While it has traditionally been seen as a means of documenting an external reality or expressing an internal feeling, photography is now capable of actualizing never-existed pasts and never-lived... Show moreWhile it has traditionally been seen as a means of documenting an external reality or expressing an internal feeling, photography is now capable of actualizing never-existed pasts and never-lived experiences. Thanks to the latest photographic technologies, we can now take photos in computer games, interpolate them in extended reality platforms, or synthesize them via artificial intelligence. To account for the most recent shifts in conceptualizations of photography, this book proposes the term virtual photography as a binding theoretical framework, defined as a photography that retains the efficiency and function of real photography (made with or without a camera) while manifesting these in an unfamiliar or noncustomary form. Show less
Een beeld zegt meer dan duizend woorden. Dat geldt in het bijzonder voor het werk van de veelzijdige Zwitserse fotograaf Frédéric Boissonnas (1858-1946). Als geen ander heeft hij met zijn iconische... Show moreEen beeld zegt meer dan duizend woorden. Dat geldt in het bijzonder voor het werk van de veelzijdige Zwitserse fotograaf Frédéric Boissonnas (1858-1946). Als geen ander heeft hij met zijn iconische foto’s hét wereldwijde beeld van Griekenland in de vroege 20e eeuw bepaald. Gedurende drie decennia doorkruiste hij zowel het vasteland als de eilanden en legde daarbij de meest turbulente jaren in de moderne Griekse geschiedenis vast. Als eerste onderkende hij bovendien de propagandistische kracht van zijn fotografie – een inzicht dat gretig werd omarmd door de leidende figuren achter de expansionistische politiek van de Megali Idea. Show less
This photo-ethnography explores traces of war in Burundi. Bringing into view young people of Burundian heritage in Belgium and the Netherlands, the book reveals how war and (lost) homes reverberate... Show moreThis photo-ethnography explores traces of war in Burundi. Bringing into view young people of Burundian heritage in Belgium and the Netherlands, the book reveals how war and (lost) homes reverberate in people, places and through ‘war repertoires’. Yet the young people in this photo-ethnography also show how their traces make for new ways of belonging and connectedness. The book consists of photos, interview excerpts, and analyses. With the publication, the authors hope to seduce readers interested in art and academia to listen to the experiences of those born after war, showing how there/here and then/now and are interconnected. Show less
The photographic surface is the pivotal carrier of information – be it the mediated image or material indications about the object. It is presented here as the entrance into the study of... Show moreThe photographic surface is the pivotal carrier of information – be it the mediated image or material indications about the object. It is presented here as the entrance into the study of photographic materiality that unfolds in a profound scanning of a photograph’s multi-layered dimensionality and of all the interactions that (can) take place in its lifetime – ranging from human to molecular. The chosen case studies are photoworks (hybrid photographic works of art) that are partially overpainted and show (first) signs of degrading photographic material. The different (material) properties of the two interacting media with their distinct surfaces pose challenging questions on a representational, chemical, conservational as well as a theoretical level. The key concern is: How does the photographic surface act in hybrid photoworks as interface between substances and their surrounding space? By panning back and forth between material, technical, and theoretical studies and the case studies – Tacita Dean’s (*1965) Crowhurst II (2007), and two photoworks by Ger van Elk (1941-2014): Dutch Grey (1983/84) and Russian Diplomacy’s (1974) – I follow the methodological path of a multi-angled analysis of photoworks in order to respond to their hybrid nature and to think with their materiality and subject matter. The result is an in-depth theoretical investigation of the photographic surface as interface between substances and spaces within photoworks in particular, and ontologically in any chemically created photograph. It ties together philosophical, esthetical, technical and ethical point of views and therewith creates a deep understanding of photographic materiality at the verge of digital dominance. Show less
Since its very conception, the medium of photography has been registering the unfolding of time and space in the urban space. The thinkers of photography, however, not always had the same stance on... Show moreSince its very conception, the medium of photography has been registering the unfolding of time and space in the urban space. The thinkers of photography, however, not always had the same stance on how this spatiotemporal representation is conceived by the photographer and perceived by the spectator. In his well-commended photographic exhibition, called Metropolis (2016), Dutch photographer Martin Roemers has captured the quintessential time and space of diverse metropolises across the globe. Revitalizing the age-old photographic technique of long-exposure, his aim was to challenge the putative representation of time and space as being forever fixed in the frame. By focusing on the Metropolis photo series, this article examines how Martin Roemers’s use of long-exposure accounts for a paradoxical embodiment of time and space in the city. To this end, it first explores how theoreticians of photography, such as John Szarkowski, Geoffrey Batchen, and Roland Barthes, have pondered on the representation of time with respect to long-exposure. Next, by discussing the work of André Bazin and Christian Metz, it discusses how long-exposure can reveal and register a segment of the city space. Finally, by drawing on Walter Benjamin’s concept of “optical unconscious” and Michel de Certeau’s idea of “lived space”, this article proposes that Roemers’s photographs have manifested the spatiotemporal city: a simultaneously transient and fixed, still and moving, thus ephemeral yet eternal urban environment. Show less
The affinity between photography and memory is rather axiomatic: We take photos to preserve our memories. This formulation considers photographs as aide-mémoire and photography as a mnemotechnique.... Show moreThe affinity between photography and memory is rather axiomatic: We take photos to preserve our memories. This formulation considers photographs as aide-mémoire and photography as a mnemotechnique. Such a basic analogy, however, falls short in explaining the spatiotemporality and materiality of photography and overlooks the mediated aspects of memory in narrating the past. The difficulty with describing the conjunction of memory and photography lies in the fact that neither of them has a static essence: Both remembering and photography are inherently dynamic processes. While for some the photograph simply is a representational image that embodies past events, for others the photograph’s materiality and social uses are equally crucial in the way it continually reshapes our memories. In addition, debates on “prosthetic memory,” “postmemory,” and trauma have already shown how photography plays a role in the disembodied, transgenerational, and retroactive operations of memory work. To classify diverse approaches toward memory and photography without ignoring the dynamic aspects of either of them, this entry is divided into two parts: “conceiving photography through memory” and “perceiving memory through photography.” While the first section explains how the medium of photography has been historically defined via its approaches to memory and remembrance, the second section shows how some salient views on memory are largely founded on photographic lexicons and metaphors. Among others, the first part draws on the work of thinkers such as Siegfried Kracauer, Roland Barthes, and Elizabeth Edwards, and the second part discusses the work of Sigmund Freud, Marianne Hirsch, and Ulrich Baer. Show less
Gräzer Ohara, A.: Perre, A. Van der; De Meyer, M.J.C.; Claes, W. 2023
In het begin van de 20ste eeuw ondernamen de Belgische Egyptoloog Jean Capart en zijn medewerkers verschillende reizen naar Egypte. Met een passie voor fotografie documenteerden zij het land aan de... Show moreIn het begin van de 20ste eeuw ondernamen de Belgische Egyptoloog Jean Capart en zijn medewerkers verschillende reizen naar Egypte. Met een passie voor fotografie documenteerden zij het land aan de Nijl in al zijn facetten. De Egyptologische bibliotheek van de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis in Brussel herbergt deze belangrijke collectie van ca. 14.000 fotografische glasnegatieven. De meer dan 200 foto's die hier zijn geselecteerd schetsen het verhaal van deze pioniersjaren van de Belgische Egyptologie. Ze geven eveneens een caleidoscopisch beeld van het Egypte van weleer, met dramatische landschappen, eeuwenoude monumenten, archeologische expedities en het dagelijkse leven in al zijn verscheidenheid.Bij elke taalversie van dit boek zit een Arabische bijlage van het hoofdessay. Show less
Gräzer Ohara, A.: Perre, A. Van der; De Meyer, M.J.C.; Claes, W. 2023
Au début du XXème siècle, l’égyptologue belge Jean Capart et ses collaborateurs ont entrepris plusieurs voyages en Égypte. Avec un sens aigu de la photographie, ils ont documenté cette terre sur... Show moreAu début du XXème siècle, l’égyptologue belge Jean Capart et ses collaborateurs ont entrepris plusieurs voyages en Égypte. Avec un sens aigu de la photographie, ils ont documenté cette terre sur les rives du Nil sous toutes ses facettes. La bibliothèque égyptologique des Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire de Bruxelles abrite cette importante collection d’environ 14.000 négatifs photographiques sur plaques de verre. Les plus de 200 photographies réunies ici illustrent ces années pionnières de l’égyptologie belge. Elles brossent en même temps un tableau kaléidoscopique d’une Égypte d’un temps révolu dans toute sa diversité, avec ses paysages spectaculaires, ses monuments antiques, ses expéditions archéologiques et sa vie quotidienne. Show less
Gräzer Ohara, A.: Perre, A. Van der; De Meyer, M.J.C.; Claes, W. 2023
In the early 20th century, Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart and his collaborators undertook several voyages to Egypt. With a keen eye for photography, they documented the land on the Nile in all... Show moreIn the early 20th century, Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart and his collaborators undertook several voyages to Egypt. With a keen eye for photography, they documented the land on the Nile in all its facets. The Egyptological library of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels houses this important collection of about 14,000 photographic glass negatives. The more than 200 photographs selected here illustrate these pioneering years of Belgian Egyptology. They simultaneously offer a kaleidoscopic view of Egypt of a bygone era, with dramatic landscapes, ancient monuments, archaeological expeditions and daily life in all its diversity. Show less
The article investigates urban gardening in Turin with ethnography, historical analysis and photography, using both the authors’ photography and sources from social media and private archives. The... Show moreThe article investigates urban gardening in Turin with ethnography, historical analysis and photography, using both the authors’ photography and sources from social media and private archives. The authors collaborate to analyse ‘community’ gardening through a critical anthropological perspective which centres on the hegemonic power of aesthetic assumptions about the urban green. As a post-industrial, multicultural city, Turin illuminates the dialectic of gentrification vis-à-vis socioeconomic and cultural diversity, which is a crucial dynamic of many urban renewal trends towards ‘green cities’. We highlight the homogeneity of an aesthetic regime vis-à-vis the diversity of ‘skilled visions’ of social actors and its restraining effects on participatory governance. We contribute to ongoing debates in urban anthropology and visual studies, concerned with urban regeneration agendas in the de-industrializing cities of the Global North. Show less
Is it ethical to freely redistribute photographs taken in colonial contexts, historically and today? Showing the complexities behind this question, this study looks at how a vast media network... Show moreIs it ethical to freely redistribute photographs taken in colonial contexts, historically and today? Showing the complexities behind this question, this study looks at how a vast media network evolved around the commercial photographic studio at Mariannhill Monastery and the mission station Centocow in South Africa from the 1880s until today. Taking a grass-roots perspective, it argues that photographs produced by missionaries, like all colonial photographs, must be studied by considering their interconnectedness: first, their alliances with other media, like paintings, theatre plays, tableaux vivants, maps, films, exhibitions, and “ethnographic” objects; second, the exhibitionary complex they depend on, involving museums, libraries, archives, and printing presses; and finally the lobbies, journals, printed instructions, discourses, and interpretive communities that produced, used, and consumed them. Eventually, the study turns to the crucial question how photographs act on and as subjects. Few colonial photographs have left sufficient traces that allow to write their biographies. Mariannhill’s photographs, however, due to their aesthetic aspiration and the congregation’s unique setup, have successfully taken root in many places, moments, and discourses. To show the photographs’ ongoing relevance for stakeholders in both South Africa and Europe, and possible ways of dealing with them today, this study follows their intermediary role over time and in between other images, spaces, objects, and subjects. Show less
In Luganda, the widest spoken minority language in Uganda, the word for photographs is 'ebifananyi'. However, 'ebifananyi' does not, contrary to the etymology of the word photographs, relate to... Show moreIn Luganda, the widest spoken minority language in Uganda, the word for photographs is 'ebifananyi'. However, 'ebifananyi' does not, contrary to the etymology of the word photographs, relate to light writings. 'Ebifananyi' instead means things that look like something else. 'Ebifananyi' are likenesses. My research project explores the historical context of this particular conceptualisation of photographs and its consequences for present day visual culture in Uganda. It also discusses my artistic practice as research method, which led to the digitisation of numerous historical collections of photographs. This resulted in eight books and in exhibitions that took place in Uganda and in Europe. The research was conducted in collaboration with both human and non-human actors. These actors included photographs, their owners, Ugandan picture makers and visitors to the exhibitions that were organised in Uganda and Western Europe. This methodology led to insights into differences in the production and uses of, and into meanings given to, photographs in both Ugandan and Dutch contexts. Understanding differences between ebifananyi and photographs shapes the communication about photographs between Luganda and English speakers. Reflection on the conceptualisations languages offer for objects and for sensible aspects of the surrounding world helps prevent misunderstandings in communication in general. Show less
Through photography, people share what landscapes mean to them. In her dissertation, which is interdisciplinary between art history, cultural geography and landscape architecture, Van den... Show moreThrough photography, people share what landscapes mean to them. In her dissertation, which is interdisciplinary between art history, cultural geography and landscape architecture, Van den Heuvel introduces a new methodology that consists of three steps: ‘georeferencing’, ‘geospecific comparison’ and ‘geogeneric comparison’. The method helps to analyse how landscape pictures create meaning of a location or – to speak with Yi-Fu Tuan – ‘make place’. Van den Heuvel first applies her method to three case studies in the Dutch landscape: the Haarlemmermeer area around Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam as photographed by Theo Baart and published in the photobook Werklust. Biography of a Landscape in Transition (2015); a tree nursery in the banks of the Lower Rhine as photographed by Gerco de Ruijter for the photograph Baumschule #2 (2009) and the nature reserve of a heath area near Laren in the Gooi-area in the Central Netherlands as photographed by Kim Boske for the photograph Mapping 5 (2008-2009). Conclusively is stated, that photographers do not only work with the physical elements that appeared before their cameras. Also, the photographer workds rhetorically with compositions and motives that persist from famous landscape painting to create meaning of a place. Show less
Thisinterdisciplinary research argues how a scrupulous reading of the medium ofphotography, through geography and philosophy, can shed light on thespatiotemporal account of the concept of place. To... Show moreThisinterdisciplinary research argues how a scrupulous reading of the medium ofphotography, through geography and philosophy, can shed light on thespatiotemporal account of the concept of place. To do this, it breaks down theparticipatory elements of photography into six tropes: the photographer, thecamera, the photograph, the photographic image, the spectator, and thephotographic genre. Subsequently, it looks at each of the aforementioned tropesthrough the lens of place, indicating how a place cannot be the content of adefinite representation, as if fixed in time and space. In other words, insteadof analysing place through space, this research gives precedence to the formerto argue how place creates space (the photographer), how it fixes space (thecamera), how it passes through space (the photograph), how it interpolatesspace (the photographic image), how it promises space (the spectator), and howit operationalizes space in-between the text and the image (the photographicgenre). Therefore, rather than viewing space as an abstract entity thatcontinually evades representation, this dissertation demonstrates theimperceptible, intangible, and intractable aspects of each partaker ofphotography through its unprecedented theoretical approach. Show less
Short description of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO)'s collection of lantern slides (glass slides used in lectures); report on digitisation project (2017).
In September 2017, Leiden University opened the Asian Library to house its world renowned and extensive Asian collections. This includes the largest collection on Indonesia worldwide and some of... Show moreIn September 2017, Leiden University opened the Asian Library to house its world renowned and extensive Asian collections. This includes the largest collection on Indonesia worldwide and some of the foremost collections on South and Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Korea. "Voyage of Discovery" contains more than twenty essays by academics, curators, and authors on their experiences with the Leiden collections. Richly illustrated and showcasing twenty-five treasures from the Asian Library, such as unique manuscripts and rare maps, this book offers a beautiful look inside the Asian Library. Show less
Central to this research is the Urban Future-project, which consists of a large archive of artworks made from 2002 until now. The original question underpinning this project was: what... Show moreCentral to this research is the Urban Future-project, which consists of a large archive of artworks made from 2002 until now. The original question underpinning this project was: what influence do chaos, entropy and fragmentation have on the viability of the rapidly developing urbanizing world? In the course of the research project, the (literature and field) explorations led to the assumption that there is a demonstrable and necessary link between the quality of life in the city and vital social cohesion on the one hand and chaos, entropy and fragmentation on the other. In the artistic part of the research focuses on the question: is it possible to make the supposed connection between quality of urban life and chaos, entropy and fragmentation visible in artwork and, if so, how? In the written dissertation, working methods and strategies are contextualized and analyzed. The visual part derives from an artist's position which uses non-verbal, sensorial strategies to reach new insights. It mainly focuses on the visual and aesthetic possibilities of aspects of fragmentation, chaos and entropy because Scholten considers these aspects, as productive forces, to be the core of the experience of urbanization. Show less
This thesis engages with the ongoing debate regarding how photographs can contribute to the writing of black South African history. In the field of South African visual history, a... Show more This thesis engages with the ongoing debate regarding how photographs can contribute to the writing of black South African history. In the field of South African visual history, a significant literature explores the “white gaze” that emanates from the administrative and missionary photographic archives of the colonial period. Comparatively fewer studies, however, have addressed how black South Africans pictured themselves, largely due to the presumption that black visual archives are scarce and difficult to access. This thesis draws upon previously unexplored photographic evidence from the mid twentieth century—intimate photographs found in black homes. I argue that these images constitute an alternative archive and original source of history. Such archives present a radically different perspective on black urban communities than that emanating from public photographic collections. Photographic portraiture translates how black South Africans wanted to be seen, according to their own conventions. To study everyday photographic practices is to reflect on the set of values, attitudes and ideas that influenced this exercise of self-representation. This thesis employs a variety of methods and approaches—photo elicitation, identifying patterns in poses and conventions, scrutinizing background details, and locating photographs in today’s landscape—to help unravel the historical relevance of seemingly mundane images. Show less
