Rosalind Krauss

Douglas Crimp’s “On the Museum’s Ruins”: Institutional Critique and the Postmodern Image

Douglas Crimp's On the Museum's Ruins is a foundational text of institutional critique. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) The museum as the "ruins" of the modernist myth of originality; 2) The "Pictures Generation" (Sherman, Levine) and the use of "appropriation" to deconstruct authorship; 3) How photography, as an "outsider-core," rewrote the museum's grammar; 4) The exhibition as an "argument" rather than a neutral display. Complements Krauss, Sekula, and Tagg.

2025.11.05

kiji

Kaja Silverman’s “The Miracle of Analogy”: Rewriting the Ontology of Photography

Kaja Silverman's The Miracle of Analogy is a major rewriting of photography's ontology. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) Challenging Krauss's "index," she posits photography's essence as "analogy" (resemblance); 2) Decentering the author with the concept of "the world's self-imaging"; 3) Using "latency" (delay) to build an ethics of viewing; 4) Tracking "chains of resemblance" across media. The book reorients photo theory toward phenomenology and attunement.

2025.11.05

kiji

Geoffrey Batchen’s “Burning with Desire”: The Conception of Photography

Geoffrey Batchen's Burning with Desire is a conceptual archaeology of photography. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) Photography existed as a social "desire" long before its 1839 naming; 2) Deconstructing the single-inventor myth (Daguerre, Talbot) by emphasizing multi-point synchronicity; 3) Merging conceptual history with a material turn, focusing on vernacular objects; 4) Challenging the "index" theory (Krauss) with a composite model of concept, institution, and desire.

2025.11.05

kiji