This course highlights the use of theories and concepts in photography.

In the spirit of theory as practice, a course on the concepts of photography invites students to think through the many implications of photography and the many possible ways to understand photographic practices. The intension is to encourage students in photography to become more informed about the choices they make and the reasons they provide for their photo-making activities. For students who do not specialise in photography, this course enables them to be informed, intelligent users, and be able to benefit from the conceptual thinking in photography to improve other areas of academic/artistic pursuits.

The first part of the course persuades students to acknowledge the importance and relevance of observation, reflection and discussion, and that even when we don’t mention theory, our photographic activities always already rest on implicit, unspoken assumptions presented as ‘common sense’. As Victor Burgin argues, “theory sets out to question the underlying assumptions of common sense in order to replace them.”

You are invited to research on selected 20^th-century and 21^st century thinkers and practitioners who have contributed to our understanding of photography and photographic practices. We will examine concepts of image-making, the use of photography in contemporary everyday culture, theories of interpretation and meaning-making, photography within a broader system of picture-making, as well as the social and technological contexts and issues underpinning photography.

The course will deal with the impact of digitalisation and machine learning on our understanding and practice of photography, and the role of photography in contemporary art and visual culture. Throughout the semester, students will be guided to research independently different concepts of photography, theoretically and practically, present and discuss their findings and complete a final photography project with a research component.