"The Evental Place of Photography"

Abstract

This article proposes that the inclusion of the spectator in a photographic act begets an eventalplace that remains outside of all times and spaces. Through discussing the confrontational aspects of places, it argues that the transient but incessant encounter between the spectator and the photograph accounts for place as that which eludes any permanent localization. To do this, it closely examines Ariella Azoulay’s formulation of “the event of photography,” as a potential encounter between the spectator and the photograph, vis-à-vis the concept of event as postulated by Alain Badiou, Quentin Meillassoux and Slovoj Žižek. Same as the event that becomes an effect that exceeds its establishing causes, my theoretical comparison shows that “the event of photography”, too, surpasses its founding structures and comes to pass without heralding its arrival time. Accordingly, this paper puts forward that “the event of photography” manifests an evental place that fugaciously but perpetually comes into being between the spectator and the photograph.