Digital Imaging and Photography

Mac Campeanu

What impact is the introduction of digital imaging having on chemically based photography and will this have any importance for the history of art?

1. An outline of the increasing use of digital images in art history, which are either derived from the subject itself or from an existing chemically based photograph.
2. Some photographs are themselves objects of art historical interest - but which photographs/which areas of photography?
3. If photographs themselves are subjects of art historical concern, will digital images be studied in the same way? Are there any important implications for photographers who are supplying the 'raw material' and art historians who study photography?
4. Does the use of an image manipulation symbol have relevance for art history?
5. How are institutions which collect or disseminate photographs approaching the emergence of digital imaging?
6. Will chemically based photography become obsolete? Will the nature of photography change and will this change be seamless as another technology replaces traditional silver based methods or will digital imaging be seen to have a separate future, and if so why and what might that be?