Nothing that exists excites me… i prefer the monsters of my fantasy

Exhibition with experimental photography

24 February – 30 March 

Lana Adams 
Yusuf Ali Hayat 
Mark Kimber
Junko Theresa Mikuriya
Justine Varga

This exhibition brings together contemporary experimental photographic work in order to refuse the orthodox ideas that photography is only capable of transparent representation and that it is the fixing of a single static image. The works selected for the exhibition break with this understanding and in the process fashion new ideas of what photography can be. 

At the 1859 Salon 19th century critic Charles Baudelaire was dismayed to see photography included. He thought the medium was not able to achieve anything but the representation of nature, a subject unworthy of art. Art should aim to imaginatively transform our perception, not simply replicate what is already out there. He wrote: “Je trouve inutile et fastidieux de représenter ce qui est, parce que rien de ce qui est ne me satisfait. La nature est laide, et je préfère les monstres de ma fantaisie à la trivialité positive.” The exhibition and its artists present a strong argument against this idea, and show that photography is capable of more than mere representation.

The Little Machine is supported by City of Adelaide and Renew Adelaide
Justine Varga is represented by Hugo Michell Gallery