Silent Pictures. The Reinvention of the Slideshow as Photographic Formula

Abstract

Throughout the past decades and especially since digitization, the Diaporama (slide show) has multiplied its presence. It appears in television news programmes, in documentaries, in cinema itself, in exhibition halls and museums, in video-art contests, in instalations, and in theatrical and musical shows. For the “civilization of entertainment” it has become a useful and indispensable tool at the service of information, communication, science and technology, and expansion of culture and art. Multimedia programmes have opened the possibility for ‘anyone who can use a computer’ to become a producer of diaporamas (slide shows). Diaporamas can be very simple or very complex and of variable quality. Quantity can exclude creativity whilst stimulating the diaporama’s evolution and development. It is important to consider the traits that make up the diaporama’s identity, how these differ from the kinetic picture, in which ways they contribute to the static image and the world of art. It is also worthwhile finding out their meaning, validity, why they are so powerful and their relation to the world of creation.

Keywords

• fotografía
• diaporama
• digitalización
• audiovisual
• creación