Peripheral Images are back, and with them pinhole photographs which, understood as images belonging to the realm of photography, are here once again to be viewed and contemplated, regardless of whether they fall within one or another more or less documentary and/or aesthetic dimension.

Anyone familiar with this genre of photography knows that it is no ordinary photograph, for they will surely recognise a set of characteristics that make it diverge substantially from a photographic image produced by a ‘standard’ photographic device, such as a conventional camera or a smartphone. But if someone, besides being able to recognise the watermark of a pinhole photograph, knows that this object is the result of a camera obscura devoid of lenses—which have been replaced by a small hole—and that, as a consequence of this absence, the exposure times of the photosensitive materials become substantially long; and that, after a long and laborious process, the result is almost always ‘dissonant’ in relation to what is depicted... that person might ask: what is the advantage or appeal, these days, of using such an archaic, antiquated technique as pinhole photography? It is not difficult to see that this type of photography shares many elements with any other form of digital photography; for example: representation,

intentionality, time, memory, subjectivity, referent... they are all there! However, all this is presented in a different way, which may well contrast with what we are usually shown, leading us to an attitude of wonder that has become rare.

“Figures of Astonishment”

Quoting Pedro Miguel Frade in his book entitled “Figures of Astonishment”:

“...the astonishment that no longer occurs today, because the image has become habitual, banal, natural.” And how can we circumvent this banality that is looking, today, at a photographic record? Once again, Pedro Miguel Frade replies: “...a transcendence of habit that allows one to break through its usual barriers and which, because it does so, allows one to address, if not the unthinkable, then at least that which had already been forgotten.” If these considerations make sense, then it will not be difficult to admit that the practice of pinhole photography today, precisely because of the use of an archaic technique whose results always involve a significant degree of unpredictability, may for that very reason create difference, and with it, discontinuity. In a word, photography understood in this way becomes relevant, this concept being, according to the philosopher José Gil, synonymous with Contemporaneity. And if it is true that in this presence of pinhole photography everything takes us back to the rudimentary, at odds with the supposed technological dynamics of the present day, insofar as its relevance is recognised since its action introduces ‘another time’, where there is a discontinuity or rupture that is nothing other than a break with chronological/empirical time, then we are in the presence of a greater archaism and much closer to a sincere sense of wonder.

Rui Apolinário

e Lenta Photography Cycle

The simultaneous staging of two exhibitions – MIRA Mobile Prize and MIRA Pinhole Photography – reflects the way MIRA positions itself in relation to photography. We appreciate the speed of photography in capturing and editing images made possible by mobile phone technology, and the slowness of pinhole photography, where technology is absent.

We welcome with equal enthusiasm the works that bring us the perspectives of those who, at a given moment, decided to capture a part of the world.

SHORTLIST

Adelino Marques I Agnieszka Babinska I Ana Hernandez I Antal Tarjani I António Gonçalves I António Martins Teixeira I Augusto Lemos I Ausra Barysiene I Bogdan Kizlo I Bruno Bernardi I Carolina Folger I Cezary Bartczak I Clarisse Clozier I Conceição Magalhaes I Dave Levingston I Erica Von Essen I Fernando Fortes I Filipe Carne iro I Francesco Coccia I Francesco Rizzo I Goreti Ferraz I Ivan Piano I Jan Hinderson I Jorma Onkinen I Krzysztof Stefanski I Ksawery Wrobel I Kumei Kirschmann I Manuela Vaz I Maribel Gijon I Mark Fohl I Marzena Kolarz I Mikko Halla -maa I Miroslav Radomski I Nick Dvoracek I Niels Hansen I Peter de Graa I Peter Ostlund I Piotr Cieslak I Piotr Szudra I Rene Huemer I Rene Vonk I Rudy Umans I Rui Apolinário I Ruth Guse I Sergei Kulagin I Sergio Ventura I Stephanie Probst I Tomasz Warzynski I Vasilii Kiselev I Viktorija Vaitilaviciute I Walter Crump

PROJECTED IMAGES

Adelino Marques I Agnieszka Babinska I Alessandro Tarantino I Ana Hernandez I Antal Tarjani I António Gonçalves I António Martins Teixeira I Arek Golosz I Arnas Jatuzis I Augusto Lemos I Ausra Barysiene I Beatriz Rodrigues I Bogdan Kizlo I Bruno Bernardi I Carolina Folger I Cezary Bartczak I Clarisse Clozier I Conceição Mag alhaes I Dave Levingston I Diana Pankova I Diego Cuneo I Enrico Scek Osman I Erica Von Essen I Fabricio Medina I Fernando Fortes I Filipe Carneiro I Francesco Coccia I Francesco Rizzo I Goreti Ferraz I Ines Valente I Ivan Piano I Jan Hinderson I Je McConnell I Jorma Onkinen I Karolina Maliszewska I Krzysztof Stefanski I Ksawery W robel I Kumei Kirschmann I Lorena Casillas I Luiz Cardoso I Manuela Vaz I Margarida Allen I Maribel Gijon I Mark Fohl I Marzena Kolarz I Matheus Ilha I Jacob McGuinness I Michal Kucera I Mikko Hallamaa I Miroslav Radomski I Nick Dvoracek I Niels Hansen I Nils Aksnes I Paulina Pidzik I Peter de Graa I Peter Ostlund, Piotr Cieslak, Piotr Szudra, Piotr Wiktor Weclawski, Rafael Paris, Rene Huemer, Rene Vonk, Rima Virbauskaite, Robin Bjerkhaug, Rudy Umans, Rui Apolinário, Ruth Guse, Sergei Kulagin, Sergio Ventura, Stanislaw Chomicki, Stephanie Probst, Tarja Trygg, Tim Raedisch, Tomasz Warzynski I Vasilii Kiselev I Viktorija Vaitilaviciute I Vincent Sebastian I Violetta Kostyrina I Walter Crump

TALK

‘The Magic of Pinhole’

Online talk on pinhole photography

25 Nov | 9.30pm

CREDITS

MIRA Galleries | MIRA FORUM

Directed by Manuela Matos Monteiro and João Lafuente

Gallery Assistant Luísa Rosas da Silva