Phenomenon of the 21st century photo-book

If we reflect on the "photobook phenomenon" that has been developing for a quarter of a century, it will lead us to the verification of research on the subject in Central and Eastern Europe. This lecture was directly triggered by the exhibition and catalogue: Photobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow in 2019. The subject of the project was the 20th-century history of Central Europe told in photobooks. However, it seems that in the 21st century, Central European photobooks attract the attention of researchers and collectors from all over the world, and subsequent nominations and awards confirm their high-quality artistic production. The shift of attention to the present day forces the verification of cognitive categories that are useful for cataloguing and evaluating 20th-century books. The lecture is an insight into possible chapters, motifs and narratives concerning photobooks, and so the essay is divided into the following parts: the first deals with a new definition of the photobook, the second with a cliché of otherness of the region, the third a re-assumption of topographic photography, the fourth focuses on issues of history in Central and Eastern Europe, while the last one, the fifth, is about the intense political atmosphere influencing the production of photobooks. All proposed new chapters are supported by examples of the most important books published in the 21st century. It is an attempt to create an initial catalogue of canonical books, as well as an attempt to answer the title question – what makes contemporary Central European photobooks so different and so attractive?

Illustration: Aneta Grzeszykowska

Adam Mazur is an art historian, curator, and assistant professor at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań. Author of multiple articles and books on the history of Polish and Central European photography. In 2019, the Krakow-based Universitas publishing house published his "Mutilated World. Histories of Photography in Central Europe 1838-2018". Currently researching photobooks from the region and curating a show on Lithuanian photography to be exhibited in spring 2023 at the International Centre of Culture in Krakow.