From 2007 – 2009, Nicholas Knight went from museum to museum, photographing digital screens as artgoers snapped shots of the art on the walls. It was the dawn of a new way of relating to art – and to the world – through the camera. This period saw the arm's-length consumer camera screen become the new normal, which paved the way for the smartphone and an explosion in the social habits and consequences of taking pictures.
This book, Taking Pictures 2007 – 2009, looks back at the artworks Knight made based on observing this activity. The book is built around a simple but encompassing design idea: each transformation that the new photo-gesture imposes has unforeseen effects, and the design extracts those data-rich elements into discrete structures.
