Powers, challenges and potentialities of images: theoretical and practical approaches in art history and visual culture
17 – 18 January 2024
Maison de la Recherche (salle E411) – Université Toulouse II– Jean Jaurès
Images can be evidential documents of a fact, fragments of a particular moment, forms of propaganda, interpretations or points of view. They not only show what they represent, but also reflect a way of seeing (Berger, 2000). In this sense, images are documentary evidence and human acts, visual frameworks and traces of our experience in and of the world (Sontang, 1973; Didi-Huberman, 2004).
An image is never something isolated but is always linked to a context, whether original, historical or contemporary, which decontextualises it or gives it added value. Analysing the image solely as a document limits its potential, but linking it to other images, with similar motifs but no correspondence with their original content, can presuppose problems of interpellation and interpretation. We therefore need to ask ourselves how and from where we should approach an image, and whether and how our gaze should change in order to understand it (Didi-Huberman, Traverso, 2023).
This doctoral seminar aims to discuss theoretical and practical approaches to the image, in order to shed light on its various uses and functions. The notion of use allows us to question the image both in its contexts of appearance and production and in the context of doctoral research. The function of images can also be approached methodologically and theoretically. How can research shed light on the functions of images? Since images are not neutral, should we be wary of them? If images are our sources, how do we use them? What methodologies should we adopt to question these sources? And at the same time, how can we work in the absence of images?
Understanding the image as a tool, we want to question its powers, challenges and potentialities from the perspective of art history and visual culture. Through theoretical and practical sessions, this doctoral seminar aims to examine and discuss the methodological and theoretical approaches and approaches of current doctoral research.
Program Poster14.00-14.30 Welcome and introductio Paula Barreiro López (Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès) and Sonia Kerfa (Université Grenoble Alpes)
14.30-15.30 Panel 1 – Des usages humanitaires aux (ré)appropriations militantes : les images sur le terrain / De los usos humanitarios a las (re)apropiaciones militantes: imágenes sobre el terreno
Cristina García Martínez (Université de Grenoble Alpes/Université Rovira i Virgili), La triangulación metodológica como aproximación para la comprensión de la representación (neo)colonial en la fotografía humanitaria [La triangulation méthodologique comme approche pour la compréhension de la représentation (néo-)coloniale dans la photographie humanitaire]
Anaïs Clara (Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès),Documenter la justice sociale, transformer le geste : Voir et faire voir les luttes chez Issam Kourbaj [Documentar la justicia social, transformar el gesto: el trabajo de Issam Kourbaj para ver y mostrar las luchas]
15.30-15.45 Break
15.45-17.45 Workshop Más allá de la imagen del doliente: la huella, el testigo y la documentación de la tragedia [Au-delà les images de la douleur : la trace, le témoignage et la documentation de la tragédie] by Lina Cabrera
Readings:
-Steyerl, Hito, Los condenados de la pantalla, Buenos Aires, Caja Negra Editora, 2014, pp. 143-166.
-Steyerl, Hito, “¿Pueden hablar los testigos?”, Transversal texts, 2008.
-Belit Sâg, Ayhan and me (Ayhan ve ben) [Video]
10.00 – 11.00 Panel 2 – Les fonctions et la portée transnationale des images / Las funciones y el alcance trasnacional de las imágenes
Noa Buffavand (Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès), Les gravures des « Marches pour la Paix » du Taller de Gráfica Popular de Mexico (1947-1960) : productions, usages et motifs d’une image propagandiste [Los grabados “Marchas por la Paz” del Taller de Gráfica Popular de México (1947-1960): producción, usos y motivos de una imagen propagandística]
Emmanuelle Lafrance (Université de Montréal / Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès), La fonction de l’image dans la production artistique “latino-française” au 21e siècle siècle [La función de la imagen en la producción artística “latino-francesa” del siglo XXI]
11.00 – 11.15 Break
11.15 – 12.15 Reading Workshop – Imágenes e Historia Cultural
Reading: Didi-Huberman, Georges; Traverso, Enzo, “Imágenes E Historia Cultural: Un Debate”, Acta Poética, vol. 44, n.º 1, enero de 2023.
12.15 – 14.00 Break
14.00 – 15.30 Panel 3 – Entre abondance et absence, enjeux des images comme sources / Entre la abundancia y la ausencia, cuestionando las imágenes como fuentes
Marie Blanc (Université Grenoble Alpes), Des images du tourisme entre propagande, vitrine et miroir tendu (Tchécoslovaquie, 1953 – 1968) [Imágenes del turismo: propaganda, escaparate y espejo (Checoslovaquia, 1953 – 1968)]
Anita Orzes (Universidad de Barcelona/Université Grenoble Alpes), Exposiciones sin imágenes : ¿dónde y qué mirar ? [Expositions sans images : où et que regarder ?]
Eve Le Fessant Coussonneau (Université de Grenoble Alpes), Imágenes alternativas y colectivas : desafíos de representación en el estudio de colectivos audiovisuales chilenos entre 2000 y 2019 [Des images alternatives et collectives : enjeux de représentation dans l’étude des collectifs audiovisuels chiliens entre 2000 et 2019]
15.30 – 16.00 Conclusions
*The seminar languages are French and Spanish. The seminar will be streamed by zoom. To register, please write to: info@modernidadesdescentralizadas.com
This doctoral seminar is organised within the framework of the international research platform Decentralized Modernities and the scientific activities of the Laboratoire FRAMESPA of the Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès.
Organising committee: Paula Barreiro López (Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès), Marie Blanc (Université Grenoble Alpes) , Noa Buffavand (Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès), Sonia Kerfa (Université Grenoble Alpes), Anita Orzes (Universidad de Barcelona / Université Grenoble Alpes).
Image: Gilles Caron, Manifestations anticatholiques, Londonderry , Irlande du Nord, 1969.
