The text in the galleries, “contemporary ruins and urban archeology” constrict the viewer’s sense of space. The artists have already dictated the users expectations. Furthermore, the words “photography” and “work” inform users that they should appreciate these images as art, rather than as news media or journalism.
Before even interacting with the images, the user’s mental representation of the images is dictated in part by the artists’ representations of the images.
Regarding the images themselves, none of them are Detroit. Physically, the images are pixels displayed on a monitor in accordance with certain internet standards and protocols. The images are instances of photographic representations of Detroit. They are “instances” because these are not the original photographs. Those were on a camera at one point, but have probably since been removed. The images on the camera were created by light hitting a sensor beyond the lens. The representation of that scene was then transferred to another instance…either onto a processed print, or to a computer hard drive. Every time the photographer copied or transferred an image, another instance of a single representation was created.
The images are representations of Detroit because they only capture a monocular (most cameras have one lens, whereas most humans have two eyes) projection. They do not embody the entirety of Detroit (which includes the word “Detroit,” which in itself is a representation of the physical place of Detroit).
All of the images are curated around a single theme – urban decay. There are other aspects of Detroit not explored in this set of images, such as the Redwings, or auto companies, steel workers, unemployment, the Henry Ford museum, etc.
As knowledge representations, they are successful to the degree which the creators feel the images capture their original vision. But that suggests they are representations of the artist instead of representations of Detroit. The images, as knowledge representations, cannot be improved upon, but they are not universally helpful for everyone who is seeking knowledge about Detroit. Those people might find better information by seeking the representation of Detroit on Wikipedia.
Tags: cognition, images, representation
