Fotograf Magazine

The newest in a series of publications focused on emergent socio-political phenomena in the context of art and architecture, with a unified design by the Dutch duo Metahaven, is another compilation of texts, artistic commentaries and projects. In her introduction, editor Nele Wynants describes (in perhaps a little too much detail) the phenomenon of post-truth as a now globally accepted reality. The book is a reflection on the possibilities of artists who routinely use both fiction and facts. Stefan Vanthuyn’s text “Fiction as a Visual Strategy in the Photobook” is a historical contribution to a “new trend which sees photographs experimenting with the form and content of the photobook”, searching for the roots of admitting and denying the fictional nature of photography. More interesting insights are to be found in the art projects making use of photography, as with artist Elly Van Eeghem, whose work reflects the needs of public space and community, or Charlotte Lybeer, who photographs various artificial urban and suburban environments as documents of unsuccessful illusions of reality.