This thesis reveals a reflection on trauma in a personal photographic project and focuses on the relationship between photography and memory, and photography and trauma. It aims to answer the...Show moreThis thesis reveals a reflection on trauma in a personal photographic project and focuses on the relationship between photography and memory, and photography and trauma. It aims to answer the question how a visual project created in the format of a reconstructed family photo album can provide insights into issues addressed in theoretical debates on those relationships.Show less
De Parijse fotograaf JR start in 2011 met het fotoproject Inside Out. In deze scriptie heb ik het spanningsveld dat in Inside Out tussen persoonlijke en sociale identiteit ontstaat onderzocht.De...Show moreDe Parijse fotograaf JR start in 2011 met het fotoproject Inside Out. In deze scriptie heb ik het spanningsveld dat in Inside Out tussen persoonlijke en sociale identiteit ontstaat onderzocht.De context waarbinnen Inside Out zich afspeelt en dan met name het feit dat het project zich in de publieke ruimte afspeelt, speelt hierin een belangrijke rol.Show less
This thesis studies a series concerning the portrayal of Indonesian cuisine: the photo series ‘Indonesian Culinary Photography’ by The Goethe-Institut in Jakarta. It looks at food identity, the...Show moreThis thesis studies a series concerning the portrayal of Indonesian cuisine: the photo series ‘Indonesian Culinary Photography’ by The Goethe-Institut in Jakarta. It looks at food identity, the visualization of taste and smell by word and image, and food identity's place within Indonesia's national narrative.Show less
This thesis analyses French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s body of work, particularly the films Laurence Anyways (2012), Tom at the Farm (2013), and Mommy (2014). Starting from the notion that...Show moreThis thesis analyses French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s body of work, particularly the films Laurence Anyways (2012), Tom at the Farm (2013), and Mommy (2014). Starting from the notion that Dolan explicitly argues against the queer labelling of his films, the piece explores the content and form of his filmography with a range of theories from film, gender and queer studies, and an emphasis on feminist authors. Gender performance and alternative femininities in Laurence Anyways are discussed through camp. The reading of Tom at the Farm draws parallels with the perspectives on masculinities and bisexual desire found in bromance and buddy films. The analysis of Mommy investigates how queerness embodies both the film’s form and text, possibly placing it in a new New Queer Cinema movement.Show less
The images of photographic sequence, which show two or sometimes three Soviet soldiers raising the red Soviet banner on the burn-out Reichstag, Germany’s landmark building in Berlin, captured in...Show moreThe images of photographic sequence, which show two or sometimes three Soviet soldiers raising the red Soviet banner on the burn-out Reichstag, Germany’s landmark building in Berlin, captured in early May 1945 by the Red Army photographer Yevgeny Anan'evich Khaldei, have become one of the most emblematic pictures of the ending World War Two and the final defeat of the Third Reich. As Schlüsselbild (key picture), a photographic image with national, cultural and political symbolic characteristic, these photographs play as Bilderakte (image acts) play a crucial and active part in the designing and representing history for future interpretation, based remembering of the World War Two and the collapse of the Third Reich and the national reconstruction of post-1945 identity and narrative. This thesis analyzes the compositional appeal of this particular photographic sequence, consisting of several icon key pictures, which have been reproduced in schoolbooks, films, exhibitions and historiography, among other publication platforms. In an examination of documentation of this particular event and its rhetoric importance and the functioning of photography in visualizing and co-design/co-influence the discourse of future representation of the event, the national narrative and myth creation, this thesis addresses beside the compositional appeal and classification of the photographs as Schlüsselbild or Schlagbild (pictorial slogan) on the traditional function of such victory images, it explores the function of such photographs in context of war and to allocate ‘pre-images’ of visualizing epochal changeovers or beginning of new political time periods. The specificity and functionality of ‘documenting’ visually historical changeovers from the perspective of politics, shows secondly in a case study of two reproductions of the Reichstag icon in the context of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the formative power of photography in the political argumentation process of the ‘liberation’ myth the function of image between the ‘documentary’ evidence and the ‘symbolic’ political message that is argued by the elites of the GDR. The analysis examines one of the possible interpretation of the photographs in the post-1945 political context and the construction of the mythological national narrative and collective memory. Taking the example of the official GDR’s official functionalization and interpretation of the iconic Reichstag sequence, this thesis is an attempt to demonstrate one example of the long pictorial tradition of visually capturing history in order to actively shape and co-determine the reception of the past event influence the future national identity construction and political argumentation communicated and generated by historical key images.Show less
This thesis investigates through terminological and historical research violence metaphors used in photography language, such as 'the camera as the gun' and 'the photographer as the hunter.'
This thesis analyses the role of measurement in in surveillance. Aiming to answer the question of Which is the role of measurement in surveillance photography? First considering how measurement has...Show moreThis thesis analyses the role of measurement in in surveillance. Aiming to answer the question of Which is the role of measurement in surveillance photography? First considering how measurement has been instrumentalised to control the population by establishing standard dimensions, that serve to categorise and to catalogue individuals, and formulating the categories of deviant and normal. In the first chapter, I draw from John Tagg's analysis of documentary photography, who defends that evidence photography is necessarily attached to a power discourse. I defend that the specificities of photography as a static media do not only allow for the measurement of individuals and spaces but, photography has historically played an important role in creating these distinctions. In the second chapter, it takes into account the role of measurement in space, more specifically regards to the notion of ´Visual Nominalism´ coined by media theorist, Lev Manovich, who elaborates on how technologies of linear perspective, such as photography, have allowed placing an individual in an exact point in space. Parallel to this, in the light of these theories , I analyse how contemporary photographers, on the subject of surveillance, adopt the visual language of measurement in photography to deal with notions of control in contemporary society, exposing, this time, in a visual way, how the language of dominance is far from inherent but has been carefully constructed. Both in relation to space and to individuals the specific qualities of photography allow for control through measurement.Show less
Many scholars have developed theories in the field of affect studies regarding the moving and the still image. Laura Marks is one of the scholars who has defined haptic visuality as an embodied way...Show moreMany scholars have developed theories in the field of affect studies regarding the moving and the still image. Laura Marks is one of the scholars who has defined haptic visuality as an embodied way of looking at the moving image. Her definition evolves around the equal relationship between the viewer and the image that is based on equality. The embodied viewer that uses her senses in making meaning of the photograph are a result of the visual characteristics of the image. In this thesis I have compared the moving and the still image with the result of finding out how some medium specific qualities create a similar haptic image. Moreover, I have included the materiality of the photograph and its spatial conditions as influential factors in stimulating the haptic experience of the photograph. The haptic experience of some images has been defined in accordance with Marks, but also regarding the affective response as a result of the personal relationship between the viewer and the family photograph. This thesis aims to examine how some qualities of photography create a haptic image, by incorporating the visual characteristics, materiality and spatial conditions of the selected art works.Show less
The topic of this thesis is Richard Mosse’s colour infrared photography. He documents the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo, but in a way that confuses the spectator: his pictures are beautiful and...Show moreThe topic of this thesis is Richard Mosse’s colour infrared photography. He documents the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo, but in a way that confuses the spectator: his pictures are beautiful and pink. The main question is what the images in the projects Infra and The Enclave can address and what they can mean, and in more concrete terms how they relate to notions of truth and reality as used in photography at large and documentary, journalistic and art photography in specific, and what role the infrared film emulsion has in this relation. The first chapter explains that Mosse’s images turn pink because of using colour infrared, a film once designed for the US Air Forces to make the invisible enemy visible. Mosse uses it as a metaphor for making the invisible visible; the conflict in Congo is neglected, hard to grasp and invisible. Colour infrared also has a history of anti-military sentiments, because it was later appropriated by hippie musicians for album artwork. Mosse counters the seriousness and literalness of regular journalistic and documentary photography by using cross processed infrared film, which connotes kitsch and experiment. Mosse’s photography is a turn away from photojournalism as decisive moment and a dissociation from superficial videojournalism, technically by returning to an analogue, slow medium and conceptually by focusing on the aftermath rather than the event. The second chapter shows how Mosse’s images relate to the realism and truth claims of documentary and journalism, on the basis of indexicality and iconicity. Mosse counters the conventions of realism and supposed indexicality by taking the documentary subject out of its context of ‘truth’, both literally by taking it from the press into the museum, and figuratively by employing a totally different, and overt style. His open, ambiguous images are overtly staged, larded with a seemingly constructed beautiful pinkness, and show a distanced, still world, with neutral looking, hard to typify subjects. Mosse forwards how subtly deceitful the ‘truth claim’ of photography is, and contrasts it by openly showing beautiful pink lies. No image, whether indexical and seemingly objective or not, cannot convey anything ‘truthful’ about the abstract nature of war and the complexity of human experience. He draws attention to the iconic elements openly, which may render his images more ‘truthful’. The pinkness of the photos looks iconic, but is inherently indexical. It appears that it is hard to define ‘truth’ on the basis of indexicality, because it is apparently hard to make a clear distinction between indexical and iconic elements. Chapter 3 discusses truth from a meta-perspective. As an answer to the crisis of representation in war photography Mosse opts for more conceptual modes of representation. He deconstructs the possibility to objectively and immediately represent reality by drawing attention to the constructedness of the photographic surface: he makes us aware of the fallacy of photographic representation. The ambiguous and indeterminate meaning of the photographs leaves room for the viewer’s imagination and complicates the possibility to understand. This way, he does justice to the idea of truth, while actually deconstructing it. Mosse’s images carry a risk of losing touch with reality. Their deconstruction and estrangement may destroy any link to the real world ‘out there’ in Congo. The reversal between surface and horrible subject may be amplified by the extreme beauty of the surface, but it may also cause the viewer trouble to see or imagine past it. The viewer’s sense of surprise and puzzledness when seeing Infra and The Enclave derives exactly from the function of a photograph as an ‘image of reality’. Mosse’s images amaze because they give such a new, beautiful, different image of war.Show less
This thesis examines how the work of Majida Khattari and Lalla Essaydi explores notions of history, culture, identity and power in the broader framework of ‘East’-‘West’ relationships and...Show moreThis thesis examines how the work of Majida Khattari and Lalla Essaydi explores notions of history, culture, identity and power in the broader framework of ‘East’-‘West’ relationships and representations, and in particular of (neo-)Orientalism. It investigates how photography, as a medium of re-presentation and re-production, can be used as a tool for de-construction and re-imagination. Through the analysis of Khattari and Essaydi’s work the thesis explores if and how their appropriation of nineteenth century Orientalist aesthetics ‘speaks back to’, and thereby deconstructs, (neo-)Orientalism.Show less
The monumental and breathtaking grand vistas seen in technologically advanced sublime landscape photography aiming to objectively warn about the fragile state of the earth, raise the question of...Show moreThe monumental and breathtaking grand vistas seen in technologically advanced sublime landscape photography aiming to objectively warn about the fragile state of the earth, raise the question of whether landscape photography could offer a less heroic, yet ethically engaging counter language that facilitates a responsive involvement with our environment. The research introduces the concept of a non-representative “minor landscape photography” as a change-seeking approach to camera technology that regains the ideological erasure of subjective technological vision. In that sense, minor landscape photography rejects the humanist ideology of objective vision that conceptually excludes the observer from the field of vision. Assisted by an elaborate case study with photographers that are critically involved with landscape representation the research investigates three counter perspectives to “unsee” the authoritative, all-seeing eye of disembodied vision. In a performative process of embodied unseeing, the perspectives operate on reduced visibility with photographs that consciously act as mediating surfaces between the observer and the world. Ultimately, in favour of a non-oppositional, multi-perspectival and transformative liaison with contemporary technology and its subject matter, the research emphasises the ethical promise of minor landscape photography to inform a “world that is yet to be.” In times of environmental concern, the ultimate rejection of technology’s repressive magic and its static “view from nowhere” invite camera technology to assist in the formation of a liberating, life-informing and eco-conscious landscape photography that empowers accountable “views from somewhere” to evolve.Show less
Although film festivals have been around for almost a century, film festival studies is a fairly recent phenomenon and the number of festivals that exist today speaks to their importance. It could...Show moreAlthough film festivals have been around for almost a century, film festival studies is a fairly recent phenomenon and the number of festivals that exist today speaks to their importance. It could be said that what is commonly known as the ‘International Film Festival Circuit’ has now become more akin to a ‘Film Festival Galaxy’. Due to a major proliferation of festivals in the last twenty years, many critics and scholars have predicted a collapse of the whole system, and despite a seeming surplus, festivals have continued to develop and, most importantly, specialize. As the new festival "galaxy" shows no indication of slowing in growth, this thesis looks at the role of specialized film festivals in the Netherlands and how the different programming and marketing strategies remains sustainable despite fears of over-saturation.Show less
The artist-as-archivist is not a new concept. Artists have been dealing with the archive for some time, mostly employing personal or found material. There is a small group of artists that works...Show moreThe artist-as-archivist is not a new concept. Artists have been dealing with the archive for some time, mostly employing personal or found material. There is a small group of artists that works with fictional archives, meaning that the archives they produce are made from scratch. These archives do not necessarily represent actual events but rather point towards issues surrounding the archives that seem problematic. This thesis will look at three of these fictional archives and bring them in connection with postmodern archival theory. This theory advocates a more open and active archive, and in this context it seems possible to discuss fictional archives and their implications. Aspects such as identity, minorities, production of knowledge, Institutional Critique, trauma and the writing of history will be considered. As the three main case studies will serve The Fae Richards Photo Archive (1996) by Zoe Leonard, Fauna Secreta (1985) by Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera and The Atlas Group (1989-2004), initiated by Walid Raad.Show less
This thesis provides a study of the subversive cinematographic practices in Spain during the period of political repression under Francoism (1939-1975). In foregrounding the non-conformist cinema...Show moreThis thesis provides a study of the subversive cinematographic practices in Spain during the period of political repression under Francoism (1939-1975). In foregrounding the non-conformist cinema of the time, it is my hope that this thesis contributes to the reconstruction of an immediate past in order to fight against the loss of memory, instigated by the dominant accounts of the history of that period, including that of the Spanish cinema. This thesis aims, then, to bring to light the repression that was encouraged by the state within the purview of film in order to hinder freedom of speech, and to revive a period of Spanish film history in which some films must be seen, I argue, as an instrument for social criticism. Against this background of repression I have, firstly, drawn attention on the institutional mechanisms and administrative procedures of censorship and propaganda – through which the state exercised control over the film making practices –, and the propaganda films made by directors who followed the principles of the regime, particularly focusing on the case of José Luis Sáenz de Heredia. Secondly, I have focused on two different lines of dissidence, i.e. internal and external, through the works of Falangist director José Antonio Nieves Conde, and the collaborative works of Luis García Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem, respectively.Show less
The idea of displacing humans from our position of established viewpoints is provocative but necessary in order to better face our impending extinction. If we do not expand our visualities we will...Show moreThe idea of displacing humans from our position of established viewpoints is provocative but necessary in order to better face our impending extinction. If we do not expand our visualities we will not get this chance again. My research explores how nonhuman vision encourages us to confront anthropocentrism - to reconceptualise the way we see ourselves in our domination of all worldly inhabitants. I examine how we can develop ethical ways of living and interacting with others by creating a video work that imagines what it is like to see as a dog. Dogs are one of our closest companions and we have taken away their agency in almost every aspect of their lives. By looking with dogs through a makeshift camera apparatus, I have cultivated an empathetic understanding on how they perceive the human-constructed world. Dogs know how to live well, so we should start believing them.Show less
