ISSP 2019 Publication - Photography and the World

How did the urge to change
something about ISSP's
well-functioning and well-established
structure come up?
I think it just became boring to do the same thing
over and over again. It's still the same format, we've
just done a slight shift. The format of ISSP itself
works very well and makes sense, but the whole
structure just started repeating itself. At some point,
you understand that even though what we are doing
here at ISSP is at the fringe of the photography
world it still fits into the same industry of photography.
So people come here, they make contacts that
are useful for them in order to climb up the career
ladder and it's only that: they get contacts, they
may be exhibited somewhere else, they maybe make
a book, and at some point you just naturally start
asking yourself: what's the point of it?
So what's this "something
more" that you were trying to
do with this new edition?
I think all of us are looking to do something meaningful
and the ISSP just feeding into the industry of
photography stopped being meaningful for me. At
the same time, all the human interactions around
ISSP were still very meaningful. And it is a structure
and a platform and a format that can be used to shift
the focus a little bit, to produce a discussion which I
think makes more sense and that is more honest.
Where do you personally find
the meaningfulness?
Well, it's anything that is beyond and that is asking
the question why? I don't think I'm interested in art
for the sake of art, I don't see it as my religion. I'm
interested in how art processes can change people's
lives on an individual level, and that is something
that happens within every artist we meet. But I'm
also interested in how the art can fit into the world,
the structures, the systems. In how we interact in a
broader context.
Can you sense some differences
in this year's ISSP
comparing to earlier editions?
Do you think it has a different
dynamic or atmosphere?
Yes, I think so because we already figured out that
people are asking themselves a lot more questions.
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Is anybody listening?
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Why do I doubt myself for
never being or doing “enough”?