The Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City will mark its first year anniversary this Saturday, March 27 with the opening of a new exhibit, “Water: Our Thirsty World.†The program shows a photography collection from a different perspective — as a series of images that tell a compelling story. Seen all together, the display presents the power of photographs to inform, to persuade, and to provoke. This exhibition is a joint program with the National Geographic Society, which published the photographs in a special edition also called “Water: Our Thirsty World.â€
This photographic essay contrasts the extraordinary value water provides to our planet with the extraordinary challenges to preserving our access to it. Californians will appreciate the imag
es showing how water projects have made much of California what it is today, from pleasant garden suburbs to toxic barren landscapes. Views from other parts of the world show daily struggles to obtain water. You will also see and daily inspiration and gratification through the use of water to beautify and sometimes purify the human experience.
While the exhibition raises awareness about our planet’s survival, it also raises expectations about survival and evolution of photography publishers. National Geographic sends a copy of its flagship magazine to each of its 8.5 million members each month and reaches an audience of over 10 million online. That makes it one of the standouts in the current magazine industry shakeout. “To survive, journalism will have to adapt to elect
ronic publishing,†predicts David Griffin, Director of Photography for National Geographic. “And that is going to be quite different from the Web today.†The special edition for “Water: Our Thirsty World†also marks the launch of the first digital version of National Geographic.
What will the new world of digital publishing look like? “Sometimes I feel the future can’t come soon enough,†says Griffin. “We can’t predict the future. Consumers will do that.†Griffin already sees significant benefits that digital publishing can offer — better information graphics, motion and audio. Griffin is equally optimistic that the world of photography will be even more vibrant. As he sees it, unlike television “still photography sums up visual images.â€
Visitors will doubtless appreciate that the Annenberg Space and National Geographic are conducting an experiment with the museum as a medium. You may have seen an exhibition like this at a natural history museum before, but you have probably not seen one at an art museum before. These photographs have artistic elements, but the art plays a supporting role to the theme of photographs as visual paragraphs in an essay. That is also one more reason you will want to see the exhibition. How often do you get a chance to see a museum do something completely different?
The Annenberg Space for Photography is Century City and admission is free. It is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars just north of Olympic Boulevard and is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
