Maxim Ksuta

An Essay from the Perspective of Vilém Flusser

The photograph presented to me is a challenge to the dialogical nature of the image and the objecthood of the surrounding world. This shot is not merely the result of the photographer’s gesture but also a testament to the relationship between human and apparatus, between creator and tool.

Here, in this image, the pipe, wall, and plant cease to be “real” things. They become elements of a conceptual universe, visual symbols that “point” to meaning rather than contain it. The camera is not simply a device that records reality but an interface capable of transforming objects into concepts.

The image of the pipe, slightly tilted and marked with a graphic symbol, is a metaphor for functionality turned into cultural text. The act of someone drawing on the pipe is an example of the “play” humans engage in with objects of the industrial world. The graffiti transforms the pipe into a bearer of meaning, a medium of communication. Meanwhile, the plant growing against the backdrop of the brick wall challenges this very industry, presenting a contrast between the organic and the artificial, the living and the static.

The brick wall, even and orderly, symbolizes human-created structure, yet its cracks reveal the chaotic force of nature, whose power cannot be entirely subdued. This tension between the authentic, the natural, and the industrial introduces us to a new world, where the familiar desire for control is dismantled by its own logic.

What is significant here, however, is the act of photographing itself. The photographer is a “programmer” working with the “memory” of the apparatus. The choice of angle, framing, and the relationships between objects is a process that extracts the image from the flow of randomness and imbues it with meaning. The apparatus, despite its cold functionality, becomes a tool for cultural expression, and the photographer, interacting with it, does not merely record but creates.

This work reveals the essence of photography as communication. It speaks not only about the objects within the frame but also about the gaze that perceived them, the person behind the camera, and us, the viewers of this photograph. We become part of this visual dialogue, transforming from passive spectators into interpreters.

This photograph is not simply an object; it is a text we read. And therein lies its true value.

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