Customer Reviews

Evidence

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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.

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.

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.