The Uses of Photography exhibition opens this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

Dawsey cover — *The Uses of Photography: Art, Politics, and the Reinvention of a Medium* (September 2016)

we had this dream of truth the truth of things

maybe in a photograph.

—David Antin

Published in conjunction with an exhibition opening this evening at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The Uses of Photography examines a network of artists whose experiments with photography during the turbulent, transitional period between the late 1960s and early 1980s opened the medium to a profusion of new strategies and subjects. Working within the framework of Conceptual art, artists such as Eleanor Antin, Allan Kaprow, Fred Lonidier, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, and Carrie Mae Weems introduced urgent social issues and themes of everyday life into the seemingly neutral territory of photography, producing works that took on hybrid forms, from books and postcards to video and text-and-image installations.

Eleanor Antin, 'Caught in the Act' (film still), 1973, Black and white film, sound, 36 minutes. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Babette Mangolte, 'There? Where?', 1979, 16mm color film transferred to DVD, 10 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Martha Rosler, 'Boys’ Room from House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home', c. 1967–72, Photomontage, Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
Allan Sekula, 'Untitled Slide Sequence', 1972/2011, twenty-five archival grayscale pigment prints, Framed (each): 14 1/4 × 20 1/2in. (36.2 × 52.1cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum purchase with funds provided by Danah and Lynn Fayman by exchange and proceeds from the 2012 Biennial Art Auction
Carrie Mae Weems, 'Welcome Home', from Family Pictures and Stories, 1978–84, gelatin silver prints, text, two audio tracks
Fred Lonidier, '29 Arrests', 1972, gelatin silver prints with text, each: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in., Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Museum purchase with funds from Lynn and Danah Fayman, by exchange, and proceeds from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Biennial Art Auction 2014, 2014.15 © Fred Lonidier.

And, courtesy of our partners at MCASD here’s a behind-the-scenes view of preparators, Nick and Jeremy, installing Fred Lonidier’s GAF Snapshirts.

Exhibition install — Installation of Fred Lonidier (1976), Courtesy of the artist; Michael Benevento, Los Angeles; Essex Street, New York; and Silberkuppe, Berlin.

The exhibition runs through January 2nd, and event programming includes film screenings, panel discussions with the artists, curator talks and more.

To get your own copy of the catalogue, visit the museum, or purchase online at IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or UC Press (to save 30% on ucpress.edu, enter discount code16M4197 at checkout).