EUC Graphic Design Program

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CfP: 2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory

2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory
Photography and Museums: Displayed and Displaying

THALASSA MUNICIPAL MUSEUM, Ayia Napa, Cyprus
November 30 – December 2, 2012


Confirmed Keynote Speaker:
Professor Elizabeth Edwards


CALL FOR PAPERS

Research in historical, artistic and vernacular photography has been rapidly expanding in the past few years. Responding to this trend, the International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT) was created with an aim to provide an outlet for an interdisciplinary and critical theoretical exploration of photography and photographic practices. The 2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT 2012) aims once again at bringing together researchers and practitioners from diverse fields of study who share a common interest in photography. This year’s topic is ‘Photography and Museums’.

Photography has been historically adopted by various types of museums – art, anthropological, historical, and archaeological – as evidence for the objects on view or as a supporting document to events, stories or other artifacts already on display. In other cases photography has been displayed as an autonomous ‘artifact’ or an art form demanding aesthetic consideration. However, it was not until recently that photography in museums was critically re-evaluated in order to examine photography’s impact on the formation of cultural, historic or social narratives and identities. In addition, museums but also contemporary artists have been showing a renewed interest in photography and its potential to challenge museum orthodoxy, as much as in the medium’s expanding possibilities through the use of new media technologies.

This conference aims to critically investigate the relationship between photography and museums; the impact of the medium on the nature and character of the museum and of the museum experience, but also the impact of the institution on the status and development of photography. We invite proposals for 30-minute presentations (20 minutes presentation and 10 minutes for discussion) from various disciplines, such as: photography, art history and theory, visual sociology, anthropology, museology, philosophy, ethnography, cultural studies, visual and media studies, communications, and fine and graphic arts. These should present an in-depth investigation of the relationship between museums and photography historically, philosophically or through specific case studies.

Submitted proposals for presentations should address, but are not limited to one of the following:

Examining Photography in Museums:
• The political economy of the photograph
• Ethnographic collections
• Representations, narratives, stereotypes and power
• Telling stories, negotiating identities
• Exhibiting news photography
• Exhibiting commercial photography (advertising, fashion photography, editorial etc)
• Photographs as artifacts: the photographic album
• Researching photographic albums in museums / archives
• Documentary photography: evidence and truth
• Photographs of war, violence or/and agony

Photography and Museology:
• Shifting paradigms of display
• Contemporary photography in the museum
• Challenging tradition: digital photography versus painting
• Photography’s impact on the nature of museum collections
• Educational implications of the use of photography in museums
• Photography and museum audiences
• Photography in online museums
• Museum outreach through online photographic collections
• The art museum conversing with the photography museum
• New technologies and the photographic exhibition

Photographers/Artists and the Museum:
• Photographer’s interventions in museums
• Photographing the museum / Questioning the museum
• Photographing museum audiences
• Artists looking at / researching in museum’s photographic archives
• Exhibiting photographic archives
• The artist as curator: displaying found photographs
• Public-generated photography in art exhibitions
• The photography festival: Voices Off, Arles Fest, Paris Photo etc.
• The moving still photograph

To propose a paper please send a 400-word (excluding references) abstract no later than April 15, 2012 to inquiries@photographyandtheory.com. For the purposes of blind refereeing, full name of each author with current affiliation and full contact details (address, email, phone), title of presentation, and a short biographical note (200 words) should be supplied on a separate document. Both documents (abstract and contact details) should be in English.

Important dates:
Deadline for submission: April 15, 2012
Notification of authors: May 30, 2012
Deadline for early registration – authors: July 30, 2012
Deadline for late registration – authors: September 30, 2012
Deadline for full paper submission: September 30, 2012
Deadline for registration – participants: October 1, 2012
Conference: November 30 – December 2, 2012

Submitted proposals will go through blind peer-reviewing and authors will be notified of the acceptance of their proposals by May 30, 2012. Authors whose proposals are accepted must submit full papers of between 4000-6000 words by September 30, 2012 by e-mail to: inquiries@photographyandtheory.com. The guidelines for submitting a paper will be sent to each of the contributors at a later time. The conference proceedings, will include all papers presented and will be distributed during the conference. Selected papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume.

For more information please visit the ICPT website at www.photographyandtheory.com
Questions may be sent to: inquiries@photographyandtheory.com

Members of the Organizing Committee (ICPT2012):
Dr Elena Stylianou, Chair, European University Cyprus
Dr Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Co-chair, Cyprus University of Technology
Prof. Stephanos Stephanides, University of Cyprus
Dr Yiannis Toumazis, Frederick University Cyprus, Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre and Pierides Foundation, Cyprus
Haris Pellapaisiotis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicos Philippou, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicholas Constantinou, Association of Teachers of Photography in Secondary Education, Cyprus

Members of the Scientific Committee:
Prof. Liz Wells, University of Plymouth, UK
Prof. Darren Newbury, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, UK
Dr Dona Schwartz, University of Minnesota, USA
Dr Alexandra Bounia, University of the Aegean, Greece
Dr Claire Robins, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Dr Elena Stylianou, European University Cyprus, Cyprus
Dr Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Dr Hercules Papaioannou, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece
Dr Ahmad Hosni, independent photographer, Egypt/Spain

Open Studio at EUC

A group of my undergraduate students at European University Cyprus opened their studio to the public on Wednesday, December 21, to show their final projects from the class GRA340: Contemporary Issues in Art. Below are some examples of the students' work:


Victoria Shabanova, Untitled, 2011; prints on paper, black pen.


Vasilis Vasiliou, Breaking Walls, 2011; constructed wall, stencils.




Natalie Georgiou, Photography or Art, 2011; found photograph printed on fabric, wooden box with various threads, needles, light table.


Joanna Gorka, True Woman, 2011; a series of digital photographs

'ART'

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

The play 'Art', written originally in French by Yasmina Reza (1994) opened in Cyprus last week. In the play, when Serge - one of the three characters (Marc and Yvan are the other two) - buys a 'white' painting for an astronomical prize, questions about what counts as art and what doesn't, as much as about the meanings and interpretations of artworks, surface parallel issues on the limits and expectations relevant to friendship. The white canvas beyond illustrating the wider challenges on the concept of art, historically situated in the beginnings of the twentieth century, becomes here an empty surface upon which several readings and writings are tried out. Readings regarding the possible meanings of the work, of art and especially of the art market, but also writings about the ways in which friendship can be challenged, maintained and re-shaped based on individual expectations. How much are you defined by your friends and how neutral are one's opinions and tastes? How much can you shape or expect to shape your friends? How much are we do expect to have the same ideas and share the same values with the people who choose to be friends with? 'ART' was such an exciting play, relevant to out times and reflecting broader philosophical issues.

A conversation with actors Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina about the play 'Art' on Broadway, a HERE

Tomas Saraceno's "Cloud Cities"

The first thing that the viewer currently sees upon entering the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin, is a space with cell-like transparent balls - some larger than others - filled with strange plants that seem to grow inside their free-floated cocoons. Each one of these biospheres is stretched across the large space of the museum and visitors are welcome to touch, smell or even climb inside them. Saraceno's installations do not simply aim to be a space for visitors' participation and immediate engagement, but they also allow them to travel to a place that is imaginative: an almost mythic and unreal plane where things are different. Through this work, concepts such as space, time and possibility can be re-visited.

The Jewish Museum, Berlin

A fascinating museum designed to initiate a multi-sensory experience. The display, however, of a plethora of objects on the last floor of the museum seems rather disconnected from Libeskind's initial aim to create a museum of multiple interpretations. While Libeskind's designed 'voids' in the museum's architecture, and the interplay between the dark spaces and the openings on the museum's wall, are quite effective in their affect and potential impact, the piles of objects and degree of textual interpretation with which the viewer is bombarded in the end, raise questions about curatorial decisions as much as the role of a Jewish Museum in Berlin.

"Cyprus in Venice" Exhibition at Nicosia Municipal Art Centre

by Carolina Oroudzhalieva
Undergraduate Student of Graphic Design at EUC

The exhibition was organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Cultural Services and the Pierides Foundation. It was showing at the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (Old Power House) for almost 4 months, between 3 December 2010 and 27 March 2011.The display was set up to commemorated the 50th anniversary of Cypriot Independence, and as a “tribute to the 40 years of participation of Cyprus in the Venice Biennial of Art, from 1968 to 2009.(1)”

The Venice Biennial, also called Venice Biennale, came from the Italian Biennale di Venezia. It is “major contemporary exhibition that takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy.”(2) The first Biennale was held in 1895, where decorative arts were the center. However, with progression into the 20th century it became more international. Cyprus joined the Biennale in 1968. 6 Artists participated in the exhibition [curated by Tony Spiteris, who was a Greek art critic based in Venice, and acted as the general secretary of the IACS (International Association of Art Criticism)] displaying cultural heritage of the New State. Some of the names included were Stelios Votsis, Costas Joachim, George Kyriakou, Christoforos Savva, Giorgos Skotinos and Andreas Chrysochos. However, due to the unfortunate events of the 1974, led to Cyprus to a long break, until 1986 when the national participation resumed again until today.

The exhibition performs many tasks, and having Cyprus participate in it gives it many advantages. Firstly, the Biennale tries to attack a wide range of audiences both local and international, which gives Cyprus artists a chance to be able to show the arts and crafts to their country and also to see and compare the arts of others. Furthermore, at the Biennale art works are placed within a historical context, which allows Cyprus to show the progression of contemporary arts, as well as the post-independence of the country and the participation in the development of the Biennale itself. Also, the exhibition allows the investigation of “prevailing narratives and discourses, both within works in the national pavilion and in connection with international debates in theory and criticism”(3). This allows solving some misconceptions and prejudicing about countries, and it is educating the public about its culture, beliefs and mentality. Finally, the event itself acts as an archive, where progression in art, course of history of the counties is outlined, and lost source materials are collected and reconstituted. This allows Cyprus to have a documented source of the art history, its development and progression, further adding to the cultural heritage of the country.

Some of the artists that I liked were Panayotis Michael, Theodoulos Gregoriou, Nicos Kouroussis and Christoforos Savva.
Panayotis Michael, active member of the Cyprus art scene, presented a series of drawing installation and murals under title “I promise you will love me forever”. They appeared in 2005 Biennale under title “Gravy Planet” borrowed from the 60’s scientific classical movie “alluding the dystopian reality”.

The work that I liked was a simple black and white representation, portraying what looks to be like a high jump. I liked this work because it is very playful. This can be seen in the way the body is twisted in an unnatural way and the disproportion of the legs, reminding us of graffiti or comics exaggerations to show speed, force and power. The way the body is cut in half and transformed into some sort of plant, giving us an imaginative edge ,letting us think of the speed used to conquer such high, and the extended leg that steps through the “ground “as if there is no floor gives a sense of instability, reminds me of the surrealistic movements of contemporary art. The way the artists organized the work, with many vanishing points makes it complicated and interesting to explore, reminding me of the multilevel positioning of figures during the mannerism period. I also really like the concept of the work which is based on the artists in transformation of space and identity, “expressing his preoccupation in with any form of transaction, assimilation and adaptation, both on an individual and social-political level.”(4) This works gives us the ability to understand that there is an immense effort present when trying to live or coexist with someone or someplace. According to the artists there will always be doubt, tenacity, flirtation, desire and fantasy, which lead to false promises and dreams which are often untrustworthy or impossible to keep. All of the above elements are clearly displayed in the chosen picture.

Christoforos Savva exhibited at the 47th Venice Biennale presenting hand-made life size compositions using everyday objects like clothes, cardboard, pins, photographs and canvases, which he manipulated to produce a series of short-lived sculptures showing shapes of outlines of “trees, animals, object and people, suggestive, through their discrete occupancy of volume and dimension, of the emotional state of absence”(5). Due to the works delicacy most haven’t survived, but the artists recreated a small scale version of the originals for this exhibition.

I like these works as they are based around culture. The hand-made pieces are so laborious and time consuming that it really shows the artist’s intervention with the culture itself, experimenting with the actual materials used for hundreds of years and using them to create something new. This shows the artists devotion, pride and patriotism for his country. Whether the materials are used for an abstract composition or to recreate a landscape the works are amazing to look at even in small scale. His works remind me of Tara Donovan, who is currently exhibiting at the Pace Gallery in NY, with her Drawings made out of pins. I really like the idea of taking something so simple as a pin or thread, and using it differently, transforming it into drawing or a landscape model. This remind me of the avant-garde movements of modernity where everything can be used to make art, not just traditional, established methods.

Theodoulos Gregoriou presented his works in the Aperto 1990, separate section of the Venice Biennale main exhibition. Aperto concentrated on more experimental, emerging art form, with high international standards, where Theodoulous was presenting his works next to Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. His Autophoto-Heretophoto (from Greek ‘self-illuminated’ an illuminated by other source’), demonstrated geometric rendition of Aristotelian Principles, in particular the philosophies of form over logic “mind over matter” (6). His cone shape installation interested me in particular, as it reminded me of a telescope where I can look at and see projections of distant stars. It was designed to give a feeling of a futuristic moonscape where planet units projected or reflected light. The work reflected the artist’s interest in the passage of dark to light, inside and outside, combining media technology with existing philosophies of the ‘natural’ universe. His ‘mathematical’work reminded me of cubism artists like El Lisicki where geometry, order and math were the dominant features. The light created from the objects and inside the cone where very special giving the feeling of something future like, hence reminding me of the futurist movement of modernity where a lot was left to the imagination alone.

The fact that these large scale exhibitions exist and give so many countries, like Cyprus, a chance to participate is fantastic. This allows not only multicultural exchange of ideas and techniques by the artists of today, education of the each, separate different cultures, but also it allows to document the progression of arts in history, create new ways to challenge the canon and generate new styles, movements and history of the art world.

Bibliography:
1. http://www.cyprusevents.net/events/cyprus-venice-1968-2009/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Biennale
3. Exhibition Guide Booklet, p. 4
4. ibid, p.33
5. ibid, p.25
6. ibid, p.19

Photos by Ani Martyrosian, undergraduate student in Graphic Design at EUC.