Paparazzi Ethnography

The heart of darkness

framed wall-hung photo

Notice please, the inset image to the left. As you can plainly see, this inset image depicts a framed wall-hung photograph. The photograph, of course, when taken on its own is an image in itself. It consists of three men standing, facing the camera, holding hands together and posing in a stance that calls to mind the Three Musketeers, a 19th century novel written by Alexandre Dumas about three inseparable friends whose motto is “all for one, one for all” .

This particular image is unique because (1) it has been printed, and; (2) now appears encased in a frame as a photograph. But when stripped of its paper and wooden frame, the image is actually quite typical enough. For example, copies of this very image or variations on this image (taken during the same event), can be seen splattered across the internet. All that is required in order to view these electronic images is (1) access to a computer; (2) an internet connection; (3) google the words Shtokman AG, and; click the images tab. Directly below, we have pasted multiple variations of the framed wall-hung photo as they appear now on the internet.

Well, as you can see, these images consist of the same three men standing in the same positions. Their names, beginning on the far left is Christophe de Margerie, CEO of French oil group Total. In the middle is Alexei Miller, CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom and, on the far right is Helge Lund, President and CEO of Norwegian oil group StatoilHydro.

The three executives are seen posing (and not posing) for a press conference which took place in Moscow on February 21, 2008, where they signed a shareholder agreement relating to the creation of Shtokman Development AG. Shtokman Development AG is the group formation that has plans to develop the off-shore Shtokman natural gas field, which is located on the Russian side of the Barents Sea, near the Norwegian border.

internet image

internet image 2

internet image 3

Of course, these four images shown above are not identical. Let’s begin to notice their differences by pretending we have arrived at the back pages of a tabloid magazine, where in the “for fun-section”, we are asked to compare and contrast what at first glance appears as two identical images. It is a simple test of the observation faculty.

Upon closer reflection then, playing along with this little game, we see many differences that appear, so to speak, on the surface of things. One can point to, for example, the difference in camera angles used in these images. There is also evidence of different moments during the press conference when the images are taken. Then, there are the unique stagings of the images, and the different posings, eye contacts with the camera, and exact timings of when these images were snapped.

Of course, they all appear to have been taken within a relatively short span of time, within say one hour, or perhaps even within 10 minutes, or maybe even across a timespan that can be measured in seconds.

In this last instance then, we can say, when taking the four images as a whole, that they comprise a group photo in two senses. First, they represent three individuals who are seen together as a group, symbolizing the formation of Shtokman Development AG. Second, when taken together, the images reflect a constellation of time, a certain specific temporality that captures a beforehand and an afterward, along with a centrally posed, perhaps one might say, purposeful model image.

And it is, in fact, this model image, that hangs as a wall-framed photograph. Let’s focus on the image in the strictest terms as a photograph. First, we notice that the photo exists technically, spatially, and aesthetically outside from these other electronic images. One might say, that while earlier, this framed photograph was an electronic image, circulating across the internet, now, by its very framing, it has both lost it sense of mobility, and, acquired a sense of real life materiality. And this materiality, of course, stands as a complete identity as understood by the concept of the photograph. Speaking frankly, as a photograph, and much like the men and their friendship it depicts, the image hanging on the wall will decay over time. It no longer can be reproduced or instead, has been reproduced for the final time, achieving its own sense of authenticity, against an internet world of infinite reproduction.

Ah-ha. You ask, what next? Well, we must confess to what we have just accomplished. Until now, until this exact moment, until the witness of this post, in fact– there was a special difference separating the wall-hanging photograph from the internet electronic images. A fact that just now has been overcome. To explain: there once existed a difference that denied the unity of these images. They were previously separated by, on the one hand, the physical materiality and self-enclosed authenticity (wall-hung photo), and on the other hand, the downloadability of their unfixity so to speak (internet electronic images)–

What we have accomplished in this post, just now, is to bring the wall-hung photo, for the first and perhaps only time (Ta-Dah!), side-by-side, into alignment along with the other electronic images that circulate across the internet. One might say, that by bringing the wall-hung photograph into the sphere of its circulating companion images, we plan now to displace it’s own present logic, that is, the current logic of its location and field of present positioning– into the sensibility (of its former location) as an image of infinite reproduction.

This is a long task. But let’s begin by taking a few steps back from the wall, to contemplate now, where the wall-hung image is physically located.  The wall-hung framed photograph can be found in this room here, seen in this photograph below:

framed wall-hung photo

Okay, that’s all good. Now let’s take even a few more steps back from the wall, to contemplate where the wall-hung image is physically located. It appears at the far end of a room. Please click the photo to enlarge the image to see for yourself.

room of wall-framed photo

This is not our room. Is it yours? Whose room is this then? That is, in which room has the circulating image taken on material form? In which room has this image been framed and hung, like a trophy of heads or troika of heads, hanging in the den?