A Brief History of the "1 Image 1 Minute" Project

This project is a contemporary recreation of Une Image Pour Une Minute, a project originally produced by French director Agnes Varda for presentation on French television in 1983. In Varda's version, a photographic image appeared on television (in-between network programming), and someone--a curator, photographer, or art historian--would speak about the image for one minute.


Here I have asked contemporary photographers, artists, historians, and others to select an image that has significance for them, and write or speak about it for the equivalent of 1 minute. The result is a a compelling and accessible means of gaining insight into other artists’ and photographers’ perspectives. The project is also a way of reactivating photo history, cultural literacy, and of offering a closer look at images than the mere fraction of a second that most contemporary images are afforded.

Eva Forgacs



Eva Forgacs, Art Historian
Photo: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat offers condolences to Leah Rabin and family friend Yossi Ginosar, center, 1995. Courtesy Associated Press


This picture was published in The Los Angeles Times after an Israeli extremist shot Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Prior to his assassination, Rabin had covered some ground in negotiating peace with then-leader of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat. The tension at every step of the meetings of the two longtime enemies had been palpable. Their unprecedented and unexpected handshake, the first ever symbolic gesture of benevolence, made news, although it was not the sealing of any agreement. That made this photograph even more striking. It is not a formal, political event. This is not a visit to enemy headquarters. Body language describes these three people as cozy, informal, intimate. Comfortable with each other. With cookies on the table, they are chatting the family way: simultaneously. Arafat is holding his cup of espresso as a somewhat tired uncle. If I did not know who they are, I'd think it a family photo.
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Micol Hebron