Photo Albums’ Twisted Meanings: Between nostalgia and trauma workshop

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15210%2F21%3A73610405" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15210/21:73610405 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://obd.upol.cz/id_publ/333190292" target="_blank" >https://obd.upol.cz/id_publ/333190292</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Photo Albums’ Twisted Meanings: Between nostalgia and trauma workshop

Original language description

International and interdisciplinary workshop focused on the issue of photo album as a specific form of realization of the medium of photography, which brings together not only visual but also linguistic communication strategies. The workshop is organized by CVF – Photography Research Centre at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences as part of the research programme Resilient Society for 21st Century, the Strategy AV21 programme. Photo albums as a subject of historical and theoretical discourse are usually considered an instrument of nostalgic reminiscing or, on the contrary, as a vehicle for the traumatic memories of the creators or their descendants, who were directly confronted with these memories and “postmemories” (Marianne Hirsch). But what about albums divested of the original memories, lacking the “oral scaffolding” (Martha Langford), which have acquired a new, often completely opposite meaning over time – for example, family albums confiscated by the state authorities and discovered by chance in public archives decades later, or aesthetically and visually appealing albums connected with chapters in local history that are generally traumatic? After several decades of postmemory, what was supposed to be a nostalgic or joyful memory has become a confusing and painful reminder. These albums affect us, even though we are only loosely connected to them – through geographical, cultural or linguistic affiliations rather than familiality. Unlike individual photographs, albums are also more substantial and as such make much more pressing claims on the attention of researchers, curators, archivists and laypeople. One of the main aims of the workshop is to discuss and highlight obscure, forgotten albums reflecting traumatic or forgotten chapters in history, repressed memories or displaced and marginalized groups or individuals. We, therefore, welcome contributions focusing on individual albums as well as sets of albums, their creators, history, roles or presentation methods. Special attention will be paid to theoretical issues and concepts that can be used to approach this kind of material. However, our attention will mainly – though not exclusively – be directed at selected topics and events from the 20th and 21st centuries, which can be considered on three different levels: Czech or Czechoslovak (the initial focus of the research project); Central European; and global. In the context of the Czech Republic, these might include the post-war confiscations and expulsion of the Germans, the total deployment of the population during World War II, the destruction of villages and settlements in connection with the construction of a defensive line in the border regions, emigration and immigration, minority communities in a linguistically and ethnically relatively homogeneous society, etc. At the same time, we view photo albums as a complex tool for representing society or individuals, which overlaps with friendship books, scrapbooks, digital records and so on, combining a pictorial component (e.g. photographs, illustrations, postcards) and a textual component (captions, notes, a running commentary, inserted letters etc.), whose meanings change over time. Research inquiry was based on these questions: How can this kind of “twisted” material be interpreted? How to interpret these albums without the “oral scaffolding”? How to interpret them from the position of a person with an affiliative, indirect or very loose connection to the past? How to approach albums with this kind of “twisted meaning” from the position of the current owner, curator, scholar or artist? How to approach this kind of material without identifying with it in any way? How to deal with it without merely being charmed by it or, on the contrary, completely paralysed by it?

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

W - Workshop organization

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60401 - Arts, Art history

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Event location

Praha

Event country

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Event starting date

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Event ending date

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Total number of attendees

100

Foreign attendee count

80

Type of event by attendee nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce