The Medium is an Interface: How image-as-interface surfaces the layers in photographs of the Igorot European Exposition (1887-1913)

Abstract

The Igorot expositions in Europe were held in Madrid in 1887 and in various other cities of Europe from 1911-1913. Although the expositions were staged more than a century ago, their traces are still found through photographic images, physical locations and artifacts, and multimedia access. Making sense of the photographic images poses an important question on methodology. If indexicality is the basis of relating with images, how does one account for the showcasing of the Igorots as savages in these expositions? If representation is the focus, how does one account for the lack of images in other places of exhibition? How does one account for the feeling of being in the same space but in a different time? How will imagining the image relate to understanding the exposition? This study seeks to explore photographic images by rethinking the concepts of the image and interface. It also proposes to use the image-as-interface as a mode of engagement that brings to the surface the contextual layers through the details of the photographic image. The spectacle of representation is just one among the possible layers. The interface highlights the photographic image as a medium that links and traces the various layers of political, economic, or cultural contexts.