How do you see the future of photography? - anticipating Photo London

Following our interview with Michael Benson, director of Photo London, the first edition of which will take place May 21-24 at Somerset House, we asked several galleries to share with us their views on the future of photography, both as an art and as a contemporary medium of self-expression, whose popularity and accessibility has only become more prevalent.  

Recently, there have been discussions revolving around the question of  what kind of photography can or cannot be attributed to art, and how long the interest around this medium will remain in contemporary art world.  Regardless, museums continue exhibiting photography, galleries continue selling it, and fairs keep making big events out of it. Since one more fair focusing exclusively on photography is about to appear and find it’s place among other fairs in different locations and of different scales, Artdependence Magazine decided to ask the galleries participating in Photo London: How do you see the future of photography?

Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers' Gallery:

The last decade has proved to be a mercurial moment of change when we have seen debates around the meaning, role and circulation of the networked image impact on our previous understanding of the photograph as an object, framed and displayed on a wall. Over the years artists have demonstrated that they can reinvent the medium, subverting previous assumptions and collapsing boundaries – the next decade is bound to be promising in terms of engaging new audiences for this most versatile and dynamic medium.

Martina Lindqvist
Untitled # 3 from the series Neighbours, 2013
© Martina Lindqvist
Courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery

Thomas Zanders, Galerie Thomas Zander:  

Due to numerous changes in digital media and photography (3D), the future of photography will be exciting. And precisely this development will significantly revalue classic analog photography. 

Mitch Epstein
Eastern Cottonwood Tree, Staten Island II, 2011
Gelatin silver print
68 x 54 inch / 175 x 138 cm
Mitch Epstein:
© Black River Productions, Ltd. / Mitch Epstein, courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln

Yossi Milo Gallery:

The future of photography is rife with possibilities. Whether artists are uncovering overlooked materials from the past, or investigating contemporary digital possibilities, we are constantly presented with exciting new perspectives of the medium. At a time when we constantly and quickly consume images, many artists are stepping back to re-discover the essential nature of photography, and encouraging a slower and more focused approach to the practice of image-making. This opens up the potential for rich experimentation, proving that photography is a medium with unending potential for discovery. The future of photography is wide open. 

Alison Rossiter
From the series Splits
Haloid Military, expired October 1957, processed 2015
Four Gelatin Silver Prints
© Alison Rossiter, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

Some of the galleries remained silent. Nevertheless it will be curious to see the selection of works shown at Photo London 2015, and to put to the test our own beliefs regarding the future of photography.

The full list of participating galleries is the following:

Atlas Gallery (London)
Ayyam Gallery (Beirut, Dubai, London)
Ben Brown Fine Arts (London)
Bernhard Quaritch Ltd (London)
Bernheimer (Lucerne, Munich)
Blanca Berlín Galería (Madrid)
Camera Work (Berlin)
Caroline Smulders (Paris)
Christophe Guye Galerie (Zurich)
Crane Kalman Gallery (Brighton)
Danziger Gallery (New York)
Edwynn Houk Gallery (New York)
Eleven Fine Art (London)
Eric Franck Fine Art (London)
Flowers Gallery (London, New York)
Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire (Paris)
Galerie Lumière des Roses (Paris)
Galerie Pavlova (Berlin)
Galerie Polaris (Paris)
Galerie Thomas Zander (Cologne)
GALLERY FIFTY ONE (Antwerp)
Gazelli Art House (London)
Grimaldi Gavin (London)
HackelBury Fine Art (London)
HADA Contemporary (London)
Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York)
Ibid (London, Los Angeles)
in camera (Paris)
Ingleby Gallery (Edinburgh)
James Hyman Gallery (London)
Kahmann Gallery (Amsterdam)
Kasher|Potamkin (New York)
La Galerie Particulière (Paris)
Les Douches La Galerie (Paris)
Lumiere Brothers Gallery (Moscow)
Michael Hoppen Gallery (London)
Michael Reid Gallery (Sydney)
Nailya Alexander Gallery (New York)
Paul Kasmin Gallery (New York)
Peter Fetterman Gallery (Santa Monica)
Purdy Hicks Gallery (London)
Ravestijn Gallery (Amsterdam)
Robert Hershkowitz (London)
Robert Klein Gallery (Boston)
Robert Morat (Berlin, Hamburg)
Roland Belgrave Vintage Photography (Brighton)
ROSEGALLERY (Santa Monica)
Scheublein + Bak (Zurich)
School Gallery / Olivier Castaing (Paris)
Steven Kasher Gallery (New York)
Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo, Paris)
Tasveer Gallery (Bangalore)
The Little Black Gallery (London)
The Photographers’ Gallery (London)
The Wapping Project Bankside (London)
Timothy Taylor Gallery (London)
Tristan Hoare Gallery (London)
Wilkinson Gallery (London)
Yossi Milo Gallery (New York)

DISCOVERY SECTION

A.I (London)
Edel Assanti (London)
G/P Gallery (Tokyo)
Galerie Vanessa Quang (Paris)
IBASHO (Antwerp)
Pi Artworks (Istanbul, London)
PUG (Oslo)
Roman Road (London)
Tiwani Contemporary (London)

More information is here.