Symposium: Photography as Art: Why Jeff Wall matters today

07/25/2018 to 07/26/2018

Jeff Wall sparked intense discussion about photography as art within artistic circles right from his first exhibition in 1978. By the 1990s, he had legitimized recognition of photography as art to the point that the question today is how his art conversely has influenced photography. Wall and his oeuvre are the starting point of the book Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before (2008) by art historian Michael Fried, who focuses on Wall’s large format tableaus drawing on the art historical principal of history painting, as well as on Wall’s mise-en-scène in his fine art photography. Wall himself has led development of how his work is perceived through his critical pieces on fellow contemporary artists, his interviews, and artist statements. The symposium focuses on these reciprocal discussions, linking them to current art historical research into the latest fine art photography.

Registration fees

Registration fees 
Regular: €30
Students: €20

Program

Mittwoch/ Wednesday, 25. July 2018

13.30 Uhr | Anmeldung und Kaffee/ registration and coffee

14.00 Uhr | Begrüßung/ welcome
Dr. Ulrike Lorenz, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Direktorin/ director

14.30 Uhr | Führung durch die Ausstellung “Jeff Wall. Appearance”/ guided tour through the exhibition

15.30 Uhr | Sektion 1 (30 min. Vortrag/ presentation + 20 min. Diskussion/ discussion)
Katinka Fischer M.A., Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz| "Transformierte Tradition. Unter Verweis auf die figurative Malerei vergangener Jahrhunderte eröffnen Jeff Walls Fotomotive einen neuen Blick auf die Gegenwart"
Prof. Dr. Matthias Weiß, Freie Universität Berlin | “A Wall is a Wall is a Wall – oder: Re-Inszenierte Fotografien als Nach-, Vor- und Zwischenbild”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Temenuga Trifonova, Cinema and Media Studies at York University in Toronto |“Cinematic Photography”

18.00 Uhr | Pause/break

18.30 Uhr | Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion/ keynote with a discussion afterwards
Prof. Dr. Steffen Siegel, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen | “Jeff Wall und das Politische”
Moderation: Dr. Sebastian Baden

20.00 Uhr | Abendessen/ dinner, LUXX Restaurant

Donnerstag/ Thursday, 26. July 2018

9.00 Uhr | Begrüßung/ welcome

9.10 Uhr | Sektion 2 (30 min. Vortrag/ presentation + 20 min. Diskussion/ discussion)
Ass. Prof. Dr. Leah Modigliani, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Visual Studies, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia USA | “Jeff Wall's Picture for Women (1979) and The Destroyed Room (1978): Colonizing the Space of Gendered Discourse”
Dr. Birgit Szepanski, Berlin | "Kunst- und medienkritisches Denken im Medium Fotografie – über Jeff Walls Relevanz in der Bildenden Kunst und der künstlerischen Stadtforschung"

10.50 Uhr | Pause/ break

11.00 Uhr | Sektion 3:
Flóra Barkóczi M.A., acb ResearchLab, Budapest | “An East-Central European Perspective Photography as Conceptual Art in Hungary compared to Jeff Wall's vision”
Dr. Daniel Berndt, Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach | “Konvergenzen in den intermedialen Konzepten von Ian Wallace und Jeff Wall”

12.40 Uhr | Abschlusspräsentation/ panel and final discussion

13.00 Uhr | Mittagessen/ lunch

Moderation:
Dr. Sebastian Baden (Kurator zeitgenössische Kunst und Skulptur/ curator contemporary art and sculpture, Kunsthalle Mannheim)
Dörte Dennemann (Programmkuratorin/ program curator, Kunsthalle Mannheim)
Dr. Dominik Schrey (Institut für Germanistik: Literatur, Sprache, Medien, KIT – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
Markus Weckesser (Photojournalist, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V./ DGPh)

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