Page 291

Almost two years ago, Page 291 stopped updating. A number of times I thought about posting some kind of explanation–but then I wouldn’t completely give up on coming back to the blog, so I put off the explanation…and just let 291 languish.

The reasons I stopped updating are, as they say, overdetermined. First, I left New York City. While I currently live only about an hour away by train, the distance means that I can’t make it to nearly as many photography shows as I used to–so I don’t have as much material to write about.

I moved in order to go to graduate school, which also cut into the time I had to work on 291. The massive amounts of reading, writing, and now teaching that I have to do have made regular updating and writing of the kind I used to do impossible.

There are no plans, currently, to revive 291. Part of what made 291 so time-consuming for me was, I think, the kind of writing I was doing on it. It wasn’t “bloggy” enough. Instead, I was writing micro-essays, which are both difficult to read online and difficult to write with the kind of regularity that keeps a blog fresh.

Nevertheless, I miss having a blog presence, and I’ve appreciated the inquiries I’ve received about the site since it stopped. (If I haven’t gotten back to your email, it’s because I stopped checking the 291 account. If you want to contact me, please use my new contact email, jmacnem@gmail.com.) I’ve also been experimenting with a new blog, which I hope some of you will check out.

Nifty Rictus, located here, is my attempt to write a blog more suited to my current constraints. It doesn’t focus exclusively, or even primarily, on visual culture–it’s a bit more diaristic, and a bit less constrained, than 291. But it does still feature photography (as the most current post, a review of “Exposed” at the Tate Modern, shows), alongside thoughts on books, movies, and whatever other media/ideas cross my path.

If you enjoy Page 291, I hope you’ll give it a look. In the meantime, Page 291 won’t go anywhere–I’ll continue to maintain it in its current state. (And I’ll always plan to get back to it, someday.)