“In today’s Europe, once again a place of exile, flight and homelessness, there is no issue of more central relevance than that of identity . The topic chosen for the 1992 Symposium on Photography XIII- Identities – is to make tangible the contradictory and forcible nature of any static concept of (one’s own) identity or (the other’s) non-identity. Appreciating political realities, the participating theorist and artists will reflect on a positive definition of identity as an essential or unalterable asset of the individual. The focus on photographic representation i also a focus on how identities are established in the so-called media of reality: it is particularly the representation of the other, the exotic, the foreign where our strategies of appropriation may become apparent.

What, then , are the straggles that allow us to recognize, deconstruct and reverse manifest hierarchies? If we regard the artist’s task as making visible what would otherwise remain invisible, we should, when dealing with media of representation (in our case, photography),  unveil the fiction of identity, question any absolute definition of right or wrong, permitted and prohibited, “black” and “white” and, instead of identifying images as positive or negatives, set in motion at process of experience and appropriation.

This was the point of departure for artists and theorists dealing with the topic of the Symposium on Photography XIII during styrian autumn ’92. The contributions to the symposium are documented in this double issue of CAMERA AUSTRIA No. 43/44. We hope that this publication will promote a continuing debate on the questions set forth above.

The dual object of the Symposium on Photography – being a form for thematic, theoretical as well as artistic debate- is reflected by philosophical contributions (Boris Groys: Truth in Photography; Eva Meyer: The Experience of Similarity; Irit Rogoff: Terra Infirma- Geographies and Identities; Mary Kelly speaking on her Interim project and Rosy Martin on the work of Jo Spence and their joint development of photo therapy) – and purely photographic/artistic explorations of the theme (Miyako Ishiuchi, Wladimir Kuprijanow, Boris Mihailov, Jack Piersons).

In connection with the theme of “Identity”, we had a special interest in the important work of Jo Spence which is little known in the German languages area. We thank Rosy Martin and also Terry Dennett who curates the Jo Spence Memorial Archive, for facilitating the exhibition and this second publication in Jo Spence in CAMERA AUSTRIA.

“Public Images” and “Identities” – the themes of the two most recent symposia- should be seen in connection with each other and with this year’s theme: WAR (Forum Stadtpark Graz, 2-4 October 1993).

Christine Frisinghelli