Archive, Photography and the Language of Administration

This alternative study of archive and photography brings many types of image assemblages into view, always in relation to the regulated systems operating within the institutional milieu. The archive catalogue is presented as a critical tool for mapping image time, and the language of image description is seen as having a life, a worth and an aesthetic value of its own. Functioning at the intersection of text and image, the book combines media culture, archival techniques, and contemporary discourse on art and conceptual writing.

List of contents

List of illustrations, Acknowledgements, Introduction, 1 The archivization of the image, 2 The social archive, 3 Catalogue, list, description, 4 The archiving camera, 5 Archival art, performativity and poetics, 6 Afterword: the post-digital archive, Works cited, Index

About the author

Jane Birkin is an artist, designer and scholar. She is a visiting lecturer and research assistant at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and she works on exhibitions in the University's Special Collections Division. The administration system of the archive is the primary locus of Birkin's writing and practice.

Product details

• Authors: Jane Birkin
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 01.12.2025
• EAN: 9781041175704
• ISBN: 978-1-0-4117570-4
• No. of pages: 218
• Series: Recursions
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Book trade, library system; History, Media Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, PHOTOGRAPHY / Reference, Humanities, Library & Information Sciences, Library and information sciences / Museology, administration;archive;description;photography;poetics