Digital image-making and -sharing platforms, the ubiquity of social media and the camera in every pocket has radically altered today’s visual culture. With Perpetual Revolution: The Image and Social Change, continuing through May 7, the International Center of Photography delves into the ways in which the immediacy of events alters individual perception of the world and, in a larger sense, speeds up the way world events alter society. In six sections that explore how some of the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time are being reported, the exhibition premise holds that the new media employed in reporting events simultaneously produces social change; think: Arab Spring and its aftermath as revolution unchained.

Lead curator Carol Squires said,  “Perpetual Revolution features a range of still and moving images by activist artists, concerned videographers, and high-heeled choreographers,” says Squiers. “The seismic shifts within the photography and visual culture landscape since Cornell Capa founded ICP are undeniable. With our deep roots in photojournalism and documentary photography, it is important it show how the network has impacted these genres and immensely broadened the conversation.”

One of the highlights of this absorbing show is an installation in the [free] public lobby space that pays homage to the still image in the documentary mode. Unwavering Vision #1: 3160 Images of Social Change from the ICP Collections is an interactive multimedia presentation (above)  that introduces viewers to a wide select of ICP's permanent collection and allows them to browse by year, topic, or photographer. Produced by Documentary Arts in association with on-situ, the piece incorporates more than three thousand images dealing with social change from the collection, as well as selections from the 60,000-work Texas African American Photography (TAAP) Archive, in Dallas.

The installation consists of a large console and video screen as well as the projection of images onto a wall roughly 30 feet wide several feet ahead. The console, large enough for two or three friends to occupy, operates on a search-and-discover format, driven by a set of theme words that become apparent through use. Works by more than 100 photographers are included. When an image is selected, the visual display is redrawn so that a new timeline appears at the bottom of the screen, together with theme words, such as war, politics, and other socially relevant terms. If you click on “war,” more images from the same period are presented onscreen. Click on the photo, and you get the photographer’s page, with thumbnails of all works by that shooter included in the program. You can also click on the timeline to search by year and decade.

I clicked on 1937-39 and up came a photograph by Robert Capa (1913-1954) made in China nine years before the People’s Revolution. Click again and the image takes over both the screen and the entire wall in front of the console. Using touch-screen gestures, I enlarged the image for a close-up of the young female soldiers, who Capa caught in a moment of national pride that I’ve never encountered in any other photo among the hundreds of thousands [millions?] I’ve seen so far.

Robert Capa, Young women being trained as Nationalist soldiers, Hankou, China, 1938; source: Fans in a Flashbulb.

Unwavering Vision #1 is part of an ongoing collaboration between ICP and Documentary Arts. This partnership consists of a significant donation to ICP from the Documentary Arts Collection and a Documentary Arts Fellowship, which supports the careers of promising students enrolled in ICP’s full-time programs to deepen their photography practice. The first iteration of Unwavering Vision will continue through May 7th. Further iterations will expand on ICP’s collection, related to upcoming exhibitions. Note: scholars and researchers can access the ICP permanent collection online.

Perpetual Revolution: The Image and Social Change continues through May 7 at the International Center of Photography, 250 Bowery, NY, NY Info The Perpetual Revolution curatorial team is led by ICP Curator Carol Squiers. Joining Squiers as exhibition co-organizers are ICP Curator Cynthia Young, ICP Assistant Curators Susan Carlson and Claartje van Dijk, and adjunct curators Joanna Lehan and Kalia Brooks, with assistance from Akshay Bhoan and Quito Ziegler. Join the curators for a gallery talk, moderated by Jillian Steinhauer, on February 8, 6:30 pm. Register