Abstract

The entry of photography into museums in the 19th century initially focused on its utilitarian functions as a reproduction technology and as a scientific process rather than its artistic merits. Its delayed recognition as contemporary art in the 20th century challenged the museum’s traditional values as well as its exhibition, collection, interpretation, and taxonomic practices. The paradigm shift from the medium-specific term “photograph” to the “photographic image” brought about by the advent of digitization and digital imaging in the 1990s advocated more open-ended institutional definitions of photographic practice. The mutable nature of contemporary “post-photographic,” born-digital imagery, the ubiquity and sheer volume of “networked images”, and the “softwarisation” of photographic practice raised another complex set of questions for museums. Using examples of contrasting institutional policies and key exhibitions that address distinct aspects of contemporary photographic practice at different historical moments, this presentation sought to reveal the complexities of institutionalising such a heterogeneous medium.