Interview: Victor Burgin Revisits Photopath

Lyle Rexer, Photograph, January 3, 2023

In 1967 the English artist and writer Victor Burgin proposed an art project that continues to haunt the field of photography. At the apartment of a friend in Nottingham, England, he directed the production and installation of a group of photographs that exactly mimicked the floor on which they were placed. Since then, Photopath has been periodically reproduced and is the subject of a recent book by David Campany (MACK, 2022). A new iteration will be installed at Cristin Tierney Gallery (January 20-March 4), and in the fall of 2023, the Jeu de Paume in Paris will feature a selection of Burgin’s photo/text works and digital projections, allowing visitors to see the evolution of an artist who has thought deeply about the theoretical and emotional components of photography.