The 13th Photosynkyria is the second to be organised by the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography under the new system of rotating curators. Last year, the photographic gaze was investigated by Costis Antoniadis; this year, John Stathatos takes us on an exploration of the fantastic in photography, while his Vindication of Tlon celebrates that great writer, Jorge Luis Borges, who, though bereft of sight for much of his life, perceived so much through the eyes of imagination.
We live in an age in which the image is all-powerful. Photography, which introduced this age, may now also be its culmination within the broader framework of the digital society. For photography is at once a medium and a product, a product of particular historic and artistic significance, a product with infinite applications on the international market, and a work of art with its own particular codes and aesthetic value.
Photography is, in the final analysis, the ultimate proof that reality can be recorded in a multitude of ways while still remaining essentially uncharted, since even the unfailing honesty of the photographer's lens is open to subjective readings on the part of the artist, not to mention the possibilities of digital processing. Digital processing, however, is far less significant than imaginative and aesthetic treatment.
