How does photography act? How is it in an act in the making? The exhibition Photography Performs [The Body and the Archive] at the Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France show how performative photography passes through forms, as the verb perform indicates. It points to the invention of new paths, new ways of crossing through the present times, in order to see what the real shows, how it manifests itself, what constitutes what can seem unusual, marvelous, or daunting. In this way, this exhibition is composed of different forms: photography, installation, video, and performances, as well as brings together artists from different regions of the world.

Photography Performs [The Body and the Archive] is an homage to Allan Sekula (1951-2013), and its subtitle is borrowed from one of his principal texts. Sekula, in surveying the most consuming social movements of the end of the century, created an uncommon archival basis. Privileging the instantaneous and the detail, overlooking protocols and the spectacular, Sekula succeeded in giving photography a performative impulse that escapes the ideological rigidity of History.

The exhibition is curated by the collective AGENCY, formed by the young curators of the Masters in Curating and Contemporary Art at the University Paris-Sorbonne, and Chantal Pontbriand, associate professor. The curatorial practice of Pontbriand W.O.R.K.S [We_Others and Myself_Research_Knowledge_Systems] is based on an approach in line with philosophical pragmatism, collaborative work, processes, and investigation.

Photography Performs [The Body and the Archive]
Curated by AGENCY and Pontbriand W.O.R.K.S.
Until December 21st 2014
Centre photographique d’Île-de-France (CPIF)
www.cpif.net