Some contemporary photographers conceive their works as investigations carried out on the ground (or within the archives) and the restitution devices that they propose (books, Web sites or installations) tend to drag the spectator into a questioning of the real. Their efforts thus sign a renewal of documentary photographic practices.

The works of Lewis Baltz, Gabriele Basilico, John Davies, Emmanuel Pinard, Bertrand Stofleth, Thom & Beth Atkinson, Mathieu Geoffroy, Stephanie Solinas, Mathieu Pernot, Catherine Poncin … illustrate this trend. They benefit from being analyzed according to a pragmatic model that departs from dual conceptions of representation and comes into dialogue with the methods adopted in the human sciences.