Courtesy Photo l.a., LA.

Aperture Foundation joins the 20th anniversary edition of photo l.a! Visit our booth to see our latest selection of books, limited-edition photographs, and discounted subscriptions. A series of Aperture-hosted programs will also take place, including a panel discussion titled Print, Online, and On-Demand: Words Without Pictures Revisited with Alex Klein, Stacy Allan, and Wendy Yao, as well as a conversation with artist Zoe Crosher and writer Jan Tumlir.

During the panel discussion titled Print, Online, and On-Demand: Words Without Pictures Revisited, Alex Klein, Stacy Allan, and Wendy Yao will discuss new approaches to traditional publishing models, support for critical voices and commentary in the photographic field, and emergent discursive possibilities both in print and online. This event coincides with the announcement of Words Without Pictures, Aperture’s first ePublication and part of the Aperture Ideas series, which is devoted to celebrating the finest critical and creative minds exploring key concepts in photography.

Friday, January 14, 12:00 pm

The conversation which will gather The artist Zoe Crosher and writer Jan Tumlir is an expansion on Tumlir’s recent article “Femme Fatale: Zoe Crosher’s reconsidered archive of Michelle duBois,” which appeared in Aperture magazine, issue 198. Together, the two will explore self-invention and role-playing as told through personal photographs, and what comes of the great “archival theme” in the digital era.

Los Angeles-based artist Crosher and Tumlir recently co-taught a class at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, on the impact of geography on local forms of artistic production, and they will revisit this topic in relation to Crosher’s past work on the city, as well as her more recent series. The discussion will situate Crosher’s work in relation to its historical precedents in the art of Conceptualism, the Pictures Group, and identity politics.

Saturday, January 15, 5:00 pm

Los Angeles-based artist Zoe Crosher and Jan Tumlir spoke at Aperture this past winter following the appearance of Jan Tumlir’s article Femme Fatale: Zoe Crosher’s reconsidered archive of Michelle duBois in Aperture magazine issue 198. Their conversation situated Crosher’s work in relation to its historical precedents in the art of Conceptualism, the Pictures Group, and identity politics, exploring self-invention and role-playing as told through personal photographs and what comes of the great “archival theme” in the digital era. This talk can now be viewed online in its entirety.

In the below edited excerpt of Zoe Crosher in Conversation With Jan Tumlir, Zoe Crosher introduces her body of work The Unraveling of Michelle Dubois which considers the “Fiction of any sort of totality when it comes to photography” and the archive. Crosher describes the importance of installation in the work and her interest in “Collapsing all the different kinds of mediums” and “different kinds of photographs” in her practice. Jan Tumlir tells Crosher that the project addresses the history of how art takes up photography saying that the project presents “This beautiful solution,”  the photograph “does actually become art when it starts disintegrating.”

View the talk in full here:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

A special limited-edition project is now available from Crosher titled The Vanishing of Michelle duBois. An edition of 15, each a unique image, as Crosher has slowed down and mapped out the stages of material disappearance. The image of the Naughty Nurse progressively transforms into a sea of mute whiteness; the information degrades and fades out, leaving only the traces of a fantasy history. Collectors can consider acquiring multiple prints to illustrate the series intent, or choose the individual image most appealing to them.

Zoe Crosher and Jan Tumlir will be speaking at Aperture Foundation tonight.

Upon the recent release of Aperture Magazine issue 198 which features Jan Tumlir’s article “Femme Fatale: Zoe Crosher’s reconsidered archive of Michelle duBois,” the writer and artist will discuss self-invention and role-playing as told through personal photographs, and what comes of the great “archival theme” in the digital era.

Tonight: Tuesday, February 16, 6:30 pm

FREE

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

New Aperture magazine with Josef Koudelka, Duane Michals, Joel Sternfeld, and more!

On sale at newsstands now or click here to subscribe.

The fall issue of Aperture (issue 192) features:

Claudia Angelmaier: Reproduction Art
A reflection on the age of mechanical reproduction in the work of art by Brian Dillon.

Invasion 68: Prague by Josef Koudelka
An in-depth interview with Koudelka about his documentation of the Soviet-led invasion of Prague.

Walead Beshty: Piece By Piece
Jan Tumlir examines Beshty’s protean engagement with photography.

Leaving Kansas: A Look At Second Life
Fred Ritchin gives a tour of the Internet’s alternative to reality, Second Life, through the photographs of Michael Schmelling.

Framing the Presidency: The Evolution of the Campaign Image
Robert Hariman discusses how candidates have been depicted photographically over the past century.

Re-Viewing Rear Window
David Campany considers the role of photography in Hitchcock’s classic film.

Duane Michals: Chromophilia
Robert Kushner comments on a portfolio of Michals’s most recent work in color.

Hanatsubaki: Perfection is Lifeless
The long life of an adventurous Japanese magazine, by Jason Evans.

Joel Sternfeld: Oxbow Archive
Gretel Ehrlich looks at Sternfeld’s latest project in a meditation on seasonality in the age of climate change.

And be sure to catch the Invasion 68 Prague exhibition, photographs by Josef Koudelka, at Aperture Gallery in New York City September 4 – October 30, 2008.