Helle Skulptur vor opak dunklem Hintergrund. Entstehung und Funktion eines Bildcodes

(Frühe Skulpturfotografie) Der opak dunkle Hintergrund gehört spätestens seit der Einführung der Negativretusche und deren massenhaften Anwendung durch die grossen fotografischen Kunstverlage in den 1860er Jahren bis teilweise in die 1920er Jahre oder darüber hinaus bei Fotografien antiker Skulpturen aus hellem Material zu den Standards. Trotz der Wucht dieses meist grafischen Eingriffs ins Bild durch Retusche wird der uniforme Hintergrundersatz auch in jüngster Zeit noch als den Hintergrund neutralisierend beschrieben. Die Entkontextualisierung der mehrheitlich in den berühmten italienischen Museen in Florenz, Rom und Neapel fotografierten Skulpturen aus ihrer ursprünglichen Räumlichkeit des Aufstellungskontextes führt die Skulptur medienbedingt jedoch nicht in die Hintergrundlosigkeit. In welche neue Kontexte wird die Skulptur durch diesen opak dunklen Hintergrund jedoch transportiert? In meinem Vortrag gehe ich Fragen der Entstehung und Funktion des opak dunklen Hintergrundes in der seriellen Skulpturfotografie einzeln abgelichteter Skulpturen der grossen fotografischen Kunstverlage Italiens (Alinari, Anderson, Brogi, ...) im 19. Jahrhundert nach und beleuchte das Phänomen dieser Hintergründe unter medien-, produktions- und technikästhetischen Aspekten.

Ein unerwünschtes Bild? Zur ältesten Porträtfotografie aus Skandinavien (1840)

Die nach heutiger Kenntnis erste Porträtfotografie, die in Skandinavien entstanden ist, stammt von dem französischen Unternehmer Aymard-Charles-Théodore Neubourg (1795–um 1865/1866) und zeigt den dänischen Bildhauer Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844). Trotz der damals neuen Technik der Daguerreotypie und des prominenten Modells sollte es über ein halbes Jahrhundert dauern, bis die kleine Silberplatte von dem 1848 eröffneten Thorvaldsen Museum in Kopenhagen erworben wurde. Der vorliegende Beitrag fragt nach den Gründen für die bescheidene Rezeption dieses Bildes, das einen unbestreitbar wichtigen Stellenwert in der Geschichte des neuen Mediums einnimmt. Für die Thorvaldsen-Forschung ist diese Daguerreotypie besonders interessant, da sie als fotografisches Bild – im Gegensatz zu den auf Statusrepräsentation bedachten Darstellungen in Gemälden und Plastiken – einen anderen Entwurf vom Aussehen des Künstlers überliefert.

Stereocopic Photography Encounters the Staircase

The staircase is presented as the architectural component that most potently embodies thresholds, boundaries and passages due to its diagonal orientation and essence as an intermediary zone. Connections then are made between the kinesthetic requirements of traversing a staircase and viewing a stereoscopic photograph. From this foundation, the haptic essence of stereoscopic photography is proposed as uniquely qualified medium through which to view a staircase and therefore thresholds, boundaries, and passages within architecture. Analyses of stereoviews of staircases in the Palais de Justice in Brussels, the Library of Congress in Washington, and the Palais Garnier (Opéra) in Paris close the essay.

Remediating vernacular creativity : photography and cultural citizenship in the Flickr photosharing network

Read through a focus on the remediation of personal photography in the Flickr photosharing website, in this essay I treat vernacular creativity as a field of cultural practice; one that that does not operate inside the institutions or cultural value systems of high culture or the commercial popular media, and yet draws on and is periodically appropriated by these other systems in dynamic and productive ways. Because of its porosity to commercial culture and art practice, this conceptual model of ‘vernacular creativity’ implies a historicised account of ‘ordinary’ or everyday creative practice that accounts for both continuity and change and avoids creating a nostalgic desire for the recuperation of an authentic folk culture. Moving beyond individual creative practice, the essay concludes by considering the unintended consequences of vernacular creativity practiced in online social networks: in particular, the idea of cultural citizenship.

Max Dupain and the photography of Australian architecture

This thesis considers Max Dupain (1911-1992) and his contribution to the development of architectural photography in Australia. Through his continuous and prolific output over six decades of professional photography Dupain greatly stimulated awareness of and interest in Australian architecture. Before Dupain began specialising in the field, little consistent professional architectural photography had been practised in Australia. He and some of his close associates subsequently developed architectural photography as both a specialised branch of photography and - perhaps more significantly - as a necessary adjunct to architectural practice. In achieving these dual accomplishments, Dupain and like-minded practitioners succeeded in elevating architectural photography to the status of a discipline in its own right. They also gave Australians generally a deeper understanding of the heritage represented by the nation's built environment. At the same time, some of the photographic images he created became firmly fixed in the public imagination as historical icons within the development of a distinctive Australian tradition in the visual arts. Within his chosen field Dupain was the dominant Australian figure of his time. He was instrumental in breaking the link with Pictorialism by bringing Modernist and Documentary perspectives to Australian architectural photography. He was an innovator in the earlier decades of his professional career, however, his photographic techniques and practice did not develop beyond that. By the end of the 1980s he had largely lost touch with the technology and techniques of contemporary practice. Dupain's reputation, which has continued growing since his death in 1992, therefore arises from reasons other than his photographic images alone. It reflects his accomplishment in raising his fellow citizens' awareness of a worthwhile home-grown artistic tradition.

Participatory photography and self-empowerment in different nations

Volunteering Qld’s Project Creatives continues to explore the critical role creative disciplines and creative people play in providing new models of engagement and action in social change and community work. This article explores three different non-profit organisations that have used collaborative photography to enable locals to empower themselves. Written by Alice Baroni a volunteer with the Education, Research and Policy Unit of Volunteering Qld. Alice is undertaking a PhD at the Queensland University of Technology, exploring (photo) journalism, participatory content creation and community photography in Brazil’s low income suburbs. She is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, and a Brazilian research group ‘Storytellers and Narratives: Contemporary Journalism’. Two of the initiatives explored in this publication are Viva Favela and Imagens do Povo that are ideologically and physically supported by, respectively, Viva Rio and Observatório de Favelas, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ‘Favela’ is often translated simply as ‘slum’ or ‘shantytown’, but these terms connote negative characteristics such as shortage, poverty, and deprivation, which end up stigmatising these low-income suburbs. Fotografi Senza Frontiere (FSF) (Photographers Without Borders) is an Italian non-governmental organisation that gathers together a group of photographers who aim to provide youth from extreme regions in Nicaragua, Algeria, Argentina, Panama, Uganda, and Palestine with skills to photograph and document their own reality by establishing permanent photo laboratories. This idea, which is similar to that of Viva Favela and Imagens do Povo, is to enable youth to become professional photographers as a means of self-representation and self-empowerment. Afterwards, students become educators in established photographic labs so as to pass on what they have learnt through FSF’s photographic courses.