Conference

“The camera has offered us amazing possibilities… We are only beginning to exploit them; for although photography is already over a hundred years old, it is only in recent years that the course of development has allowed us to see beyond the specific instance and recognize the creative consequences.”
—László Moholy-Nagy

This declaration by Moholy-Nagy, one of the most influential practitioners and a progenitor of contemporary photographic education, resounds as much today as when it was uttered in 1925. Photography is again at an unprecedented historical threshold, unlike any in its 170-year history. It is this moment that will be explored in The Photographic Universe II, a two-day conference organized by Aperture Foundation and The New School—including the School of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design, and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. It follows on the success of the first conference held in 2011. Visit the 2011 Archive here.

The Photographic Universe II brings together a range of leading practitioners, scientists, theoreticians, historians, and philosophers to consider and reflect on current discussions in photography at a pivotal moment in its history. The unique format of the conference will consist of one-on-one conversations between two individuals from disparate professional and research backgrounds. The conference will conclude with a roundtable focusing on photographic education.

See the event website here.

Wednesday, April 10
The Technical Image

9:00-9:30 am
Introduction

9:45-10:45 am
Copyleft and Image Sharing
Katrina Sluis with Eric Saltzman

11:00 am-12:00 pm
Vision Machines
Marvin Heiferman with Andreas Velten

12:00-1:00 pm
Lunch

1:00-2:00 pm
The Online Image
Laurel Ptak with Andrew Norman Wilson

2:15-3:15 pm
Photographic Truths
Mia Fineman with Fred Ritchin

3:30-4:30 pm
Photographic Truths
Thomas Keenan with Ariella Azoulay

Thursday, April 11
The Cultural Image

12:30-1:30 pm
The Ontology of Photographic Seeing
Todd Cronan with Simon Critchley

1:45-2:45 pm
The Life and Death of Images
Lynne Tillman with Eduardo Cadava

3:00-4:00 pm
Photography and Political Agency?
Victoria Hattam with Hito Steyerl

4:15-5:15 pm
New Frontiers and Familiar Territories
Doug Rickard with Joshua Chuang

5:30-7:00 pm
Round Table on Photography Education
Moderated by Jeanine Oleson, with Becca Albee, Allen Frame, and Song Tae Chong

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