''Photography and non-logical form'' is a book and research concept by art critic and art historian Ekaterina Vasilyeva. The book provides an idea that draws attention to the irrational basis of photography. The study considers photography as a tool that reveals the irrational and archaic principle of thinking. Considered one of the formative books in the field of photography theory. The book is created as a collection of essays published in the 2010s in academic sources. The texts touch on aspects of a single topic and raise the general problem of the phenomenon of the non-logical in photography. It was published as a separate book by New Literary Review in 2019.

General aspects

The study considers photography as a phenomenon in which not only the visual but also the

semantic Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

component is important. The basis of the concept is the representation of photography as an irrational

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

that uses a non-logical form as a main mechanism. The concept of the book synthesizes the theory of photography and the theory of thinking, considering the rational and non-logical as a single mechanism. In photography, the non-logical form can be considered as part of the

civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

al consciousness. The photographic system reveals that forms of thought traditionally defined as archaic are an integral component of modern consciousness.

Photography and the non-logical: general principles

The modern analytical system considers logical thinking to be its basis: rational knowledge is built on its principles. The concept of a non-logical system connects the photography with the space of the irrational. Photography, like many other civilizational forms, retains elements of prelogical consciousness. This concept was partly presented in the works of

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (, ; ; – 6 March 2007) was a French sociology, sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as hi ...

Rosalind Krauss Rosalind Epstein Krauss (born November 30, 1941) is an American art critic, art theorist and a professor at Columbia University in New York City. Krauss is known for her scholarship in 20th-century painting, sculpture and photography. As a criti ...

and subsequently formulated in the book "Photography and Non-logical Form". The concept is based on the study of the principles of non-logical consciousness, initiated by

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( ; ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic ...

Lucien Lévy-Bruhl Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (; 10 April 1857 – 13 March 1939) was a French scholar trained in philosophy who furthered anthropology with his contributions to the budding fields of sociology and ethnology. His primary field interest was ways of thinking. ...

and

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

. Ekaterina Vasilyeva's research deals with the ability of photography to support a non-logical system. Photography violates the principle of

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

and meaning, changes the usual continuity of time, otherwise defines the system and structure of space.

The idea of a sign and the system of language

The book draws attention to the fact that photography noticeably violates the principle of language. Photography cannot reproduce the linguistic principle of the exchange between the signifier and the signified and draws attention to itself as a phenomenon that specifically forms the structure of meaning. This observation was also expressed by other researchers in their studies. Ekaterina Vasilyeva draws attention to the fact that photography cannot act as a

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

and cannot use the system of meaning formation inherent in language. Photography demonstrates the principle of meaning formation, independent of the sign. The book emphasizes that the phenomenon of photographic meaning is characterized by semantic uncertainty. The photograph demonstrates the possibility of a principle unrelated to the monetary or linguistic system. Along with other researchers, the author comes to the conclusion that photography does not support the

system.

Photography and the categorical structure of thinking

Photography breaks the standard taxonomic model and overcomes the system of categorical thinking. Categories, generalizations and

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

s in photography are replaced by literal images. In a photograph, a general representation of the subject is impossible. The frame allows a specific image of a given subject. In photography, the principle of system and structure is replaced by the idea of a literal list. This brings photography closer to both archaic thinking and modern principles of object consciousness.

Photography and taxonomic model

Photography violates the principles of

classification Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...

adopted in the civilizational system and subject to categorical or hierarchical thinking. The photographic representation does not support the root

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

system and the underlying classified entities. Civilizational thinking is a hierarchy of subordinate concepts. Photography operates on principles that are not linked by circumstances of subordination. Photography forms a fundamentally different model: it does not use general or generalizing concepts, but is a literal list of specific, often secondary, objects. This literal listing (or representation) of specific objects cannot be used as an element of subordinate categories. Researchers pay attention to the fact that the principle of

generalization A generalization is a form of abstraction whereby common properties of specific instances are formulated as general concepts or claims. Generalizations posit the existence of a domain or set of elements, as well as one or more common characteri ...

, on which the

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

system is built, is not possible in photography. Photography is addressed to specific subjects, and not to their generalization and systematization. “Classification is ... the separation of the main and the secondary. The taxonomic model presupposes an order of precedence, a hierarchy of the important and the insignificant, the main and the peripheral.” Researchers point out that photography, in fact, does not allow for the possibility of such a division.

Photo and time category

Photography is often considered one of those phenomena that reveals a specific position in the system of time. Photography does not refute the pattern of linear time, but it does not support it either. Photography is characterized by inconsistency with the system of time, tied to the continuity of past, present and future. “The photograph sees the time flow as a set of isolated “nows” that violate the idea of linearity and build a chaotic environment,” notes photography researcher Ekaterina Vasilieva. Photography radically mixes the emphasis between past, present and future: frames as events can be arranged in any sequence. At the same time, photography always belongs to the

present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...

and, at the same time, is always connected with the past. .

Photography and the problem of depicting space

The study is based on the assumption that photography uses a specific model of space. Its peculiarity lies not only in the ability to convert a

three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...

volume into a two-dimensional image, but also in the ability to represent space as a specific structure. Photography does not reproduce space as a single organism, but considers it as a set of fragments. Photography presents the elements of space as qualitatively different, destroying the idea of the world as a single

. This way of representing space can be considered typical for archaic systems and mythological consciousness. “Photography captures the surrounding space as a set of fragments.” The author of the book notes that pictorial space refers to the idea of the whole. Other authors have made similar observations. “Photography opens up space as a form of optical illusion, moving ever further away from the idea associated with the wall of the picture.” The photographic system faces the same system as the

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

ological space: its parts are fragmentary and are not connected with each other either meaningfully or logically. Photography divides physical space into fragments and constructs a new spatial environment on their basis. The effect of “metaphysical emptiness” has acquired particular significance in photography. An example of a metaphysical representation of space is the photographs of

Eugène Atget Eugène Atget (; 12 February 1857 – 4 August 1927) was a French ''flâneur'' and a pioneer of documentary photography, noted for his determination to document all of the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to mod ...

Photography and the problem of presence

The photograph presents a specific paradox in terms of the circumstance of presence. The author of the book draws attention to the fact that when talking about photography, we do not always understand what means “to be”, and what “not to be” means. In particular,

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

spoke about the possibility of defining being by

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

, and time by being. When the components of this connection are broken, the idea of presence and existence in photography appears as a

paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true or apparently true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictor ...

. Photography, which initially violates the picture of time, demonstrates a paradoxical situation in terms of the picture of presence. If the picture of time is broken in a photograph, it is difficult to determine what “to be” means in relation to the frame. The study defines the specifics of photography as a violation of the unity of being and time.

Criticism

Critics evaluate the book as an important precedent in the field of photography theory. They characterize the book as a study in an attempt to consider photography as part of an irrational system in today's culture. The researchers believe that the book is "one of the few attempts in recent years to move away from traditional research patterns that have developed in the field of photography." Critics believe that the study forms its own analytical program and forms a new analytical vector in the study of photography. Critics note the importance of the concept for the study of modern culture in general. “Vasilyeva’s research shows the presence in a number of media phenomena of modern culture of elements that have their own activity and logic, beyond the control of human rationality.”Stepanov M.A. (2019
Image outside of Logos
// International Journal of Cultural Research. No. 3. pp. 231–235.

Libraries

The book “Photography and Non-Logical Form” is presented in the collections of the following libraries: *

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, US * Warburg Library,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, UK * Library of the Cini Foundation,

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Italy *

National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland (, ) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the Helsinki University Library (). The Nationa ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland * Russian State Library,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia * The

National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, , ''РНБ''), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked among the world's major libraries. It has the second biggest libr ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia * Library of the

Russian State University for the Humanities The Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH; ), is a university in Moscow, Russia with over 25,000 students. It was created in 1991 as the result of the merger of the Moscow Urban University of the People (est. 1908) and the Moscow Sta ...

, Moscow, Russia * Library of

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

, Russia

References

{{Reflist, 20em

First edition

* Vasileva E. (2019
Photography and Non-Logical Form
M.: New Literary Review, 312 p.

External links

The book “Photography and Non-Logical Form”
on Google books

Review of the site photographer.ru, 2020. 2019 books Essay collections Books about photography