Addressing one of the most common concepts that define the nature and function of photography, the fifth edition of the conference After Post-Photography aims to re-think the fundamental notions and offer new perspectives on the subject of photography and its connection with memory.

Memory is a notion commonly brought forward when speaking about photography. The very idea of close connection between memory and photography has long found itself at the basis of the (re)construction of histories and identities.
The photographic image, when regarded as a material evocation of memories, is supposed to not only preserve the past, but to represent a selection of moments worthy of being captured and retained. In this sense, photography has caused fundamental changes to mental structures, such as remembrance and forgetting. Its mechanics, however, is still indecisive: is photography something that evokes memory - or something that enhances oblivion? Furthermore, is a photograph something that really speaks of a moment of the past, or does it rather testify of certain modes of cultural optics? Is there still a possibility to ‘remember’ with, or through photographs? After all, the traditional belief in photography’s truthfulness, its indexical function, the freezing of a decisive moment, or proof of “what has been”, all this stands in strong contrast with the contemporary discussions on fake news, artificially constructed memories, post-reality politics and “augmented” realities.
The conference is chaired by Maria Gourieva, Olga Davydova, Natalia Mazur, Moritz Neumüller, Daria Panaiotti, and Friedrich Tietjen. It is organized in collaboration with the conference "PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART. Current trends in study and the history of national schools", at the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, May 27-29, 2019.

Program:

23 May 2019

16.30 Registration for speakers

17.00 Keynote: Fred Ritchin (ICP, USA): The Post-Photographic Challenge
18.30 Keynote: Helen Petrovsky (Russ. Acad. of Sciences, Russia): Photography: Memory Formulae

24 May 2019

10.15 Registration for speakers
10.45 Welcome

Panel 1: Photograph Politics, or: How to Show (and how to not).
11.00 Carole Naggar France/USA): A Closet, a Suitcase and a Warehouse: David «Chim» Seymour’s Archives
11.30 Susumu Shimonishi (Tokyo University of the Arts): Japanese Photography Magazines. The Case of CAMERA MAINICHI

12.00 Coffee break

12.30 Denis Skopin (St. Petersburg State Univ.): Elimination of the Enemies of the People from Group Photographs in Stalin’s Russia: Political and Psychological Aspects

13.00 Discussion

13.30 Lunch break

Panel 2: Present Photography, or: How to Rethink Pictures
14.30 Irina Chmyreva (Research Centre for Theory and History of Arts, Russian Academy of Fine Arts): Echo of Political Realities in Photography: Studies of Reading National History in Art Photography Projects from 1990-2010s
15.00 Michelle Bogre (Parsons School of Design, USA): The Photograph Unmoored: Truth and Authenticity in the 21st Century
15.30 Alexander Streitberger (Univ. catholique Louvain, Belgium): The Photographic Ruins of the Future

16.00 Discussion

16:30 Coffee break

17.00 Keynote: Andrés Mario Zervigón (Rutgers University, USA): The Camera Lens: Fully Visible and Transparent
18.30 Keynote: Gil Pasternak (Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, UK): Photography in Politics: Remembering and Being Together, With Photographs

25 May 2019

Panel 3: Photographic Projections, or: How to Show What Never Happened
10.30 Oksana Sarkisova (Central European University, Hungary): Imagining Soviet Space: Representations of Travel in Vernacular Photographic Collections
11.00 Maria Gourieva (European University/St. Petersburg State University), Friedrich Tietjen (Germany/Austria): Everybody Lives the Same (in private photographs)

11.30 Discussion

12.00 Coffee break

12.30 Keynote: Galina Orlova (Higher School of Economics, Russia): Anonymous Archive, Digitalization, Recycling

14.00 Lunch break

15.00 Roundtable discussion for educators and researchers: Photography Studies in Russia: Challenges and Perspectives

17.00 Final remarks and outlook

The Conference takes place at the European University, 1 Shpalernaya street, St. Petersburg. Nearest metro station: Chernyshevskaya.
Any changes to this timetable will be announced on the website www.after-post.photography and the telegram channel afterpostphotographytelegram.