Photographic Practice and the Status of Superposition: Image, Observation, Event

This PhD presents a new paradigm in photographic discourse derived from a creative interpretation of the status of superposition.

Superposition is a term used to describe the status of matter in all its conceivable positions at once, as well as in the physical realm: such as where objects are placed in relation to each other. At a quantum level, invisible matter is described in states of superposition in the absence of any system or devise for existential measurement or observation. Upon an act of detection, the status of superposition is said to collapse as the position or state of matter becomes measured or observed; the multi-status of the superposition collapses into a single or defined position or state. As a notion that describes the status of matter in all its conceivable positions or states prior to an act of determination (observation, detection or measurement), superposition is thus a very useful term for the consideration of photographic practice in its exploration of light, matter, the relation of objects in time and space, and human intervention. Photographic Practice and the Status of Superposition: Image, Observation, Event is an experimental investigation into the how superposition can be used to develop photographic practice and discourse. The methodology is articulated in written part(icle)s that apply a theoretical framework of superposition in a general way to photography genres; some photographs are intended to collapse superpositions, others are intended to construct the status of superposition. In a particular matrix of photography and performance, the process of collapse and construct can be repetitive and iterative. This framework as a methodology is applied in the making and showing of new photographic works that explore the status of superposition in practice, in all conceivable states of construction into superposition status (in-status) and collapse from superposition status (in-collapse), in a series of exhibited iterations of disseminated research in non-standard photography.

The development of a theory of superposition that includes both the status of superposition and the collapse from superposition (in-status and in-collapse), offers up a new paradigm for photography and a new contribution to photographic discourse and practice. This is a photographic imperative, that must be a photograph/ photographed. All conceivable states of superposition are in-photo (in-status and incollapse), as lived experience in the event of making and in the event of observing/ viewing the photograph(ic) (in-presence). Photography can characterise or embody this quantum theory in a manner that no other form or material of representation can. The states of superposition are entangled with photography (technology) as recurring status and collapse, and ultimately as the human condition.