In a swift, ambiguous and controversial universe saturated with images, it seems strange that artists should insist on producing photographs, on focusing their gaze, once and again, on their entourage, on events and on reality. Apparently, it is hard to compete with the omnipresence of the media, with their tendency to squeeze images until emptying them of meaning, with their visual splendor, their seductiveness and their banality.
Contemporary photography, however, has managed to position itself triumphantly in this context. Offsetting superficiality and apathy, it constructs true aesthetic experiences, moments of intensity that arouse curiosity and induce amazement and reflection. In its images we may find the most varied interests: the capture of the elusive, formal experimentation, mises-en-scène, recovery from oblivion, social reality. But what invariably coincides in every case is a will to induce thought, to promote an analytic gaze inviting us to see the world through different eyes, through a less intensive, perhaps less indifferent perspective.
In recent years, artists have refined their technical and conceptual resources, attaining their aims with increasing precision. Perhaps this has been the case in the present edition of the Petrobras Award - Buenos Aires Photo fair, where making a selection was so difficult that it was in fact impossible to limit the choice to the twelve works required. We actually found something in each of the fourteen works selected that was essential, and consequently, irreplaceable. In each of them we detected a singular proposal, an aesthetic bet, a genuine commitment.
Paradoxically, this failure is a motive for joy. Because it gives evidence of the vigor of an old medium that has remained remarkably up-to-date. Because it represents a small triumph of emotion over regulations. But fundamentally, because it highlights the validity of and the need for an award of these characteristics, in a world in which art continues to be an alternative for the demagogy of the media.

Rodrigo Alonso

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FINALISTS

Cayetano Arcidiacono - S/T Digital photograph	Arturo Aguiar - La Novia Muerta 2008 Direct shot of action - 112 x 140 cm
Estela Izuel - Teatro Español de Azul 2008 C-print - 50 x 75 cm (not mounted)	Vanina R. Feldsztein - Film set # 21 35 mm panoramic / c-print - 102 x 38 cm
Juan Carlos Amadeo - Fin de la jornada RT Paper. Finished work, fiber-based gelatin silver print	Sol Santarsiero - Paso de las Tropas 2008 Digital photograph, direct shot
Ignacio Iasparra - Sin título, from the series “Un día cualquiera”. 2006-2008. Photograph, direct shot - 80 x 100 cm	Alejandro Chaskielberg - Los Mudos 2008 C-print on Lambda paper - 100 x 150 cm
Santiago Porter - (sin título) Evita 2008. C-print, 100 x 130 cm	Constanza Piaggio & res - Crista Analog photograph - 1 x 1,50 m
Marina García Burgos y Ricardo Ramón Nadie nos atiende Analog photograph, color slide - 6 x 6 cm	Leandro Allochis - Herencia 1 Digital photograph
Eduardo Gil - Blackness. Digitized analog photograph, printed on Lambda paper 100 x 125 cm	Geovanny Verdezoto - Los oficios De la serie Los que quedan 2007-2008 - Digital photograph