Aalto University, Töölö Campus, Main Building, Runeberginkatu 14-16, Helsinki

March 26, 2018 – March 28, 2018

Contemporary photography takes place in a world where the relation between facts and values is a social and political issue which has repercussions in art and education as well. The public discussions on information warfare, fake news and manipulated media contents have shaken the epistemology of news media and generally revitalized the questions of trustfulness of media representations. Problematic statements about the ‘post-truth condition’ symptomatically reflect this situation and pose new challenges to our understanding of the epistemology of the photographic image.

It is vital to reconsider the ‘post-truth condition’ as a discursive and imaginary formation. This implies that its claims cannot be taken at face value. At the same time, however, as a socially seducing phenomenon, it arranges new settings for old questions of photographic knowledge, authenticity, veracity and truthfulness. It postulates a political and social terrain where photographic images circulate and participate in the formation of socially efficient visual knowledge.

Hence, the controversial notion of post-truth actualizes questions of the quality of photographic information, knowledge and data. Rich in detail, photographs are able to communicate in a constative, laconic manner. Photographs are “dense data” and their mute appearances are malleable material for various information structures.

Keynote speakers

Professor Robert Hariman
(Northwestern University)

Professor John Lucaites
(Indiana University)

Professor Barbie Zelizer
(University of Pennsylvania)

Artist Keynote Professor Walid Raad (The Cooper Union, NYC)

Helsinki Photomedia 2018 is organised by Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in cooperation with three other Finnish Universities: University of Tampere, School of Communication, Media and Theatre (CMT); University of the Arts Helsinki; Academy of Fine Arts; and University of Jyväskylä.

All the presentation abstracts available here