Wall's Liquid Intelligence and Frames of Reference

In his essay, Wall discusses his idea of photography as “liquid intelligence.” Through his discussion, Wall separated photography into the dry, the mechanical and optical components, and the wet, the chemicals used to develop the image. Wall considered this liquid component of photography as one which both connects photographs to the past, through the use of similar development processes as those during its invention. In what is the first discussion that we have regarding the digitization of photography, he mentions that this process as a process that displaced this liquid component to a more distant horizon, giving hydroelectricity that powers the camera as an example of its involvement. This short discussion was interesting for me not only because it provided a unique view into the how photographers and artists regard the photographic medium, as the general viewership is not often involved with this liquid development process. It also reminded me, once again, or Benjamin’s notion of mechanical production and aura. As mechanical reproduction removed the aura of the photograph, digitization, which further removed the liquid component of photography connecting the photograph to the past and the artist, represents yet another level of displacement in its representation. In his essay, Wall also his aversion to looking at photography when they were hung on walls. Instead, he prefers to see them in books or leaf through them in an album. Through this notion, wall seems to echo his metaphor of a photograph as a “liquid intelligence” that is characterized by its ability to bring its viewers a unique personal experience at every viewing. It seems that, to Wall, this personal experience is uniquely photographic, emphasized by its ability to be placed in books and albums, to be held up close in a way that paintings and sculptures cannot. Overall both” Liquid Intelligence” and “Frames of Reference” provided interesting insights into how a photographer regard his evolving medium and how he view himself in the context of other artists. Both of these discussions shed light on new ways for me to view and interpret photographs.