Analysis of the Transition from Representation to Aesthetics in Photography Based on Rancière's Views

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Master in Photography, Department of Photography, Faculty of Art, Soore International University, Tehran, Iran.

2 ssistant Professor, Department of Cinema, Faculty of Art, Soore International University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

A technical image, such as a photograph, is produced by a device, which is an entity designed for specific functions, having supplanted and emulated human manual labor. Engaging with a device limited to generating technical images can quickly become repetitive and dull, prompting professional photographers to experiment with their equipment in a manner termed "photographic play." This playful approach has a significant affinity with Jacques Rancière's theory of artistic regimes. Play can be interpreted as a strategy through which subjects marginalized from the dominant social and political landscape can reclaim their position. The aesthetic regime intended by Rancière can also be seen as the collapse of the common symbolic system of art, through which the dignity and position of the subjects of representation were determined, and it is obvious that photography also emerged from the same common representational system and belonged to that system. The aesthetic regime of the arts removed the correlation between the theme and the way of representation and gave value and importance to the mundane, and in this structure, photography was no longer imitating the arts but was rather in the process of self-constructing the matter. The shift from the representational regime to the aesthetic regime in photography is facilitated by challenging the distribution of the sensible—a concept that defines the extent to which the everyday can impact society. Photographic plays focus on the everyday elements that lie outside the norms and conventions of representational art and reintegrate them into the distribution of the sensible, thereby disrupting the conventional representational order. Photography can only assert its presence among the arts by moderating the everyday and challenging the distribution of the sensible. This descriptive-analytical study seeks to explore how individuals and objects can assert their presence in society through the concept of play, which disrupts the existing aesthetic order and the rules of the distribution of the sensible. It aims to answer the question: How do photographic plays achieve presence in the aesthetic regime envisioned by Jacques Rancière? How can the concept of the distribution of the sensible be equated with the concept of play? The approach to answering these questions is informed by Rancière's theories on the distribution of the sensible and Vilém Flusser's concept of play. These concepts are applied to examine two case studies in Iranian photography from the late 1990s. The findings of this research can be summarized as follows: In photography, the transformation of the every day, achieved by disrupting the conventional representational order, has a significant potential to be present in Jacques Rancière's aesthetic regime. The concepts of play and challenging the distribution of the sensible converge towards a single goal in two distinct domains; in photography, one pathway to achieving Jacques Rancière's aesthetic regime is through the use of photographic play.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Aristoteles (2015). The metaphysics. translate Sharafoddin Khorasani. Hekmat. {in persian}.
Danesh Eshraghi, Sepehr, & Moridi, Mohammad Reza, & Maziar Amir (2021). Analysis of the concept of political art as forms of "Dissensus" in Jacques Rancière's thought. Journal of Visual and Applied Arts.14 (34), 29-45. {in persian}. https://vaa.journal.art.ac.ir/article_932.html?lang=fa.
Flusser, Vilem (2010). Towards a philosophy of photography. Translate Popak Bayrami. Herfeh Honarmand. {in persian}. Foreman, M, & Seguín, B. (2014). Cinema, Scenes, Aesthetics: An Interview with Jacques Rancière. Diacritics, 42(3), 22-35. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/31982.
Majidi, Shakib, & Moghimnejad, Mehdi (2021). Study and analysis of critical works in photography after the 1970s based on the views of Martha Rosler, Alain Sécula and Jacques Rancière. Master's thesis, Tehran University of Art, Faculty of Visual Arts. {in persian}.
Mohammadyari, Masomeh, & Tohidfam, Mohammad (2016). The Dialectic of the Political and Aesthetics: Jacques Rancière's Theoretical Reflections on Aesthetics and Its Relation to Politics. journal of political science. 12 (36), 153-168. {in persian}. https://journals.iau.ir/article_528864.html
Rancière, J. (2004). The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible (London & New York). Continuum Intl Pub Group.
Rancière, J. (2009). Aesthetics and Its Discontents. Polity Press Cambridge.
Rancière, Jacques (2009). Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible. Translate Babak Salimizadeh. Aesthetics Quarterly. 21, 73-84. {in persian}.
Rancière, J. (2010). The Aesthetic Heterotopia. Philosophy Today. 54(Supplement), 15-25. https://www.pdcnet.org/philtoday/content/philtoday_2010_0054Supplement_0015_0025
Rancière, J. (2011). Aisthesis. Scenes from the Aesthetic Regime of Art. Galilée.
Ranciere, Jacques (2013). The politics of aesthetics: the distribution of the sensible. Translate Ashkan Salehi. Bon-gah. {in persian}.
Ranciere, Jacques (2014). A. Aesthetics and its discontents. Translate Farhad Akbarzade. Omid Saba. {in persian}.
Ranciere, Jacques (2014). B. The politics of aesthetics: the distribution of the sensible. Translate Fatah Mohammadi. Hezareh Sevom. {in persian}.
Rancière, J. (2015). Politica da arte. Urdimento, 2(15), 45-59. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329603322_Politica_da_arte
Rockhill, G. (2010). Modernism as a Misnomer: Godard's Archeology of the Image. French and Francophone Philosophy, 18(2), 107-130. https://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/jffp/article/view/215
Smith, D. (2011). Jacques Rancière's Republic of the Senses. The Senses and Society, 6(2), 222-224. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/174589311X12961584845963
Tanke, J. (2011). Jacques Ranciere: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Taherzade, Ameneh, & Moghimnejad, Mehdi (2022). A study and analysis of contemporary Iranian photography with the critical aesthetics approach of Jacques Rancière (case studies: Niusha Tavakolian, Shadi Ghadirian, and Gohar Dashti). Master's thesis, Tehran University of Art, Faculty of Visual Arts. {in persian}.
Tajik, Mohammad Reza, & Rezaee panah, Amir (2016). The Foundations of Criticizing and Rethinking the Political Sociology in Jacques Rancière’s Thought. Research Letter of Political Science. 11(2), 87-11. {in persian}. https://www.ipsajournal.ir/article_289.html?lang=en.
ارسطو (1394). متافیزیک: ما بعدالطبیعه. (شراف‌الدین شرف خراسانی مترجم)، تهران: انتشارات حکمت. (چاپ اثر اصلی 1984).
تاجیک، محمدرضا و رضائی پناه، امیر (1395). مبانی نقد و بازاندیشی جامعه شناسی سیاسی در اندیشه ژاک رانسیر (امر اجتماعی در عصر پساجهانی شدن)، پژوهشنامه علوم سیاسی، 11(2)، 118-87. https://www.ipsajournal.ir/article_289.html?lang=fa
دانش اشراقی، سپهر و مریدی، محمد رضا و مازیار، امیر (1400). تحلیل مفهوم هنر سیاسی به‌مثابه فرم‌های «عدم اجماع» در اندیشه ژاک رانسیر، نامه هنرهای تجسمی و کاربردی، 34، 29-45. https://vaa.journal.art.ac.ir/article_932.html
رانسیر، ژاک ( 1388). رژیمهای هنری و کاستی‌های مفهوم مدرنیته. ترجمه بابک سلیمی زاده، زیباشناخت، 21 ، 73-84.
رانسیر، ژاک (1392). توزیع امر محسوس: سیاست و استتیک و رژیم های هنری و کاستی های انگاره مدرنیته. (اشکان صالحی، مترجم)، تهران: نشر بن‌گاه. (چاپ اثر اصلی 2004).
رانسیر، ژاک (1393). الف، استتیک و ناخرسندی هایش. (فرهاد اکبر زاده، مترجم)، تهران: انتشارات امید صبا. (چاپ اثر اصلی 2009). رانسیر، ژاک (1393). ب، سیاست ورزی زیبایی شناسی. (فتاح محمدی، مترجم)، تهران: انتشارات هزاره‌ی سوم. (چاپ اثر اصلی 2004). طاهرزاده، آمنه، مقیم‌نژاد، مهدی (1401). بررسی و تحلیل عکاسی معاصر ایران با رویکرد زیبایی‌شناسی انتقادی ژاک رانسیر(موردپژوهی: نیوشا توکلیان، شادی قدیریان و گوهر دشتی). پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه هنر تهران، دانشکده هنرهای تجسمی.
فلوسر، ویلم (1398). درباب فلسفه عکاسی. (پوپک بایرامی، مترجم)، تهران: حرفه نویسنده. (چاپ اثر اصلی 2000).
محمدیاری، معصومه، توحیدفام، محمد (1395). دیالکتیک امر سیاسی و زیبایی شناسی: تاملات نظری ژاک رانسیر در باب زیبایی شناسی و نسبت آن با سیاست، فصلنامه تخصصی علوم سیاسی، 12(36)، 168-153. https://civilica.com/doc/1279716/
مجیدی، شکیب، مقیم‌نژاد، مهدی (1400). بررسی و تحلیل آثار انتقادی در عکاسی بعد از دهه‌ی 70 میلادی بر اساس آرای مارتا رازلر، آلن سکولا و ژاک رانسیر. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه هنر تهران، دانشکده هنرهای تجسمی.
Journal of Fine Arts: Visual Arts
Volume 30, Issue 1
April 2025
Pages 81-94

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics