Working with Visual Information

Draft of my Introduction -

# 2 - Found photographs from the Visual Studies Workshop

The visionary historian and photographic archivist Paul Vanderbilt is the patron saint for our investigation of the 3rd Effect using large scale picture collections. Vanderbilt envisioned the use of archives as an exploration rather than the routine selection of illustrations to accompany prescribed arguments. To encourage an open-ended, imaginative use of pictures, Vanderbilt worked out a long-term practice of forming combinations of images, usually in pairs, that were unrelated to each other by the usual archival categories of photographer, time period, geographic location, genre, and subject matter. Escaping the regulation of these control vocabularies, the pairings would reveal an unexpected line of interpretation and lead to larger associative patterns of imagery and ideas. He later used these picture combinations to make unique table-top "exhibitions" brought out as needed to have "conversations" with like-minded visual researchers.

The members of the "Working with Visual Information" class are pleased to participate in this wider conversation using the Internet. We hope our pairings enhance the use of picture collections as a speculative adventure and will contribute to the 3rd Effect. See: The 3rd Effect website