La Fabrique des illusions

 

Mucem (M.)

 

This exhibition proposes a new way of approaching the history of photography, in particular by highlighting its links to the theatre in the 19th century…

 

Yasmine Chemali and François Cheval (Y.C and F.C.)

It is a mistake to consider the history of photography as having been definitively written. For several reasons. First, given that its invention only dates back to 1816-1822, we are still far from being able to assess the full effects of such a complex medium, which is only two centuries old, yet has made itself universally accepted.

Secondly, for reasons that cannot be explained here, the official history was written by institutions and businesspeople—mostly Anglo-Saxon. All shared the idea of photography as the “legitimate daughter” of painting. This is, no more and no less, an exercise in the revision of the nature of the medium, the transformation of a multiple into a rare good—unique, even.

By linking photography and theatre, we propose another way to understand, not just the history of photography, but the establishment of the “society of spectacles”—a world seen as a perspective scenic space, a place of the representation of the absent, a belief in the totality…
 

 

M.

 

Why the choice to confront the Orientalist photographs in the Fouad Debbas Collection with contemporary works?

 

Y.C and F.C.

The Fouad Debbas funds alone can provide the elements needed for a reflection on the photographic object. However, thanks to contemporary works, we wanted to demonstrate that the questioning of the medium is more relevant than ever. One of the qualities of contemporary photography is to precisely question the medium and determine its limits and to position it in a world that determines modern representations.
Contemporary artists are better than legends at clarifying the demonstration of “curators”.

 

M.

 

Which pieces from the Fouad Debbas Collection have particularly caught your attention, and how did you choose their contemporary “partner”?

 

Y.C and F.C.

No piece was selected for its “remarkable” character. One of the aims of the exhibition is to challenge the notions of “iconic” and “vintage”.
19th century photography, through its aesthetics, the choice of subjects, etc., has been able to establish its reputation on criteria of “beauty” that allow it to hide its real, ideological meanings. The Fouad Debbas fund can be analysed in terms of significant series. Authors’ “beautiful” sets are treated in the same way as the “chromos” considered vulgar by the history of photography.
What is important to understand through the 30,000 images collected by Fouad Debbas is the idea of seriality. Repeatable capture—offered by the mechanical image—goes hand in hand with the reproducibility of the medium—the logic of printing. It is a business logic. In direct link with the catalogue of views taken by the Maison Bonfils for example, the client then collects a series of images, a real one, that he believes he owns. Albumen prints, their enlargements, then their derivatives in the form of postcards or stereoscopic views, are all practices that bring 19th century photography closer to the contemporary. For us, there are no pairs, only confrontations, subjects of discussion between, for example, an Elina Brotherus and the figure of the cabotin that is Adrien Bonfils.