The noisy photography of Miroslav Tichý: the agency of artisanal photographic equipment in the construction of an aesthetic of precariousness

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the agency of non-human elements such as photographic equipment in the consolidation of an aesthetic characterized by noise and flaws, entitled aesthetic of precariousness. Such aesthetic permeates the photographic production of Czech artist Miroslav Tichý (1926-2011). His photographs, distinguished by lack of sharpness, excess of noise and deterioration resulting from a homemade and peculiar photographic process, serve as a case study to analyze the interference of non-human elements in the outline of this aesthetic of precariousness.

Keywords aesthetics of precariousness; agency of objects; low-fidelity photography; Miroslav Tichý; contemporary photography