Continuities and differences between photographic and post-photographic
Susanne Holschbach

In the debates surrounding the technological shift in photography from analog to digital, emphasis is chiefly placed on the radical difference between the chemical and the electronic process, and those artistic practices are discussed which expose this break to an exceptional degree. By making reference to the two fundamental parameters of the photographic dispositive-automatic recording and technical reproduction-this contribution deals with the question of to what extent digitalization can also be viewed as a continuation of photographic mediality. A look back at three exhibitions from the early stages of digital photography shows the situating of the debates in recent socio-political analyses. [more]

Automatic Recording The photograph as an index Mechanical Reproduction The photograph as a multiple Mass Medium Avant la Lettre Facial society Modern observer Consumer as producer—Producer as consumer The photograph in the media environment Digitalization Digital Montage Digital Trouble Unstable Images