
photography.
To elaborate on the purpose of this essay, I aim to determine the following; has the
advent of digital photography changed the power relationship between a
photographer and their chosen equipment and have advances in photographic
technologies and practices altered the way in which Flussers terms outlined in
Towards a Philosophy of Photography apply to modern photography?
Apparatus
Apparatus is one of the more complex terms Flusser uses, and has referred to the
language of Latin from which the majority of European languages are derived. The
word apparatus has its roots from the Latin word apparare meaning to prepare.
Flusser is using the definition of apparatus as an object that simulates thought or
something that is in a state of preparedness for its purpose or function, such as the
camera or a computer.2
Functionary
The term functionary has been used quite simply compared to apparatus in that it
has been used in a more self-explanatory fashion. The term functionary has been
defined as someone who uses the apparatus and allows the apparatus to perform its
function or acts as a function of an apparatus.3
Program
Flussers term of program is mostly used in context with reference towards the
specific coding that defines the apparatuses parameters of its usability.4 For
example, to take a photograph of a fast moving subject with the intention of
eliminating the impression of motion a camera may need to use a shutter speed of
1
/8000 of a second, however if the camera has a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 of a
second the shot will not be possible as the ability to do so is beyond the parameters
of the cameras programing.
The Apparatus
Throughout his rhetoric Flusser is attempting to inform the reader of the changes in
the power relationship between new technologies and their human handlers. He also
highlights the fact that this is not a recent occurrence but started with the industrial
revolution. Flusser states that Previously the tool was the variable and the human
being the constant; subsequently the human being was the variable and the machine
the constant.5 This statement means that prior to the revolution the workers tools
would change to suit the workers task but the task would remain the same therefore
so would the worker, but post revolution the machine would outlast its operators or
they would have to learn new skills to allow the machine to function. Is this still
true? And is the same true for the camera as for the machine?
If the use of a camera is used in the same context, then with the technology that was
available in the few years before publication, the camera had to be the constant as
once the camera apparatus was in its final manufactured state, its parameters were
set by its program, it could not perform more then it was built to do. The operator
or functionary would have to learn as much as they could with regards to their
apparatus and push its limits and their own technique to obtain quality images.
In the advent of digital imaging and software over mechanical mechanisms,
software can be updated via firmware updates from the manufacturer, the
apparatuses program can be expanded and its parameters broadened, the program of
the apparatus is no longer a constant. Another factor of the modern camera is the
automatic and semi-automatic control options such as program mode, aperture or
shutter priority, that allow the apparatus to regulate its own program and present the
best options to the functionary. Also with the introduction of anti-shake or image
stabilisation technologies being utilised into the body or lenses of digital camera
systems is this another step towards this apparatus becoming a form of artificial
intelligence as Flusser also suggests.
12 http://www.uelsmann.net/#
13 http://www.solwaygallery.com/jerry_uelsmann_exhibition.html
14 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386904/Dream-come-true-Mantransforms-stunning-fantasy-worlds-conjures-sleep-reality-computer.html
15 Flusser, Towards a Philosophy p31
The Functionary
In Flussers writings there is no mention of differing levels of functionaries due to
competence with photographic apparatus. Although he does exclude repetitive
photographs that contain so new information so could be taken to mean the
exclusion of casual snappers such as holiday-makers and novice users who are not
producing anything different or creative,16 it can only be assumed that the term of
functionary applies to all camera users.
Flusser claims that it is appropriate to refer to photographers as functionaries as
they have a kind of symbiotic relationship with their apparatus in that the
photographer is neither the variable nor the constant17 Flusser also defines an aspect
of the apparatus and functionary relationship as the manipulation of the input and
output of the apparatus by the functionary in that the operator can manipulate the
input to achieve the desired output without knowledge of how the apparatus
transfers or uses the input information to achieve the output information. This could
be suggesting two things:
1. That being a functionary is a matter related to epistemology and that if the
operator has knowledge of the cameras inner working they cease to
become a functionary, if this is what is being suggested, what would a
functionary then become? An Apparatus adept? A Functionary
ascendant?
2.
Flusser could also be suggesting that because the operator can possess no
control over the transformation of input to output but is able to still create
the desired objective within the parameters of the apparatus program it is
irrelevant to be a functionary or that the parameters are irrelevant. Zizek
once claimed that we feel free because we lack the very language to
articulate our unfreedom.[sic]18 I use this statement in the sense that with
23 Joshua Hammer in Matter, Einsteins Camera: How One Photographer is Hacking the Concept of
Time, /https://medium.com/matter/88aa8a185898/ [7th March 2014]
24 Flusser, Towards a Philosophy, p30
10
11
Bibliography
Carl Solway Gallery,
http://www.solwaygallery.com/jerry_uelsmann_exhibition.html
Untitled 1990
Flusser, Vilum , Towards a Philosophy of Photography (Reaktion Books
2000),
Hammer, Joshua, in Matter, Einsteins Camera: How One Photographer is
Hacking the Concept of Time, https://medium.com/matter/88aa8a185898
Hebnarova, Jena, http://www.tichyfotograf.cz/en/miroslavtichy-home.html
McLuhan, Marshall Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man
http://beforebefore.net/80f/s11/media/mcluhan.pdf
MessyNessy, The Reclusive Peeping Tom Photographer and his Cardboard
Camera
http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/06/06/the-reclusive-peeping-tomphotographer-and-his-cardboard-camera/
Uelsmann, Jerry, http://www.uelsmann.net/#
12
Untitled 1976
Williams, Amanda and Michel Karcz, Mail Online,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386904/Dream-come-true-Mantransforms-stunning-fantasy-worlds-conjures-sleep-reality-computer.html
13