Category Archives: Photography

Book Launch: ‘GROUND TRUTH’ by Sheung Yiu

Image of the book by 'Ground Truth' by Sheung Yiu

SEASONAL BOOK LAUNCHES PRESENTS: ‘GROUND TRUTH’

A book by Sheung Yiu

Book launch this Saturday, November 27th, 16:00 @ Art Gallery Kosminen, Helsinki

Sheung Yiu is launching his book ‘GROUND TRUTH’ this Saturday at art gallery Kosminen, Helsinki, at 16:00 (4pm). Please feel free to join the casual celebration and meeting around the local community TTBookshelf books and friends!

Event Name: Seasonal Book Launches, The Temporary Bookshelf
When: Saturday 27.11 17-20:00
Where: Kosminen, Pursimiehenkatu 13,00150 Helsinki

Kosminen
Instagram + @sheungyiuphoto ,  #sheungyiu #theeriskayconnection
The Eriskay Connection

‘GROUND TRUTH’

What is the relation between what we see and what is there? Ground Truth observes the evolution of visual technology in conversation with our perception and surroundings. The more technology develops, the more abstract seeing becomes.

Equipped with the phenomenal power of computation, photography and hyperspectral imaging, a group of scientists set out to approach the boundaries of satellite imaging in the forests of Finland. Using meticulous on-site measurements of physical structures and spectral properties of trees, ‘ground truth’ data are experimental results to verify the performance of predicting models. Their quest is to develop an improved interpretation model of satellite data for remote sensing research, which allows us to distinguish various features of the surface beyond what is shown optically in satellite imagery.

In Ground Truth Sheung Yiu (HK/FI) interweaves archival imagery, documentary photography, experimental data, and artistic work, to acquaint the reader with the mathematical models that provide us the tools to ‘resurrect’ trees from a two-dimensional image. Ground Truth highlights the complexity of seeing in the age of algorithms. What do we see when we are not around? What can we see when there is nothing there?

Concept and photography: Sheung Yiu
Essay: Miina Rautiainen, Daniel Schraik, Aarne Hovi and Petri Forsström, Sheung Yiu
Design: Emery Norton

170 × 240 mm | 176 p
EN | softcover
ISBN: 978-94-92051-74-5
€ 25.00

ABOUT SHEUNG YIU

Sheung Yiu is a Hong-Kong-born image-based artist and doctoral researcher based in Helsinki. His research interest concerns the increasing complexity and agency of computational photography in contemporary digital culture. He seeks to expand its ontology by formulating the connections between photography theories and new forms of realism, object-oriented ontology, and network thinking. Engaging with artistic practice and multi-disciplinary collaboration as a mode of research, his works examine the poetics and politics of computational photography, such as computer vision, computer graphics and remote sensing. Yiu’s work takes the form of photography, videos, photo-objects, exhibition installations and bookmaking.

More info: www.sheungyiu.com

ABOUT THE ERISKAY CONNECTION

The Eriskay Connection is a Dutch studio for book design and an independent publisher. We focus on contemporary storytelling at the intersection of photography, research, and writing. In close collaboration with authors, we make books as autonomous bodies of work that provide us with new and necessary insights into the world around us. The key for us is to convey the essence of their work through high quality editing, design, and production. Our editions are mainly offset printed and bound in The Netherlands and we strive to work with local producers and sustainable materials as much as possible.

More info: https://www.eriskayconnection.com

EXHIBITION: ‘Sarajevo Roses and Clouds of June’ – Third Space, Helsinki – From 4th – 10th October 2021

Samra Šabanović and Sheung Yiu, as the duo I was there but you didn’t see me*, are having a week-long pop-up screening of their video work on mass protest photography at Third Space starting from next Monday 4th of October. The exhibition is part of Third Space open call selected projects for the year 2021 with the theme ” Vulnerability, collaboration, exchanges”, supported by Taike. The opening will be on Thursday, October 7th, from 17:00 – 20:00.

Exhibition period: 4th – 10th October 2021 from 14:00 – 18:00. Welcome!

*** To visit the exhibition please wear a face mask and consider the safety distance ***

INFO

“Unless we stop indulging in metaphors and start to recognise the politics of visibility and invisibility within the power structure, ‘photography’s future will be much like its past. It will largely continue to illustrate, without condemning, how the powerful dominate the less powerful.’” (Excerpt from video)

Photography has always been a game of hide-and-seek — what to make visible and invisible — but at times of wars and mass protests, these decisions have real consequences. Humans and images are now entangled in the network, each controlling the life and death of the other. Visibility is not just a picture; visibility is lethal.

Amid global protests to support the Black Lives Matter movement, some have called for photojournalists to blur out protesters’ faces to protect their identities. The encrypted communications app Signal released a feature to blur faces in photos. Software developer Noah Conk created an iPhone shortcut that does the same thing and erases their metadata. Some photojournalists oppose blurring and insist that the key issue is consent. That argument misjudges the lethality of visibility, especially in the context of overt and expansive state surveillance. On the other side of the world, Hong Kong pedestrians are filming the arrest of the protestors on their smartphones as they shout their names and ID number, in the hope that their families and lawyers know which police station to look for them and in the fear that they won’t see the sun again — visibility as a means to protect.

“Sarajevo Roses and Clouds of June” (2020) is a 22-minute video essay on images and their relation to peace. Reflecting on personal experience and photographic practices in general, the video essay contemplates the role of photography in the recent waves of mass protests and social activism. The title is a reference to the memorials of the Bosnian War and the months-long protest in Hong Kong that began in June 2019. The video essay, made during the pandemic in 2020, is composed entirely of video footage found on popular free stock websites. In five chapters, the essay delves into the ever-complex politics of visibility and invisibility, offering a critical examination of how photography may or may not contribute to peace in the age of mass surveillance enabled by hyper-connectivity and the omnipresence of cameras.

“Sarajevo Roses and Clouds of June” (2020) is the third chapter of I was there but you didn’t see me*

BIO
I was there but you didn’t see me* is a series of research-based public interventions on photographic images curated by Samra Šabanović and Sheung Yiu. These interventions use images as starting points of inquiry about their indisputable impacts on philosophy, history, literature, technology, science and visual culture. Through prolonged looking and peripheral vision, the duo revisits images (or the lack of them) and situates them in new discourses that extends beyond visual arts. This involves doing double-takes on images seriously and regularly, writing footnotes on and around photographs to rediscover ‘what was there’ and ‘what was not seen’ at first glance.

LINKS

More about Third Space

PHOTOGRAPHY OFF THE SCALE – Talk by Jussi Parikka – Thursday, 20 May 2021, from 15:00 – 16:00

PHOTOGRAPHY OFF THE SCALE

Talk by Jussi Parikka

Thursday, May 20th on Zoom from 15:00 – 16:00

Image © Abelardo Gil-Fournier. Rotating GIF image with text 'Photo Talks' and 'Jussi Parikka'.

Image © Abelardo Gil-Fournier.

Doctoral Seminar – Open to everyone!

When: Thursday, May 20th, 2021
Time: 15:00 – 16:00
Zoom link: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/66102166387

INFO
“For the inaugural Aalto Photo Talks, we have invited media theorist Jussi Parikka as our guest speaker. Parikka has written extensively on new media and digital culture. His writings unravel the historicity of emerging media, tracing our past, articulating our present and imagining our future relationship with technology. In his recent publication Photography Off the Scale, Parikka turns his attention to operational images and image en masse. From the mass image in vernacular culture to transformations of photography in contexts of big data and artificial intelligence, the essays in the book explore the massification of photography. During the talk, Parikka will present his work and his recently-published co-edited photo theory anthology Photography Off the Scale. The presentation will be followed by a casual Q&A discussion.

The talk is open to public and we welcome Aalto students from the Department of Media and other disciplines to join us. Please also feel free to invite students from outside of Aalto.”

You can download the introductory article using the link, under the tab ‘resource’ here.

SPEAKER BIO
Jussi Parikka is Professor of Technological Culture & Aesthetics at University of Southampton and visiting Professor at FAMU at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. He is also Docent/Dosentti in Digital Culture Theory at University of Turku. He is the project director for “Operational Images and Visual Culture” (2019-2023, funded by the Czech Science Foundation). Jussi’s books include Koneoppi (2004), Digital Contagions (2007), Insect Media (2010), A Geology of Media (2015), as well as What is Media Archaeology? (2012) alongside several edited collections, including one on Erkki Kurenniemi (Writing and Unwriting Media Art HIstory, 2015, with Joasia Krysa). Recently, he published the co-edited Photography off the Scale (2021, with Tomas Dvorak) and The Lab Book (co-authored with Darren Wershler and Lori Emerson) is forthcoming later in 2021. Jussi also serves on Ihme Helsinki advisory board.

For more info and Jussi Parikka’s blog: http://jussiparikka.net

ABOUT AALTO PHOTO TALKS
Aalto Photo Talks is a series of conversations with thinkers, theorists and practitioners of photography with the aim to expand the notion of photography and explore interdisciplinary connections. The talk is organized by doctoral candidates from Aalto Photography. Although it may take different forms, most talks are organized as casual conversations with the invited guest for a free-flowing exchange of ideas and questions.

For any questions, please contact: Sheung Yiu // Aalto Photo Talks

Defence of dissertation in the field of Photography, MA Laura Nissinen

Zoom Quick Guide

Event page

The audience is asked to join at no later than 12:00. The defence will be recorded.

Event language(s): Finnish

Title of dissertation:

Abstraktin aika. Epäesittävä suomalainen valokuvataide 1920-2020

Opponent: PhD Johanna Frigård, University of Turku.

Custos: Professor Harri Laakso, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Media.

ABSTRACT

In recent years, no follower of photographic art can have avoided coming into contact with abstract photography. It seems to be everywhere, from the most expensive galleries to the smallest independent exhibition spaces. New makers emerge, and established artists who previously confined themselves to representational art are now working on abstract works. Numerous photography magazines have covered it, dedicating entire issues to the theme. What is it all about? And what exactly is abstract photography? Then there is the question of whether combining photography and abstraction is even possible or meaningful? To answer these questions this research gathers together over 100 years of abstract photography and approaches photographers and artists about their practice through interviews.

As concepts, photography and abstraction seem to be almost opposites. The concept of abstract is usually used specifically to refer to non-representational art and photographic medium is tradition- ally described as a medium of exact representation. Interpreting non-representational images is further complicated by the variety of definitions used. The thought patterns and manufacturing techniques involved in producing abstractions are manifold. However, what all the definitions have in common is that they refer to photography with unrecognisable or hard-to-recognise subjects.

Other recurring themes in abstract photo- graphic art include an investigative orientation, experimentalism, a focus on the working process, and commentary on technical reforms. Medium- related self-referentiality is key: the subjects of abstraction often include the history and characteristics of photography, and the materials of the medium. Throughout its existence, the main subject of photographic abstraction has been photography itself. Furthermore, abstract photographic art is pictorial, non-narrative, and non-verbal. However, this does not mean that abstract photographic art could not be political. Throughout its history, abstract photography has been used as a means to criticise the features and changes of the art world and society in large.

Time after time, abstraction challenges the traditional forms of expression and methods of photography, and functions within this medium as a force promoting renewal and vitality. Abstraction reflects the historical changes in photography over the past century. It highlights the technical changes in photography, but also the relationship between photography and the issues surrounding it, such as science or other art. The history of abstraction reflects the essential questions in the field of photography in each era. Finnish contemporary photographic abstraction returns to 19th-century scientific photography, 1920s avant-garde photograms, and studies of motion. With the emergence of new artists, however, each decade sees a change in content. What all abstractionists have in common is a desire to break the representational character of photography and to boldly study different aspects of photography. Makers of photographic abstractions are always required to consciously work against the norms of photography. Abstraction is bold thinking.”

Photograph. Aleatory Variable (burning b&w sheet film), I (2014) by Laura Nissinen.

Laura Nissinen: Aleatory Variable (burning b&w sheet film), I (2014).

More information on the thesis

Vilho Setälä, who photographed Finland’s earliest photographic abstraction, Sähkökruunu, in 1928, warned in a photography guide he wrote: “And now, my friend, when you try to open your eyes to the unseen, prepare for disappointment. Your friends don’t understand you and the editors reject your best pictures.”

Laura Nissinen’s doctoral dissertation Abstraktin aika. Epäesittävä suomalainen valokuvataide 1920–2020 will be examined at Aalto University on 26th March 2021. The thesis delves into one of medium’s most interesting problems, the possibility of abstract photography. The study, which also includes an artistic part, deals with the production of a total of 32 Finnish photographers and artists through an extensive interview section. In addition, several foreign photographers and artists are involved, as well as 19th Century Finnish and foreign scientists from different fields.

During its 100-year existence, photographic abstraction has established itself as part of photographic expression. However, the reception it has received has varied. Abstract photographs have been perceived as non-photographic and have been seen to resemble too much other visual arts, especially painting. The most turbulent stages in the history of Finnish abstract photography were experienced between 1950s and 1980s. Looking back, especially the 1970s, when many of the permanent structures of Finnish photography also took shape, appear to be problematic in many ways with photographic abstraction.

Today, there are only occasional echoes of the abstract’s sometimes very challenging position in Finnish art photography. However, the reservations of the past decades about the phenomenon can still be seen as interruptions in the narrative of Finnish photographic history and shortcomings in photo archives. Based on the small number of photographic abstractions in archives and collections, we have a gap in our country’s art history.

The strengthened art status of contemporary photography has increased the number of Finnish photographic abstractions and made the unrepresentative form of expression more common. On the other hand, this research shows that the importance of abstract photography in classifying photography as art in Finland has been essential. As Juhani Riekkola, member of the group Fotograafikot stated in his interview: “We hung the first photographs in the galleries, not today’s curators”.

The dissertation is publicly displayed online 10 days before the defence here.

THE DOCTORAND

Picture of the doctorand, MA Laura Nissinen. @Helinä Kuusela

The doctorand, MA Laura Nissinen. @Helinä Kuusela.

Laura Nissinen is Helsinki based photographer, artist and researcher. Her doctoral dissertation “Abstraktin aika. Epäesittävä suomalainen valokuvataide 1920–2020” deals with photographic abstraction. The dissertation includes an artistic production and is published by Aalto Arts Books. In 2017 Nissinen curated the exhibition “Abstract! 100 Years of Abstract Photography 1917–2017” in the Finnish Museum of Photography. Along with her doctoral studies in Aalto University, Nissinen is currently an art history master student in the University of Helsinki. Nissinen has previously graduated with MA from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (Taik). She has also studied photography and art in the University of Westminster, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and École National Supérieure de la Photographie.

More information please contact Laura Nissinen

Doctoral Seminar // 19.11.2020

New Media / Doctoral Seminar (DOM-L0007)

Welcome to November’s New Media Doctoral Seminar!

Presentations are open to everyone!

Join us in Zoom:

Thursday // 19.11.2020 // 16:30-19:30

https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61913960646

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mediated by Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen we will have two fascinating presentations + Q&A discussion after the presentations.

Presentations by:

Yrjö Tuunanen

Doctoral Candidate / Aalto University / Department of Media / School of Arts, Design and Architecture

Heidi Hirsto

DSc(Econ), works as Associate Professor in University of Vaasa, School of Marketing and Communication and Digital Economy Research Platform.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yrjö Tuunanen

Narrative Frames and Framing Narratives – Narrative transparency in news discourse

Abstract

Narrativity and transparency in news media can be regarded as reactions to the ubiquitous communication online where numerous actors seek for audience attention and compete for claims to truth. Yet, the relationship of narrativity, transparency, and truth, is complex, and there is a need for studying their relations from the perspective of narrative persuasion. Nevertheless, definitions of and research on narrative transparency in journalism has had little attention among news media scholars. The research of the author aims to contribute for filling this gap.

In his dissertation the author seeks to contribute to an increased need for knowledge about narrative structures, how these are used in the news, and the effect they have in the attribution of truth-value. In order to do that, he explores possibilities and challenges brought about by the internet, social media, and digitalization, as well as the shift in professional journalistic ideals and practices from objectivity towards transparency and narrativity. The research indicates that while there are some studies that analyze the challenge of “false narratives” in news discourse as well as media manipulation in online environments, there is still a need for studying subtle forms of narrative persuasion in both digital and more traditional forms of journalism.

The current mediasphere can be seen as a complex discursive environment where numerous known and unknown storytellers deploy narrative framings to direct attention toward certain interpretations of news. Digital media and the internet facilitate openness, interaction, and instant access to media discourses for media professionals and audiences alike. It enables new discursive platforms and facilitates new narrative forms as well as transparency practices online. While the potential of social media to promote diverse voices is widely acknowledged, there are also several problems and challenges associated with social media and their relation to professional journalism. Fake news, social bots, internet trolls, and echo chambers on social media platforms are phenomena related to disinformation campaigns and manipulation on public opinion in news discourse.

In this presentation, in addition to the etiology of some of the central concepts of the research, the author focuses specifically on how non-journalist participants affect news discourse. In other words, the presentation sheds light on a form of narrative persuasion through which non-journalist participants may affect news discourse by importing content from outside the primary “news frames” and cueing into underlying “framing narratives”. The author introduces a conceptual analysis model, titled Narrative Transparency Model, and discusses how it may help to theorize and demonstrate how framing narratives may be imported into news stories to unsettle journalistic narrative frames, and how imported content, such as vague or misplaced references, may generate discursive power through mobilizing framing narratives.

Bio

Yrjö Tuunanen is doctoral candidate in Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Media, Media Lab, Helsinki, Finland. He holds a Master’s Degree in Photography from University of Industrial Arts, Helsinki, Finland. His research interests concern critical, multimodal, and narrative approaches to media discourses in both digital and more traditional forms of journalism. His dissertation focuses on discursive functions of narrative assets in media discourses. In his current research, he studies how narrative transparency may support credibility of professional journalism as well as advance analytical and critical news discourse skills for media audiences and professionals alike.

During 1990 – 2012, he worked as a photojournalist and a teacher of digital and documentary photography. During 2012 – 2013, together with Heidi Hirsto, D.Sc. (Econ.), he implemented an international collaborative research project titled, M-Scopes, Mediated Significations of Finance, focusing on the ways in which economic phenomena and mechanisms are represented in the web-based news media. He has produced, organized, and hosted Talous kuvina Seminar 2010 in Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Together with Heidi Hirsto, D.Sc. (Econ.), he produced, organized, and hosted international M-Scopes Seminar in 2012 in Helsinki, Finland.  During 2013 -2017 he worked as a consultant on digital visualization of financial information for the Ministry of Finance, Finland. His work has appeared in international scholarly publications and in a book titled, Crisis Talk and the Media – Narratives of crisis across cultural settings.

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Heidi Hirsto

Encounter, relation, constitution: Views from the organizational communication field

Abstract

In this presentation, I seek answers to what happened when I recently opened a box of “The Golden Piggybank” magazines (Kultapossu) published in the 1980s. Drawing on topical reflections in the field of communication studies, particularly in the “communication as constitutive of organizations” (CCO) tradition, I discuss the materiality, affectivity, and relationality of communication, and the resulting, tentative reunion of “transmission” and “constitution” views to communication. It turns out that my plans to “use” the magazines as (textual) data backfired as my encounter with them turned affective and performative.

Bio Heidi Hirsto, DSc(Econ), works as Associate Professor in University of Vaasa, School of Marketing and Communication and Digital Economy Research Platform. She is specialized in the study of discourse and communication across a range of disciplines and topics, spanning from media studies and consumer studies to organizational discourse and communication. Her current work focuses on the ways in which digital culture and digital spaces reorganize people’s possibilities to exert social influence as economic citizens. Her work has appeared, e.g. in Organization Studies; Consumption, Markets and Culture; and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, as well as in research books.

 

Professor Merja Salo 1953–2018

It is with deep regret and sadness that we must inform you of the passing of our long-time colleague and friend, Professor Merja Salo. She passed away on 16th of August 2018. At Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture, Merja was Professor of Photography and Visual Communication, responsible for Photography research and related doctoral studies. Merja had been seriously ill for some time, fighting with cancer, and was intending to retire at the end of August. One week before her passing away Merja was still planning to give a lecture in her retirement seminar in September, but then her condition deteriorated suddenly. The Department of Media is deeply saddened by her sudden departure and she will be sorely missed by all of us who have had the pleasure to work with her, and study under her supervision during the last 27 years.

Merja’s funeral and remembrance event will be on Saturday 8th of September at 10.00 in Hietaniemi. The funeral is open to all, and an invitation was published in the deaths announcements section in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on Sunday 26th of August.

It was Merja’s wish that, instead of flowers, people would consider making donations to the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation. A collection in Merja’s name has been created by them. More information on the fund: http://www.luonnonperintosaatio.fi/fi/merja-salon-muistorahasto

Helsingin Sanomat article on Merja Salo (in Finnish): https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005793983.html

Two Doctoral Candidate positions in Department of Media

The Department of Media has positions for

Two Doctoral Candidates

The positions are fixed-term and will be filled for 12 months. The starting date is 1st March 2018.

These positions are for doctoral students who study within the Department of Media, Aalto-ARTS, to support the final stages of their dissertation preparation, for pre-examination. The position duties are working full-time on the DA dissertation, so that within, but not later than, the end of the 12 month work period, the Head of Research in the Department of Media will make a proposal to the Doctoral Programme Committee confirming that the dissertation is ready to be submitted for pre-examination.

Salary 

The salary for these positions is 2500-2700€ per month. Aalto University follows the salary system of Finnish universities.

How to apply

Applications for the position require:

1.      A written statement from the applicant that includes overview of the research, schedule and time-line for completion. This must include a written statement declaring that the applicant understands their dissertation will be ready to be submitted for pre-examination at the end of the work period.

2.      Full CV from applicant

3.      Recent academic transcript from Aalto University (digitally signed is accepted)

4.      Letter of Support from the Supervising Professor including a statement confirming their confidence that full-time work on the dissertation will allow the applicant to be ready to submit the dissertation for pre-examination at the end of the work period.

5.      Letter(s) of Support from the Advisor or Advisors including a statement confirming their confidence that full-time work on the dissertation will allow the applicant to be ready to submit the dissertation for pre-examination at the end of the work period.

6.      The applications for the positions should be submitted through the eRecruitment system no later than on Monday February 5th, 2018.

Apply for this job: https://www.saimanet.com/aaltohome/open_job_view.html?did=5900&lang=fi&id=00001703&jc=6

Dissertation in the field of photography: M.Soc.Sci. Maija Tammi

The dissertation scrutinises how sickness has been represented in art photography and examines new ways to approach, think about and create photographic art about sickness.

M.Soc.Sci Maija Tammi will defend her dissertation Sick Photography. Representations of Sickness in Art Photography. on Tuesday 12 December 2017.

At 12:00–14:00. Lecture hall 822, 8th floor, Hämeentie 135 C, 00560, Helsinki.

Opponent: PhD Loiuse Wolthers, Hasselblad Foundation, Göteborg
Custos: prof. Merja Salo, Department of Media

The discussion will be in English.

More information:

The dissertation Sick Photography scrutinises how sickness has been represented in art photography and examines new ways to approach, think about and create photographic art about sickness. It is a work of artistic research – it combines the practice of research with the generation of new artworks. The research differentiates between sickness, illness and disease, following anthropologist Arthur Kleinman’s definitions, and illustrates how 67 artworks by known authors sit in relation to these definitions. The research shows that art photographers have mostly concentrated on depicting personal illness experiences. Critics and scholars have concentrated on the ethics of what kind of images of sickness or suffering ought to be shown or on the psychology of why some images of sickness bother viewers. Tammi’s research adds to the conversation of difficult images drawing from writings on disgust, uncanny and abject, and claims that the proximity of photography makes it potent for being abject or uncanny. The main results of the research, artworks Leftover (2014) and White Rabbit Fever (2016), are intertwined with the research and draw their inspiration from it.

Welcome!

tammi_sick_mainoskuvat4

The dissertation notice and the published dissertation are placed for public display at the Learning Hub Arabia (Hämeentie 135 C, 5th floor, room 570), at latest 10 days before the defence date.

Event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/146912999264323/

Väitös valokuvan alalta: TaM Ismo Luukkonen

Toivotamme teidät tervetulleeksi TaM Ismo Luukkosen väitöstilaisuuteen:

Valokuvan ajallisuus.
Maiseman kerrostumista ajan kokemukseen.

Perjantaina 3 marraskuuta 2017, klo 12.00–14.00
Iso Luentosali 822
8krs, Hämeentie 135 C
00560, Helsinki, FI

Väitöskirja on taiteellinen tutkimus, joka tuo esille tekijälähtöisen näkökulman ajan ja valokuvan suhteeseen. Väittelijä esittää tulkintoja ajasta, maiseman kerrostumista sekä muinaisjäännöksistä maisemassa, ja tuo samalla kuvan sekä kuvan tekemisen kiinteäksi osaksi tutkimusta.

Vastaväittäjä: KuT Jan Kaila, Taideylipiston kuvataideakatemia
Kustos: prof. Merja Salo, Aalto-yliopiston Median laitos

Keskustelu käydään suomeksi.

ABSTRAKTI

Valokuvan ajallisuus (Maiseman kerrostumista ajan kokemukseen) on tekijälähtöinen taiteellinen tutkimus valokuvan ja ajan suhteesta. Muinaisjäännökset maisemassa, maiseman ajallinen kerroksellisuus ja sen välittyminen maisemavalokuvissa ovat työni lähtökohtia, joiden johdattamana tarkastelen valokuvan ajallisuutta. Pyrin vastaamaan kysymykseen, kuinka aika esiintyy valokuvissa.

Tutkimuksen rakenne on dialoginen. Tutkimustekstin rinnalla on kuvallisia lukuja, jotka pohjautuvat vuosien 2000–2017 taiteelliseen työskentelyyni maisemassa olevien muinaisjäännösten ja valokuvan ajallisuuden parissa. Kuvaustyössäni olen pyrkinyt tarkastelemaan kohteitani erilaisista lähtökohdista, mikä näkyy myös kuvien ilmiasuissa. Kuvallinen työskentelyni on tapahtunut samanaikaisesti teoreettisen tutkimuksen kanssa ja työskentelytavat ovat vaikuttaneet toisiinsa. Kuvalliset luvut tuovat toisen tarkastelutavan sanallisten rinnalle. Ajattelutapa on toinen, mutta tarkastelun kohde yhteinen.

Valokuvan voi nähdä todellisuuden jälkenä tai kuvallisena tulkintana todellisuudesta. Nämä kaksi näkökulmaa esiintyvät rinnakkain sekä tutkimustekstissä että kuvallisissa luvuissa. Kun katson valokuvaa todellisuuden jälkenä, sen ajallisuus liittyy kohteen ajallisuuteen, esimerkiksi maiseman ajallisiin kerrostumiin ja niiden välittymiseen valokuvasta. Jotta ajallisuuden voi tunnistaa kuvasta, se on ymmärrettävä myös kohteena olevasta maisemasta. Mutta jälki sitoo valokuvan aikaan myös toisella tavalla. Kuvattu hetki on tietty ajankohta menneisyydessä, joka väistämättä karkaa kauemmaksi ajan jatkumolla. Mennyt hetki tulee näkyväksi esimerkiksi vertailun kautta. Kuvaa voi verrata toisiin kuviin (samasta kohteesta) tai itse kohteeseen.

Katsoessani valokuvaa todellisuuden kuvallisena tulkintana, sen ajalliset merkitykset ovat riippuvaisia myös valokuvaajan tekemistä valinnoista. Valokuvaajana voin vaikuttaa siihen, kuinka aika jättää merkkinsä kuvan pintaan. Ajallisuutta voi edelleen korostaa käyttämällä erityisiä tekniikoita, joissa aika jo kuvattaessa muovaa valokuvan ilmiasua. Esimerkiksi pitkällä valotusajalla kuvattaessa esiintyvä liike-epäterävyys voi johdattaa katsojan ajallisten merkitysten äärelle.
Valokuva on kuitenkin monitulkintainen, sitä voi tarkastella monista näkökulmista ja erilaisista lähtökohdista. Tulkinta ei aina pysy niissä raameissa, joita tekijä yrittää kuvalle asettaa. Valokuvan merkitykset riippuvat siitä, kuinka katsoja kuvan kohtaa. Tähän kohtaamiseen vaikuttaa valokuvan ilmiasun ja katsojan itsensä lisäksi myös esityskonteksti, se, millaisessa yhteydessä kuva esitetään ja mitä muita kuvia tai tekstejä kuviin liittyy. Näin voidaan johdatella katsojaa myös ajallisiin tulkintoihin.

Valokuvalla on myös oma ajallisuutensa. Se on esine, joka vanhenee minkä tahansa esineen lailla, mutta vielä olennaisemmin ajallisuus tuntuu välimatkassa, joka syntyy valokuvan ottamisen ja katsomisen hetkien väliin. Valokuvaa katsotaan aina jälkikäteen. Se on väistämättä sidoksissa menneeseen ja tietoisuus tästä vaikuttaa siihen, kuinka kuvaa katsotaan. Valokuva on jäännös hetkellisestä tapahtumasta.

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Tervetuloa!


You are cordially invited to the Defence of Doctoral Dissertation of MA Ismo Luukkonen:

Temporality of a photograph.
From the layers of a landscape to the experience of time.

Friday 3 November 2017, 12.00–14.00
Lecture Hall 822
8th floor, Hämeentie 135 C
00560, Helsinki, FI

The dissertation is artistic research into the relationship between a photograph and time. Photographing of prehistoric objects in landscape are used to examine the temporality of photography.

Opponent: Doctor of Fine Arts Jan Kaila, University of the Arts Helsinki
Custos: prof. Merja Salo, Aalto University Department of Media

Discussion will be held in Finnish.

ABSTRACT

The temporality of a photograph (from the layers of a landscape to the experience of time) is artistic research into the relationship between a photograph and time. The prehistoric objects in a landscape, the temporal layers of the landscape and the way the temporality of the landscape is represented in photographs are the starting points of the research. They led me to the key issue: the temporality of a photograph. My question is how time appears in photographs.

The structure of the research is dialogic. There are pictorial chapters beside written ones. The photographs are the results of my artistic work in the years 2000–2017, concerning prehistoric remains in the landscape and the temporality of a photograph. In my photographic work, my aim has been to examine subjects using different approaches. This is also visible in the appearances of the images. My photographic work has been concurrent with the theoretical research, and the two ways of working have affected each other. The way of thinking is different, but the subject is shared.

A photograph can be seen as a trace of reality or as a pictorial interpretation of reality. These two approaches appear both in the written text and in the pictorial chapters. When a photograph is thought of as a trace of reality, its temporality is based on the temporality of the subject, such as the temporal layers of a landscape and their representation in a photograph. To be able to recognise the temporality in the photograph, one must understand the temporality of the subject. However, the photograph as a trace also ties the photograph to time in another way. The photographed moment is a point in time, in the receding past. The gone moment of the photograph becomes visible, for example, if the photograph is compared to another photograph (of the same subject) or to the subject itself.

When I look at a photograph as a pictorial interpretation of reality, the temporal meanings also depend on the choices the photographer makes. As a photographer, I can decide how time leaves its mark on the surface of the photograph. The temporality can be emphasised by special techniques. A long exposure, for example, has an effect on the visuality of the photograph, and it can lead the viewer to temporal interpretations.

The photograph is, however, ambiguous. It can be studied from different viewpoints and using different approaches. The interpretation does not always stay within the frame that the photographer has suggested. The meanings depend on the way the viewer confronts the photograph. They are affected by the appearance of the photograph and the personality of the viewer, but also by the context of the photograph: where it is shown and what other pictures or texts are present. The context can be used to suggest temporal interpretations.

The photograph also has a temporality of its own. It is an object that ages like any object does, but even more essentially, temporality is felt in the distance between the moment when the photograph was taken and the moment when it is viewed. A photograph is always seen afterwards. It is inevitably bound to the past, and the awareness of this affects the way the photograph is viewed. A photograph is a remnant of a momentary incident.

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WELCOME!

Niklas Kullström

CfP: Helsinki Photomedia Conference 2018

Call for Papers

Helsinki Photomedia 2018

March 26 -28, 2018
Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

helsinkiphotomedia.aalto.fi

Deadline for 500 word abstracts: October 31, 2017

Theme: Reconsidering the “Post-truth Condition”: Epistemologies of the photographic image.

Contemporary photography takes place in a world where the relation between facts and values is a social and political issue which has repercussions in art and education as well. The public discussions on information warfare, fake news and manipulated media contents have shaken the epistemology of news media and generally revitalized the questions of trustfulness of media representations. Problematic statements about the ‘post-truth condition’ symptomatically reflect this situation and pose new challenges to our understanding of the epistemology of the photographic image.

It is vital to reconsider the ‘post-truth condition’ as a discursive and imaginary formation. This implies that its claims cannot be taken at face value. At the same time, however, as a socially seducing phenomenon, it arranges new settings for old questions of photographic knowledge, authenticity, veracity and truthfulness. It postulates a political and social terrain where photographic images circulate and participate in the formation of socially efficient visual knowledge.

Hence, the controversial notion of post-truth actualizes questions of the quality of photographic information, knowledge and data. Rich in detail, photographs are able to communicate in a constative, laconic manner. Photographs are “dense data” and their mute appearances are malleable material for various information structures.

Helsinki Photomedia 2018 invites critical examinations, artistic reflections and presentations of educational projects of photography after the ‘post-truth condition’, especially work which addresses the variety of ends that photographic truth, authenticity, indexicality, manipulation and suspicion have to stand for. Photomedia 2018 will take up the multifaceted question concerning the photographic epistemology by focusing on topics including (but not limited to):

  • Evidence and testimony
  • Photography and knowledge
  • Technical aspects of photographic data
  • Visual information and counter-information
  • Strategies of authentication
  • Photography and education

 

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Keynote speakers 2018:

Professor Robert Hariman (Northwestern University)

Professor John Lucaites (Indiana University)

Professor Barbie Zelizer (University of Pennsylvania)

Artist Keynote Professor Walid Raad (The Cooper Union, NYC)

Hariman and Lucaites are authors of The Public Image, Photography and Civic Spectatorship (2016) and No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy (2007).

Zelizer’s work on photography includes the books About to Die: How News Images Move the Public (2010) and Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory through the Camera’s Eye (2000).

Artist keynote speaker Walid Raad is a contemporary media artist who’s works include The Atlas Group project about the contemporary history of Lebanon.

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Helsinki Photomedia is a biennial photography research conference organized by four Finnish universities since 2012. The conference offers various platforms where artistic, philosophical, social, cultural, economical and technological approaches to photography meet. We welcome submissions from all areas of photography research. Since 2016 photography education has been one of the areas and we welcome submissions for the educational panel for presenting educational projects and related research. The conference language is English.

Important dates:

31 October 2017 – Deadline for submissions (500 word abstracts) by 23.59 Finnish time (UCT +2:00)

1 December 2017 – Notifications of Acceptance

1 March 2018 – Deadline for Registration

26–28 March 2018 – Conference in Helsinki

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helsinkiphotomedia.aalto.fi