Output details

A Photo Game

In partnership with Carson, Miller investigates how, using mobile technology, a 'field of play' can be constructed that enables both collaboration and reflexivity. The research employs the architecture and parameters of game-playing, including the application of rules, as a means to explore visual material and creative practice. In examining how reflexivity manifests itself within contemporary art and photographic practices, the approach enabled a synthesis of collaborative and reflexive practice in the form of a visual essay.

The research adopts Farrugia’s (2013) definition of reflexivity as “...the embodied knowledge of the social world that a subject acquires through practical engagement with it” (p.14). Miller employs the game as a means to explore narrative, dialogue, exchange and belief, questioning among other things the familiar idea that the photograph 'speaks for itself'. For the viewer, this mode of production offers the opportunity to engage with the work and the artists; through observation and/or participation. Miller's approach provokes a specific relationship between the artist, the viewer/participant and the curator, facilitating what Kendall Walton (1990) terms the 'collaborative daydream'. Reflexivity can be observed by those engaged in the exchange, and is also made public through its representation in the book.

While the sharing of photographs using mobile technology is often an ephemeral act, the chapter concretises this exchange. It provides opportunity for reflection on developments in communication technology and on the nature of the information we share with one another.

The research is relevant to artists, photographers, curators, historians and theoreticians specialising in the use of reflexivity within creative contexts, in contemporary art and photographic practices. The chapter was created by Rosie Miller and Jonathan Carson as part of their ongoing collaborative art practice as Carson & Miller. In addition to producing the chapter, Miller (with Carson) were co-editors of the book (http://museumsetc.com/blogs/news/7422798-forthcoming-the-reflexive-photographer).