knowledge – Page 2 – Marco Montalto

The Fall

Man does not seek knowledge; he covers it. For the Ancient Greeks, the gods were not to be questioned. Later, the Christians would adopt the convenient ethical stance of refraining from questioning themselves. With the advent of photography, reality was not to be questioned further. The contradictory dogmas that attached themselves to each of these…

Timeo Dominum transeuntem, et non revertentem

knowledge (n.): “early 12c., cnawlece ‘acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship;’ for first element see know (v.). The second element is obscure, perhaps from Scandinavian and cognate with the -lock ‘action, process,’ found in wedlock” (HARPER 2001-2021). know (v.): “Old English cnawan (class VII strong verb; past tense cneow, past participle cnawen), ‘perceive a thing…

Investment

The photograph is the result of light painting itself. The painting is the action of the hand showing. In the former case, there is no translation involved in beholding the objet d’art: light paints itself on the photographic film/sensor and the result is seen by the eyes which function through the transmission of the same…

Eskhaton

A painting can look painted. A painting can look like a photograph. A photograph can look like a painting. A photograph can clearly look photographed. A painting can be intentionally made to look painted. A painting can be intentionally made to look like a photograph. A photograph can be intentionally made to look like a…

Imago

Analogue and digital photography both rely on a vital input: light. In analogue photography, the information we call light is analogous to the atomic structure resting on the exposed photographic film. In digital photography, the information we call light is measured for its intensity in the form of digits and those digits are then assigned…

To know, or not to know, and to know – the question of evidence

I stand still at the end of an empty street. Looking down the street, I observe the street lamps growing smaller as they recede into the distance. Identical street lamps simply do not grow smaller as they recede into the distance. I merely have to approach each one in turn to verify that indeed they…

Curating the Archive

The prima materia of perception is not the world. The prima materia of perception is memory. As our eyes linger on the object of their gaze, the memory gives way to what is really being seen. The eyes do not travel; they travel with the body. Charles Sanders Peirce established a trichotomy of signs, which Silverstein explains thus: “the…

The Seventh Sign

Digital photography proclaims that the clasp of history has been broken. The word ‘history’ originated from “Greek historia: “a learning or knowing by inquiry; an account of one’s inquiries, history, record, narrative”” (HARPER 2001-2020). Thus, history was originally understood as being both the learning gained through inquiry and the account or record of that inquiry.…