The photobook visually and materially contextualizes arrangements of photographs and brings them into a sensually tangible form. The book format, the materiality of the paper, and the type of binding have just as much effect on the viewer as the selection of images, their positioning in the layout, typography, and texts. The collection of essays by artist and theorist Bettina Lockemann approaches the medium from a research perspective: considering the photobook as an independent subject of art studies, phenomenological discussions complement methodological lines of thought. An important contribution to the photobook as an independent field of research, Lockemann's texts elaborate precise terms for analyzing this captivating art form. Through a practice-based examination of contemporary photobooks, the author emphasizes the medium's status as a genuine work of its own.
BETTINA LOCKEMANN (*1971) is an artist and scholar specialized in artistic documentary photography. After studying art photography and media art in Leipzig and earning a PhD in art history at the ABK Stuttgart she was professor for practice and theory of photography at the HBK Braunschweig for five years. She lives in Cologne.