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Le Paraphotographe

A room on the first floor contained twenty-odd works by Robert Heinecken (1931–2006) that explored the photographer’s questions about the status of the photographic image at the moment of its greatest popularity. Heinecken used the term “paraphotographer” to explain his ambiguous relationship to his medium. On the one hand, he used preexisting images almost exclusively, compiling or arranging them to create his own works. On the other, he was a virtuoso of printing and transfer techniques. In the late 1960s Heinecken began to distribute his work using guerrilla tactics. He would alter magazines, and then replace them in newsstands and living rooms. Making use of ironic captions and overlaid prints, which were often pornographic, he critiqued the normalizing effect of mass media, particularly television, which he saw as a medium of unconscious Surrealism. The exhibition included several photographic series that altered the faces of TV presenters or underscored the absurdity of TV programs.
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