Background information

The book series 'Conversations', which since 2014 has now grown to three individual volumes, contains interviews with contemporary photographers, conducted by Rémi Coignet, a well-known French photo book critic from Paris. Since 2008, the latter has pursued the goal of outlining a geography of contemporary photography, so that Fotograf:innen can be sufficiently heard in the publishing process - which is often forgotten in favor of critics, journalists and curators. Remí Coignet invited photographers, publishers, and graphic designers to talk about their work together and explain their intentions.

Content

This third volume, 'Conversations 3', is aimed at photographers who are particularly interested in editing and editorial work. Photographers therefore discuss in detail their editorial project, their vision of the photobook, and its relevance to their photographic practice.

Excerpt from an interview with Sophie CALLE

"Rémi Coignet: Most people's lives are very mundane. I feel that very often you slide a grain of sand into banality to see if something interesting will happen. I think, for example, where and when? Or to follow a man Venice....
Sophie CALLE: Yes, but at the same time I say banal things. A man who leaves, a mother who dies, separates. But there are also all the works that are not about me: a stolen painting, a blind man. Everyone in this room has been abandoned once, has now received a breakup letter, a phone call or a text ... "

Excerpt from an interview with Antoine D'AGATA

"Rémi Coignet: It seems to me that you wrote somewhere that you live what you photograph, and photograph what you live.
Antoine D'AGATA: Yes, this relationship is complex and impure. There is no possible balance. At no time can we achieve a balance, an equilibrium, a harmony. Always life or photography takes over. I am constantly struggling to find this impossible balance. This attempt is worth living. I think it makes the experience more intense because the photographic distance allows an intelligence of the lived moment that makes it deeper and more ambiguous. "

Excerpt from an interview with William KLEIN

"Rémi Coignet: From this first book, typography plays an essential role, and it will play a role in all your books, as in the credits of your films. What role does it play for you?
William KLEIN: Painting was the beginning of pop at that time and typography was essential. There are even some photographs that I intentionally designed that way. For one day, I wanted to fly over the typography of New York City. "

The photographers and publishers interviewed in Volume 3 are.

Laurence AËGERTER, Julian BARON, Sophie CALLE, Edmund CLARK, Antoine D'AGATA, Amaury da CUNHA, Mischka HENNER, William KLEIN, Susan MEISELAS, Pino MUSI, Sophie RISTELHUEBER, Dayanita SINGH, Carlos SPORTTORNO, Katja STUKE & Oliver SIEBER, Pierre von Kleist, Donovan WYLIE

Photo books of the interviewed photographers and publishers

AËGERTER, Laurence
BARON, Julian
CALLE, Sophie
CLARK, Edmund
D'AGATA, Antoine
CUNHA, Amaury da
HENNER, Mishka
KLEIN, William
MEISELAS, Susan
MUSI, Pino
RISTELHUEBER, Sophie
SIEBER, Oliver
SINGH, Dayanita
SPORTTORNO, Carlos
STUKE, Katja
WYLIE, Donovan
and
Pierre von Kleist