TOWARDS THE IMAGE - Photography in Central Europe

23.10.2012 - 24.10.2012 | International Academic Conference / Kraków

International Academic Conference “TOWARDS THE IMAGE - Photography in Central Europe” 23-24 October 2012 Organizers: Faculty of Art of the Pedagogical University in Kraków in the name of the National Education Commission; the Institute of Printmaking and Graphic Design, the Multimedia Department and the “Kwadrat” science & artistic students association
Collaboration: The Walery Rzewuski Museum of the History of Photography in Kraków

Academic Committee of the Conference:
Professor Grażyna Brylewska, Department of Graphic and Visual Design, Faculty of Art of the PU
Professor Halina Cader-Pawłowska, the Multimedia Department, and the Faculty of Art of the PU
Professor Marcin Pawłowski, Department of Artistic Printmaking and Drawing, Faculty of Art of the PU
Rafał Solewski, Ph.D., Department of Art Education and Art Theory, Faculty of Art of the PU Beata Długosz, Ph.D., of the Multimedia Department, Faculty of Art of the PU
Marek Janczyk, M.A., Museum of the History of Photography in Kraków

The conference will be focused around the following subjects:
- the iconic turn in contemporary aesthetics and artistic practice
- photography as a communicative space
- photography in the realm of art
- art of moving image
- photography as a work in process
- contemporary language of photography
- gender and the aesthetics of photography/ image
- the concept of the experiment in contemporary photography
- the avant-garde tradition in Central European countries
- teaching photography at Central European learning institutions

The topic of the conference, contained within the expression "The Image’s Way", can be understood in many ways, literally and metaphorically. It can be understood as a reference to various methods of making photographic images, the language used by contemporary photography, and its relationship with other media. The effort may also be made to assess the photographic image as an aesthetic object, for example in the context of social art. A fundamental element of the conference will be the attempt to present a picture of the situation in which photography found itself after the iconic turn that took place in aesthetics and artistic practice at the turn of the twenty-first century.
All of the above subjects may be viewed in reference to central European art. The aim of the conference is the analysis of many aspects in which the photography of the region may be viewed. Is it a phenomena that is separate on a European scale, or a worldwide scale? Does the modernist tradition have meaning for today's artists in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary? How and to what extent has the concept of the photographic experiment changed since the times of modernism? Are the ideas of the avant garde present in photography education programmes at Central European learning institutions?
The construct of "The Image’s Way” remains a delicate reference to the title of Marcel Proust’s novel “Swann’s Way” as a metaphor of the fluid boundary between the present and the past.

The academic meeting will take place on the 23rd and 24th of October 2012 from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Auditorium of Professor W. Danek at the Pedagogical University at Podchorążych 2 street in Kraków. The two-day meeting will be accompanied by exhibits and multimedia show in the galleries and around the city. After the conference an academic review publication will be put out.

Contact information:
Photography Studio Professor Halina Cader-Pawłowska
Beata Długosz, Ph.D. pracowniafoto.up@gmail.com
tel: +48 12 662 69 59 (Monday 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM Wednesday 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Thursday 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM)