Beyond Documentation: The Exhibition Photography of Shunk-Kender and Balthasar Burkhard

The ephemeral, site-specific, installation-based and performative artworks of the 1960s and 1970s relied heavily on documentation. Likewise, exhibitions depended on photographs like never before, engendering new modes of collaboration between curator and photographer. The advent of the curator-auteur created new opportunities, not only for the camera’s use in making and documenting art, but also for distribution and promotion. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, photographers Balthasar Burkhard and the duo of Harry Shunk and Janos Kender documented exhibitions – both in process and after completion – and created a body of work that could be said to exemplify the nascent genre of ‘exhibition photography’.