© Michel Thomas

PHOTOGRAPHER MICHEL-THOMAS

CANNED THOUGHT OR THREE DAYS WITH A MAN FROM JAPAN

© Michel Thomas

The Canned thought- essay (2008) deals with our “utter-dis-

satisfaction-with-my-existence boredom”. What kinds of

chains of feelings and emotions is the photograph a part of?

Thomas acknowledges photography’s non-technological

l ineage, a lineage of theater and sculpture. But what is the

play?(...)

essay by ROMAN MITCH

Michel Thomas lives and work in Malmö and Paris.

www.michel-thomas.com

“The point of departure is the unwritten norm of our daily life.

Showing the appearance of normality, we are often struggling

in social malaise. What is the code of behavior?

The photography are taken in indecisive situations. People

confined in introverted thoughts, l iving in the playgrounds of

our cities ”

photo by MICHEL THOMAS

© Michel Thomas

Window view 2. Tokyo. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Study 1. Paris. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Another view. Kosta. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

I heard an artist say recently: “All of my work comes from, or

is enacting a kind of boredom. Not just a waiting-for-the-bus

kind of boredom, but an utter-dissatisfaction-with- my-exis-

tence boredom.” There’s something very funny about this, but

it shouldn’t be taken as a joke.

Why else is art the perfect form for opening up a space for en-

acting “utter dissatisfaction”, other than the fact that the very

ground from which it seeks to separate itself (i.e. our everyday,

common sense horizon of understanding), is exactly the thing

which says to us: enjoy yourself!?

Let me repeat the question in this specific frame. What is it

that gives Thomas the impulse to say this is art to a pho-

tograph which enacts dissatisfaction? While it is the photo-

graphs which he takes of people enjoying themselves which

are negated as art? The obvious answer is that the former

photographs, those not selected as art are in fact commercial,

contracted work.

That is, Thomas has only limited creative control, therefore it is

not his art. But I think we should risk the assumption that com-

mercial viability is secondary to the imperative to enjoy.

second

What is the body of photography? The technical/historical de-

velopment might mislead us. Because photography is not just

the technological advancement of a means of reproduction,

but it is the medium through which we have come to know our-

selves transformed, captured into an object.

In this sense it was Medusa who was the first photographer,

and it is statues that are the first photographs. So it is quite

logical that Thomas talks about Rodin when talking about his

photographs. It is neither a slick re- appropriation of, or a sim-

ple attempt to connect to an established artist. Rather, Thom-

as acknowledges photography’s non-technological l ineage, a

lineage of theater and sculpture. But what is the play?

first

© Michel Thomas

third

Let’s make machines to do it. This idea takes on a strange

resonance when machines are made to engage with our feel-

ings. Think about canned laughter. It isn’t just a cue - laugh

now. It also says: laugh if you want, but if you don’t we’ve

already arranged a back up, so you can relax. You don’t even

have to feel anything.

On comedy TV shows, why is it that the unfortunate charac-

ters are so essential? Is it because we are sadistic, and enjoy

other peoples misfortune, or is it that they enact misfortune

so that it will not come onto us? Thereby allowing us to enjoy

the show, and perhaps our life. It is as if we have a spectrum

of emotion which has to be played out, as a necessity.

But it is much better to keep certain things in fiction. Then

they are machines for enacting the feelings of l ife for which we

do not have the occasion for. This is not a judgment on televi-

sion, toward the end of somehow liberating the differences of

photography the finer art. Photography too is a desiring-ma-

chine. That is desire flows through its parts. It is very much

in the business of creating characters, touching our emotions

and creating effects.

The proper questions are - Where has it coupled itself, into

what kinds of chains of feelings and emotions is the photo-

graph a part of? As we can see it has, among other things

connected itself into art discourse.

In this discourse at least, I know, our desire has turned toward

the kind of objects which denounce the imperative to enjoy

and open up a space for us to be dissatisfied. Here we are al-

lowed not to be impressed. We are expected not to enjoy the

spectacle. If we are lucky we may find that somehow in the

creation of this new distance the objects have a new way of

speaking to us.

ROMAN MITCH

Study 2. Tokyo. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

© Michel Thomas

No man´s land. Belfast. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

Study 3. Ronneby. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Study 4. London. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Blinded. London. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

Shadow and stairs. Malmö. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Study 5. Cancun. c-print (150 x 100 cm)

Window view 1. Tokyo. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Passing by. Deauville. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

Study 6. Örebro. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Study 7. Versailles. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

Government house. Tokyo. c-print (50 x 70 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Rain. Berlin. c-print (50 x 70 cm)

Headquaters. London c-print (50 x 70 cm)

© Michel Thomas

Working late. Singapore. c-print (50 x 70 cm)

Ray of light. Autobahn. c-print (100 x 150 cm)

extra

Is it becoming like canned disappointment? Is it our cultures

way of arranging a synthetic backup so that we can avoid gen-

uine disappointment? Will art writing become the art world’s

canned laughter?

© Michel Thomas

Combining a straightforward documentary aesthetic with a con-

ceptual structure, Thomas is crossing the traditional distinction

between ”applied” and ”artistic” photography.

-

Michel Thomas grew up in Paris, France and started in the 80´s as

an assistant for the photographers A. Ruiz-Arago, A. Izdemi Gom-

bos and K. Lash. He managed his own photo studio from 1992 in

Stockholm until l 1999. From fashion to advertising, the focus of

his work shifted in the beginning of 2000, with online social proj-

ects and further on toward art photography. Today, Michel Thom-

as lives in Malmö, Sweden.

2008 © All rights reserved Photographer Michel Thomas