Lecture by Mark Neville "At the intersection of art and documentary"

September 24 at 4:00 p.m. The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography invites everyone to a lecture by British photographer and artist Marc Neville "At the intersection of art and documentary."

“Marc Neville has changed his understanding of what documentary photography can and should be. Instead of banal “deconstructions” that impersonate “critical” statements of contemporary art, he creates unique images and finds unusual ways to present them to those whom he photographed ”- David Campani

Disputes over the boundaries of art span more than one decade. A photograph with the meanings of “documentary” tightly attached to it and at the same time being included in the “artistic” context, in many respects provoked the formulation of the question of the relationship between these two, at first glance, opposite structures.

According to modern scholars from the 60s of the XX century, "all art becomes photographic." Photography becomes a part of modern art processes at various levels: it acts as a tool and material of modern artists and at the same time continues to develop and change its own language. The social functions of the image also find themselves involved in art processes. Today, artists continue to work with photographic images, updating the issue of the boundaries and social functions of art.

Mark Neville is a British artist whose work at first glance could be defined as exclusively social projects. He works in communities, in close interaction with people and the heroes of projects often themselves become their main audience. There are many different ways to create and distribute projects; they exist in the form of photographic series, slide shows, slow motion movies and gift books. The goal is always practical: to draw attention to local problems, to establish communication, to provoke changes. For example, the Port Glasgow Book Project (2004) was a book based on socially documented images of a working city, which the guys from the local football team delivered to each of the eight thousand houses, which no one could get another way. The task of mirroring the community has been fully realized. An unexpected opportunity to see yourself and the environment from the outside received a huge number of responses, from letters of thanks to burning a series of copies by indignant residents. Paradoxically, this and other research and documentary projects by Mark Neville received resonance in the artistic field, attracted the attention of the gallery and museum audience. The project “Port of Glasgow” was presented in the gallery not only as a series of photographs, but included letters, video interviews and other responses of its main characters. Thus, photographs fall into the context of art due to the performative way of working with documentary material, which continues to change the understanding of “art”, “photography”, “documentary” and their interaction.

At a lecture at the Center for Photography named after Lumiere Brothers Marc Neville will talk about his understanding of the complex meanings of “art” and “document”, how to work on the border of different practices and will offer a joint conversation about what kind of continuation today has a question that has not lost its relevance for such a long time.

As part of the lecture, the presentation of Mark Neville’s book “Bizarre Pictures” will take place, combining his projects created over the past ten years. This is the first artist book available for sale. He will tell in detail about its preparation, and visitors to the Center are among the first in the world to get acquainted with the publication and purchase a copy signed by the author.

Ticket price: full - 430 rubles, preferential - 200 rubles (purchased at the box office of the Center for Photography), World War II veterans - for free.