In 1977 photographers Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel sifted through thousands of photographs in the files of the Bechtel Corporation, the Beverly Hills Police Department, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Stanford Research Institute and a hundred other corporations, American government agencies, and educational, medical and technical institutions. They were looking for photographs that were made and used as transparent documents and purely objective instruments--as evidence, in short. Selecting 50 of the best, they printed these images with the care you would expect to find in a high-quality art photography book, publishing them in a simple, limited-edition volume titled Evidence. The concept for the book was clear: select photographs intended to be used as objective evidence and show that it is never that simple. Now an undisputed classic in the photo world, considered a seminal harbinger of conceptual photography, Evidence is nearly impossible to find. This new edition is being published in recognition of the project's continued relevance, and will contain a facsimile copy of the original book plus a newly commissioned scholarly essay by Sandra Phillips of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Additionally, this edition will include a new spread of images and a group of black-and-white illustrations selected by the artists from an archive of photographs that were not included in the original book.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deserves its reputation,
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This review is from: Evidence (Hardcover)
This is the document of a found photography project from the 70s. Apparently there is a current retrospective of it that attempts to put the works in a narrative framework. That is against the original intention of the project, but don't worry: there is no way to assemble a linear narrative, open to only one interpretation, from this work. The power of these photographs rests on two fundamentals: 1 - they are all found photos taken from corporate archives, not intended as art, and 2 - no caption, explanation, or context is offered. Any original contextualizing aspects have been carefully removed. What you are left with are some really enigmatic images of human activity. You may read criticism of technological society in some, but the artists very wisely avoid all overt "social commentary". Not only does this respect the intelligence of the audience, but it preserves the wonder implicit in most of these images. If I were to distill a "message" out of this work, it is: we are capable of astonishing ourselves simply by going about our business.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High-water mark of conceptual photography,
By Nonce (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Evidence (Hardcover)
It's hard to decide what's more brilliant here: the images themselves, the archives they're tied to, the idea behind the project, or the methods the artists used (imitation "offical" letters of recommendation). But not only is this a great collection of images, it says a lot both about the military-inductrial complex of the '50s through '70s and how it represents itself. A smart book on every level, and the reprint contains some archive photos not included in the original book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
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This review is from: Evidence (Hardcover)
My expectations were more than met, I received something that I will cherish til my dying days...The price was great compared to everyone else.
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