Photography

Stephen Shore on the distinction between structure & composition. There are certain kinds of photography where this is less true but I appreciate the insight of bringing order to the world. Storytelling is about what you pay attention to. A way to characterise the difference between media is how to draw that attention

is it more about decisions made to reveal one/some particular orderly interpretation/s (among many possibles)?

not-knowing ✹ 🍕-fan ✹ productive discomfort + idk ✹ Marseille / Singapore / Auvergne ✹ The Uncertainty Mindset (2020) ✹ now: vaughntan.org/now-ish

to me, it's all part of the same thing! those decisions are driven by what the artist pays attention to (consciously or not) or wants the audience to pay attention to. that focus defines the order/interpretation/narrative. 'attention' might sound trivial; I mean it in the sense of that which constitutes reality for you

yea — same. i share (i think) your pragmatist view of how reality is constructed

structure often seems to imply 'objective' reality, vs interpretation which forces the subjectiveness of attention and meaningmaking to the front

how do you see art in relation to reality? imo meaningmaking is linked to objectivity — attention can be drawn to the illusory (meaningless) or the real (meaningful). illusion begets chaos, tho this can also be an interpretive choice. i do think there is a structure to reach for which might not quite be pragmatism(?)

wrote a bit more about meaningmaking here:

thanks for sharing!! v on board with meaningmaking and humanness; I think it's fundamental to who we are as humans. not sure if you're familiar with John Vervaeke, but his series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” has influenced me greatly

I like your idea of meaning being irreducible. I distinguish between (i) X being meaningful to me and (ii) what it is to find X meaningful, which imo relies on alignment with some kind of truth. & I think that’s not the same as saying in art that X means Y, though they may be linked. Interpretation ≠ meaningfulness

thanks for sharing!! v on board with meaningmaking and humanness; I think it's fundamental to who we are as humans. not sure if you're familiar with John Vervaeke, but his series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” has influenced me greatly 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5eC1ZfZwWJ

wrote a bit more about meaningmaking here: https://vaughntan.org/what-makes-us-human-for-now

i don't have a good answer to the question of what reality is (consensual, subjective, filtered, etc). but meaning-making is sort of irreducible. i say "X means Y" and my intention creates meaning regardless of whether X or Y are illusory/real/existing/imaginary. imo, art is making meaning in that sense.