The Universal Photographer, an exhibition and book about the strange life and work of the universal photographer U. (1955-2016). It is the latest publication by artists Anne Geene and Arjan de Nooy who, with their humorous, pseudo-scientific work, make their audience look at the world in a new way. Geene and De Nooy have used U. to produce an ‘encyclopaedia’ of photography. The fictional character took more photographs of more subjects in more styles than any photographer before him. Numerous characteristics of other photographers, philosophers, scientists and collectors can be discerned in U. This is because, as a photographer, he adheres in the extreme to the basic quality of photography: copying. U.’s work reflects the typical artist’s view of the art of photography, full of reservations and absurdism, backed by an astonishing collection of quotations about photography.
Above all, The Universal Photographer is a celebration of photography.