University of Leuven, Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography
MINOR PHOTOGRAPHY: THE CASE (POST)SURREALIST PHOTOGRAPHY
19.-20.11.2010
Einsendeschluss: 15.04.2010

The Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography organizes an international conference the aim of which is twofold: Firstly to open the debate on the use value of the notion of minor-photography for photo theory. Minor photography is understood as a  type of photography that, similar to the "minor literatures" theorized by  Deleuze and Guattari, develops new visions of the medium due to a specific use of  its own peripheral position, both geographically and institutionally, and to  its creative distance from the "centre".

Secondly, to apply this notion to a largely overlooked corpus of (post)surrealist photography both in Belgium and in other "peripheral" locations in its dynamic relation to the "dominant" language of the centre (or centres: Paris, London, New York).

Hence, the conference will be divided into two parts, although overlapping papers are also welcomed.

November 19: Minor Photography?
This session firstly seeks to develop theoretical positions on the notion of minor photography. Although a „definition“ of minor photography will always be relative, since it depends on what the „major“ or dominant use of the medium is in a very specific context (time and place), nevertheless some characteristics could be ascribed to it. Deleuze and Guattari define the minor in terms of deterritorialization, politicization and ollectivization.The question rises then how these features could be transferred to the medium of photography? Second, this part of the conference wishes to develop a suitable procedure  or method to connect this very concept to specific corpuses (in this case (post)surrealism: see day 2)

Papers are welcomed to elaborate on this double viewpoint. Amongst others, the following questions could come to the fore as a preparation of the round table session that will conclude the first day of the conference: -How does minor photography relate to minor or marginal positions?

-How can photography be political? See for instance Jacques Rancière's Politics of Aesthetics or Vilém Flusser's notion of the photographic apparatus
-How could we associate the notion of "minor" with that of "avant-garde"?

November 20: (post)surrealism: cases of minor photography
The second day will relate the above mentioned questions to specific case studies of (post)surrealist photography and hence seeks to contribute to a remapping of the history of surrealist photography. In line with recent developments in surrealism scholarship, this conference will question the idea of a "universal surrealist language" of photography, which often comes down to a reduction to its Parisian forms. Instead, surrealist photography will be considered in its heterogeneity, with a special focus on the  dynamics between the so-called "centre" or dominant position and "periphery" or marginal position, both understood in cultural, geographical and institutional terms.

Topics for this conference might include, but are not limited to:
-Photography as a "minor medium" in relation to painting and literature
-The role played by the nation (or local identities) in an artistic
production that explicitly questions this very notion
-The problem of situating photography that in terms of avant-garde "comes
too late" or didn't receive any attention due to its marginal position
-Surrealism's inner conflict with mechanisms of canonization,
commercialisation and fame

Practicalities
The conference languages are English and French. Proposals for presentation are to be submitted by March 15, 2010 at the latest. They are to be sent by email to Mieke.bleyen@arts.kuleuven.be and must include the following : - (in a separate file): your full name, gender, academic/professional status and email address; institution/ of attachment ; or (for a doctorate student) the name of your director of thesis, as well as your contact email address. - the proposed form of the presentation (maximum of 500 words- Times New Roman, size 12) in English or French  preceded with a title. Accepted proposals will give rise to an oral presentation of twenty minutes, followed by a debate. These may also be followed by publication, in the form of an article, in the acts of the conference (subject to the
opinion of  the scientific committee and an editorial committee).

Fachtagung der Sektion Bild der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie in Kooperation mit der Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (FH)

BILDJOURNALISMUS IN KRIEGEN UND KRISEN DES 20. UND 21. JAHRHUNDERTS

18.-20.11.2010

Einsendeschluss: 30.04.2010

Die Visualisierung von Inhalten hat bei der Medialisierung gesellschaftlicher Prozesse eine wachsende Bedeutung. So wird die Tätigkeit von Bildjournalistinnen und Bildjournalisten an den Krisenherden der Welt immer mehr in die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Kalküle der verschiedenen Interessengruppen einbezogen. Kann Bildjournalismus im 21. Jahrhundert angesichts wachsender Abhängigkeiten und Einflüsse seine beanspruchten Standards noch halten? Welche Konsequenzen hat diese Entwicklung für Berufsbild und Ausbildung des Bildjournalismus?

Programm:

Freitag, 19. November 2010:

9.45 – 10.00 Uhr:     Begrüßung und Eröffnung

10.00 – 10.20 Uhr    Keynote

10.20 - 12.00 Uhr:    Bildjournalismus in Krieg und Krise

12.00 – 13.00 Uhr:   Mittagspause

13.00 – 14.45 Uhr:   Panel 1:

Kriegs- und Krisenberichterstattung in der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts: Der Vietnamkrieg und die Folgen

14.45 – 15.00 Uhr:   Pause

15.00 – 17.00 Uhr:   Panel 2:

Bildjournalismus an der Kandare der Politik: Embedded Journalism

17.00 – 18.00 Uhr:  

19.30 – 21.00 Uhr: Öffentliche Podiumsdiskussion: Bildjournalismus in Krieg und Krise

Samstag, 20. November 2010:

9.00 –  10.00 Uhr:    Sitzung der Sektion Bild der DGPh

10.00 - 11.30 Uhr:    Panel 3:

Bildjournalismus in Krisengebieten der Welt heute

11.30 – 12.15 Uhr:   Mittagspause

12.15 – 14.00 Uhr.   Abschlusspodium:

Perspektiven des Bildjournalismus im 21. Jahrhundert

14. 15 Uhr:                Abreise

Leitung: Michael Ebert, Vorstandsmitglied und Leiter der Sektion Bild der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie ( DGPh), Prof. Dr. Renatus Schenkel, Fachbereich Kommunikation und Medien, Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (FH)

Organisatorische Hinweise: Vortragsvorschläge mit konkretem Bezug zum Tagungsthema bitte als Abstract (Word-Dokument, ca. 2.000 bis 3.000 Zeichen inkl. Leerzeichen) bis zum 30. April 2010 per Email-Attachment (Deckblatt mit Name/n und Vortragstitel; Textteil mit Vortragstitel) einreichen an Michael.Ebert (at) dgph.de und Renatus.Schenkel (at) hs-magdeburg.de

Der Vortrag sollte einem der Themenfelder zugeordnet und auf eine Vortragsdauer von 15 -20 Minuten ausgelegt sein. Auf dem Deckblatt ist ausdrücklich zu vermerken, ob es sich bei dem Tagungsbeitrag um einen Originalbeitrag handelt oder ob er bereits auf einer Tagung präsentiert oder veröffentlicht wurde. Die Auswahl der Tagungsbeiträge erfolgt durch die Tagungsleitung.

Tagungsort: Campus der Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal; Magdeburg

http://web.gc.cuny.edu/bildnercenter/cuba/events.shtml

The Graduate Center, City University of New York

PHOTOGRAPHY IN REVOLUTION

31.03.-02.04.2011

Einsendeschluss: 31.07.2010

The following panel will be part of an international symposium, "Cuba
Futures: Past and Present," hosted by the Cuba Project at the Bildner
Center for Western Hemisphere Studies.

In 1959, the story goes, Fidel Castro brandished a copy of Henry Luce's
"Life" magazine in front of his collaborators, explaining "I want
something like this." The "this" to which Castro referred, and which he
got in the form of publications like "Revolución," was much more than a
new means for the circulation of the revolution's epic photographs. It
was, as Luce had envisioned it, a new means "to see." To quote Luce from
the illustrated magazine's 1936 prospectus: "To see life; to see the
world, to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and
the gestures of the proud. To see, and to show is the mission now
undertaken by LIFE." In Cuba, in 1959, "to see," of course, took on a
very specific meaning, as many of the nation's new vanguard were
illiterate. In conjunction with the revolution's literacy campaign,
Castro honed a medium more legible than the alphabet. He honed
photography.

Despite the acknowledged importance of photography to the documentation
and representation of the revolution and its heroes, historians of the
revolution have paid scant attention to photography's role as a tool in
the revolution. What, for example, are the implications of Castro's
decision to appropriate the mouthpiece of the "American Century," a term
coined by Luce to mark the advent of America's global hegemony? What
does it mean to propose or invent a new "way of seeing"? "Photography in
Revolution" seeks to bring together scholars interested in attending to
these questions to the role photography played in shaping, selling, and
disseminating the revolution.

Though framed by events in the 1960s, "Photography and Revolution" seeks
to do more than provide a forum for examining the role photography and
mass media played in Cuba's past. Responding to the conference's
interest in addressing Cuba's future, this panel also welcomes scholars
interested in attending to the role the media still plays in shaping
Cuban history, culture, and society. For example, how does the
prominence given to new media-digital photography, the Internet, and
video-in shaping our understanding of our current wars and revolutions
impact our understanding of the events of the 1960s? Since the crisis of
the 1990s, Cuban artists-both on and off the island-have begun to
address the revolution's status as a media event. "Photography and
Revolution" welcomes papers attending to these developments in
contemporary Cuban artistic practices. How do we understand the renewed
interest in photography in the 1990s, as well as the turn away from the
epic gestures of the 1960s? Today's artists are not only interested in
attending to how history was "told" and documented, but in creating new
histories and media events. In short, "Photography in Revolution" seeks
to create a forum for addressing the relationship between media and
revolution, a forum for exploring how the various and dynamic ways in
which the revolution has been mediated are in revolution.

Please send abstracts of proposed papers (500 words) and a cover letter
with the author's professional affiliation, a biographical sketch, and
contact information to cubaproject@gc.cuny.edu. Proposals will receive
preliminary assessment as they arrive. The final deadline for
submissions is July 31, 2010.