Over the last two decades, photobooks – printed books principally devoted to showcasing photographic practice and ideas – have been the subject of scholarly research, publishing and exhibitions. Yet despite its rich tradition of photographic practice and publishing, the photobook remains largely overlooked as a site of enquiry in South Africa. During his time at A4, Sean O'Toole explores four questions: What is a photobook? What is the history of the photobook in South Africa? What is a suitable form and site for a public-facing photobook archive or library? How is the photobook, a physical object, best exhibited?
A4’s Course of Enquiry invites curators to develop a six-month programme centred on ‘making public’ their modes of investigation.
Course of Enquiry offers insight into research as process, with all the attendant segues and obstacles necessary to the curatorial form. Curators’ engagements with their guiding questions are observed and documented through a programme that considers the journey of ideas, from experimentation to expression. Where are the meanderings, the dead-ends, the points at which thoughts coalesce? How might this unfolding be made apparent? In the spirit of ‘elastic rigour’ (to use Carlo Ginzberg’s term), the accompanying translations of curatorial process – be they aural, written, visual or tactile – are guided by the individual enquiries, their outcomes anticipated but as yet unknown.
The resulting research and its traces are shared with the public in a series of events, texts and multimedia offerings.
