Conference APP. Cultural, historical and visual studies in photography
23-25 May 2019,
European University in St Petersburg
Addressing one of the most common concepts that define the nature and function of photography, the fifth edition of the conference After Post-Photography aims to re-think the fundamental notions and offer new perspectives on the subject of photography and its connection with memory.
Memory is a notion commonly brought forward when speaking about photography. The very idea of close connection between memory and photography has long found itself at the basis of the (re)construction of histories and identities.
The photographic image, when regarded as a material evocation of memories, is supposed to not only preserve the past, but to represent a selection of moments worthy of being captured and retained. In this sense, photography has caused fundamental changes to mental structures, such as remembrance and forgetting. Its mechanics, however, is still indecisive: is photography something that evokes memory – or something that enhances oblivion? Furthermore, is a photograph something that really speaks of a moment of the past, or does it rather testify of certain modes of cultural optics? Is there still a possibility to ‘remember’ with, or through photographs? After all, the traditional belief in photography’s truthfulness, its indexical function, the freezing of a decisive moment, or proof of “what has been”, all this stands in strong contrast with the contemporary discussions on fake news, artificially constructed memories, post-reality politics and “augmented” realities.
The conference is chaired by Maria Gourieva, Olga Davydova, Natalia Mazur, Moritz Neumüller, Daria Panaiotti, and Friedrich Tietjen. It is organized in collaboration with the conference “PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART. Current trends in study and the history of national schools”, at the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, May 27-29, 2019.
This three-day event will feature four keynote speeches, eight presentations, and a round table, by scholars from Russia, Europe, the United States and Japan.
Day 1 will feature two evening lectures, one by Fred Ritchin on The Post-Photographic Challenge, the other by Helen Petrovsky on Photography: Memory Formulae.
Day 2 will start with a morning panel dedicated to Photograph Politics, or: How to Show (and how to not). The afternoon will feature the panel Present Photography, or: How to Rethink Pictures. A get-together dinner will be the perfect setting to keep the discussions going on into the later hours.
Day 3 will be dedicated to the panel Photographic Projections, or: How to Show What Never Happened, and a round table discussion on Photography Studies in Russia, before we wrap up the conference in a general Q&A session.
All talks will take place at the European University in St. Petersburg, 1 Shpalernaya street / metro Chernyshevskaya
Talks and presentations will be held both in English and Russian. Simultaneous translation will be provided.
Timetable
23 May 2019
16.30 Registration for speakers
17.00 Keynote: Fred Ritchin (ICP, USA): The Post-Photographic Challenge
18.30 Keynote: Helen Petrovsky (Russ. Acad. of Sciences, Russia): Photography: Memory Formulae
24 May 2019
10.15 Registration for speakers
10.45 Welcome
Panel 1: Photograph Politics, or: How to Show (and how to not).
11.00 Carole Naggar France/USA): A Closet, a Suitcase and a Warehouse: David «Chim» Seymour’s Archives
11.30 Susumu Shimonishi (Tokyo University of the Arts): Japanese Photography Magazines. The Case of CAMERA MAINICHI
12.00 Coffee break
12.30 Denis Skopin (St. Petersburg State Univ.): Elimination of the Enemies of the People from Group Photographs in Stalin’s Russia: Political and Psychological Aspects
13.00 Discussion
13.30 Lunch break
Panel 2: Present Photography, or: How to Rethink Pictures
14.30 Irina Chmyreva (Research Centre for Theory and History of Arts, Russian Academy of Fine Arts): Echo of Political Realities in Photography: Studies of Reading National History in Art Photography Projects from 1990-2010s
15.00 Michelle Bogre (Parsons School of Design, USA): The Photograph Unmoored: Truth and Authenticity in the 21st Century
15.30 Alexander Streitberger (Univ. catholique Louvain, Belgium): The Photographic Ruins of the Future
16.00 Discussion
16:30 Coffee break
17.00 Keynote: Andrés Mario Zervigón (Rutgers University, USA): The Camera Lens: Fully Visible and Transparent
18.30 Keynote: Gil Pasternak (Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, UK): Photography in Politics: Remembering and Being Together, With Photographs
25 May 2019
Panel 3: Photographic Projections, or: How to Show What Never Happened
10.30 Oksana Sarkisova (Central European University, Hungary): Imagining Soviet Space: Representations of Travel in Vernacular Photographic Collections
11.00 Maria Gourieva (European University/St. Petersburg State University), Friedrich Tietjen (Germany/Austria): Everybody Lives the Same (in private photographs)
11.30 Discussion
12.00 Coffee break
12.30 Keynote: Galina Orlova (Higher School of Economics, Russia): Anonymous Archive, Digitalization, Recycling
14.00 Lunch break
15.00 Roundtable discussion for educators and researchers: Photography Studies in Russia: Challenges and Perspectives
17.00 Final remarks and outlook
The Conference takes place at the European University, 1 Shpalernaya street, St. Petersburg. Nearest metro station: Chernyshevskaya.
Any changes to this timetable will be announced on the website www.after-post.photography and the telegram channel afterpostphotographytelegram.
