In Beyond Resolution, Menkman
insists on an extended formulation of resolution. A resolution is not
just a trade-off between settings that manage speed and functionality,
while considering materials affordances. A resolution also always involves the inherent compromise of other ways of rendering. And it is through these other ways - not (yet) implemented or supported resolutions - that we need to train to see, run and formulate our alternatives.
Through
the example of the genealogy of the color test cards, Menkman offers an
exemplary way to make such latent and biased power structures more
apparent. Menkman proposes that these standard images, trapped in the
genealogies of our technologies, should become part of the public
domain. These narratives could then be used to illustrate and illuminate
the biases and governing powers structures that are inherent and
pervasive in our contemporary technologies, something she calls “the
white shadows that govern the outcomes of our image processing
technologies”.
She argues that their genealogies belong in high
school textbooks:
“the latent violence coded within such norms should be
studied as part of standard curricula to inform a future generation of
engineers of compromises made in the past”.
This independently published book consists of a collection
of different types of texts ranging from short stories, to an
introduction into basic optics, and a manifesto like text. The
publication is accompanied by a collection of artworks that Menkman
developed during a triptych of solo shows (institution of Resolution Disputes, Behind White Shadows and Shadow Knowledge), all geared towards introducing and developing the concept: "Resolution Studies"