THE NEWS CORNER #11 - photography
«The painter constructs, the photographer discloses.»
(Susan Sontag, On Photography)
Is photography art? The debate has been going on for so long now, and these few lines would not be enough to draft an answer to this question. But photography is, no doubt about that, part of our memory and identity, and therefore we follow with great interest the increasing amount of research projects directed to photographic archives. Enjoy the selection we present here!
22nd February, 2018
Born today: Billy Name (William Linich), American photographer (1940)
EXHIBITIONS
Do not miss Unboxing Photographs. Working in the Photo Archive at the Staatliche Museen Berlin, Kunstbibliothek (until 27 May).
Related events:
- Curator tour 24 March, 21 April, 26 May
- Public tours 10, 17, 31 March (check the website for other dates&events)
Film negative box no. 5 from the Hahne Niehoff Archive
© Institut für Europäische Ethnologie,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
The Musée de la Photographie de Charleroi has four current exhibitions: La lumière et les choses - Marc Trivier; 17° Prix National Photographie Ouverte; Retour sur images; Bénédicte Loyen -Maraudeur (until April 22).
The Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam is hosting the exhibition Unwired, by Jacqueline Hassink (until May 6).
The Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne is hosting La Beauté des Lignes - Chefs-d’oeuvre de la collection Sondra Gilman et Celso Gonzalez-Falla (until May 6).
The Jeu de Paume in Paris is showing Raoul Hausmann. Vision in Action (until May 20).
The National Gallery of Australia is presenting Otto Dix and August Sander War, people, landscape (until March 4).
Abelardo Morell (1948, Cuba, États-Unis) Book with Wavy Pages, 2001
©Abelardo Morell / Courtesy of the artist and
Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York and Zurich
WORKSHOPS/COURSES/RESOURCES
The West Dean College - Arts & conservation is organising the course "Conservation of Photographs" (19-22 March) by Susie Clark (British Library).
The ICCD in Rome organizing the workshop "Corso-laboratorio sul riconoscimento delle tecniche fotografiche storiche", various dates available in April and May.
"Seeing through photographs", organised by the MOMA - Museum of Modern Art and held by curator Sarah Meister, Department of Photography. The course is available on Coursera online platform.
"Fotomechanische Drucktechniken und ihre Identifizierung" (Identification of photomechanical prints), organised by IADA - International Association of Book and Paper Conservators, taking place in Berlin, 12-13 April.
The Getty Conservation Institute organised a three-module course on the fundamentals of the conservation of photographs between 2008 and 2010, and the materials (including bibliography) are still available online for you to take a look.
The University of Amsterdam offers an MA in Conservation and Restoration dedicated to photography. The Photograph Conservation Programme is focused on history, conservation theory and ethics on both XIX century and contemporary photographic techniques.
FROM OUR SATELLITES
(PL) From January 1st, the Museum of Photography in Kraków is closed for visitors due to approaching renovation of the building. In the meantime, you can discover the museum collection online!
(PL) The collection of photographs of artworks at the Photo Library of the Art History Institute of the Jagiellonian University is now being digitised. Check here for the collection history and news on the ongoing project.
A (very) SMALL MUSEUM
Museo della Fotografia, Caltagirone (Sicily, Italy).
This little town in eastern Sicily is mainly known for its traditional ceramic production, but it also hosts an interesting collection of historic photos and cameras. The museum is located on the second floor of Palazzina San Luigi.
A (very) BIG EVENT
The winners of the 61st World Press Photo of the Year will be announced on 12 April at the World Press Photo Awards Show in Amsterdam.
The World Press Photo Festival will take place on 13-14 April, with exciting talks, screenings, meet ups and workshops.
TO FOLLOW
ESHPh - European Society for the History of Photography is a platform for scientific research into the history and theory of photography. They publish the journal «PhotoResearch» (twice a year) and the newsletter «The International Letter» (three times a year).
S-fotografie is a mailing list run by the Archivio Fotografico Toscano and the Università di Bologna: S-fotografie is about the history of photography, photography as cultural heritage (archive, catalogue etc), sociology and critique of photography.
Fotografia Italia is the website related to the "Censimento Fotografia" project (see below). Here you'll find news about exhibitions, meetings, courses and other events relating to photography.
DESCRIPTION OF A PROJECT
The Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage (Mibact) has recently launched Censimento Fotografia, which aims at identifying all those institutions and organisations (located in Italy) which hold photographs. 160 collections and 788 funds have already been identified and described so far.
To be aware of the location and consistence of photographic heritage in Italy is the first step towards a series of actions that will promote the knowledge, conservation and enhancement of photographic archives. The "Cabina di regia per la fotografia" is the organisation within the Mibact that operates towards better photographic conservation policies, best practices for digitisation of the collections, promotion of contemporary photography and promotion of photography in schools.
The project is coordinated by ICCD - Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione together with Camera - Centro Italiano per la Fotografia e della Direzione generale per l’arte e l’architettura contemporanee e periferie urbane. The project's website is very rich in content, and includes a bibliography on photographic archives and collections, a page of online resources and other useful materials on regulations and cataloguing.
We hope you enjoyed this special issue dedicated to photography: many more will come in the future. In the meantime, our satellites are preparing new events, some also photography-related. If you would like to suggest other topics for future special issues, let us know!
Silvia Massa
AG Communication Coordinator
p.s. special thanks to Linda Bertelli, Agnese Ghezzi and Magdalena Herman who helped preparing this issue.
