Dogmatism kills art – On artistic pluralism and algorithmic ostracism

‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality/society but a hammer with which to shape it.’ Unknown, but often attributed to Bertolt Brecht There is no shortage of people who decry the state of photography today, and to a great extent they have a valid argument. More broadly, such criticism has always existed against any form of art: in its time it has faced critics who want either a re-orientation in future or, more probably, a return to the good old days. Nobody can quite agree on what period these mythical ‘good’ days spanned, unless of course they never read the history of that art, in which case it is whatever time they happen to like. To whom it was good is an entirely different question. At the moment, for photography, the ‘good’ days happen to be the ’80s and ’90s when 35mm film was everywhere and everyone carried a point-and-shoot camera. Except, for anyone who lived in the ’90s, this rose-tinted version of history will immediately appear suspect: people who could get their hands…