Fotograafia aktualiseerumisest ja enesemõistmise muutumisest 1980. aastate lõpul – 1990. aastate algul. DeStudio juhtum
Actualisation of photography and a change in self-perception in the late 1980s – early 1990s. The case of DeStudio

Summary/Abstract: Already at the start of the 20th century various Estonian photographers debated whether and on which conditions photography should be defined as art. The discussion continued after the Second World War when, supported by several forceful groups, the discourse of modernist photography was further developed. At the same time photography still lay in the margins of the art world, and art historians disqualified it because of the peculiarity of its medium. According to the self-perception of photography, however, art had to be found inside the medium itself, which in turn evoked disputes as to what aims photography should actually have. The early 1980s witnessed heated debates about whether photography should be ‘social’ or ‘salon-style’, but lacking any decent academic rear, the debates never got any further from quite basic level. Several supporters of ‘documental’ photography in fact stood for salon-style sociality, as in the conditions of regulated society photography was unable to develop its documentary skills. In addition to the low level of discussion, the invasion of photography into the art world was further hindered by modest photographic education, general institutional weakness and the rejection of the whole medium by the art world.

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