Taking time : Paul Kranzler and the photography of slowness.

Abstract

Theorists of social acceleration have highlighted the tendency of social processes to speed up, both in Western societies, and increasingly also in the developing world. In this vein, theorists seeking to differentiate the postmodern from the modern note the disappearance of Ungleichzeitigkeit or non-simultaneity, and its replacement by a fully synchronous and quasi-ahistorical present. Through an investigation of contemporary photography in the German-speaking world, and with particular reference to the work of Austrian Paul Kranzler, I question the views advanced by theorists of acceleration and the postmodern. In thematic and formal readings of Kranzler’s books Land of Milk and Honey [Salzburg: Fotohof Edition, 2005] and Brut [Salzburg: Fotohof Edition, 2010], this article argues that Ungleichzeitigkeit remains a fundamental aspect of Western societies, and needs to be fully taken into consideration if we are to understand the political economy of time in capitalist late modernity.