Practical-theoretical workshop with artist and researcher Wiebke Leister (Folkwang University of the Arts, Royal College of Art).
You must be able to communicate in English to take part in this workshop.
Museu Nacional do Teatro e da Dança
25 November 2023
Activity Description
Thinking about Vilem Flusser’s account of the gestures we exhibit when photographing someone, we will be restaging these photographic gestures on the stage of the Museum of Theatre and Dance. We will be describing how different photographers approach their models, trying to understand what kinds of portraiture result from their different acts of photographic performance. We will then project these images of photographers-in-action, photographing a shadow play that emerges when we interact with their photographic gestures.
Please bring: Examples of photographs that show photographers ‘in action’.
Please read: I. Calvino (1993): “The Adventure of a Photographer’ – in: Difficult Loves; Smog; A Plunge into Real Estate, Sydney: Vintage.
References:
V. Flusser (2011): ‘The Gesture of Photographing’ – in: Gestures, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 72–85.
J. Anderson& W. Leister (2018): ‘Pro-Photographic Gestures’, Journal of Photography & Culture, 11: 2, pp.237-243.z
Additional program
Wiebke Leister’s visit to Lisbon will make it possible to carry out a program to raise awareness of the crossover between Photography and Performance, based on her work and her creative experience. This action is the result of a co-operation between 4 institutions – CET-FLUL / IADE-European University / MNTD / STET – and takes place over 3 different days and locations with different specificities. In addition to the workshop, the following parallel actions will take place:
24Nov – IADE – Masterclass – Photographic Manifestations of Japanese Noh Theatre, and Beyond + Photographic Sequencing with students of Fotografia e Cultura Visual (IADE-UE)
26Nov – STET-Livraria – presentation of the author’s book: Wiebke Leister – Echoes & Callings: A Hannya Manifesto – Feira do Livro de Fotografia + conversa, no Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa – Fotográfico.
Partnership
IADE-Universidade Europeia, Museu Nacional do Teatro e da Dança, STET – Livraria
Biography
Wiebke Leister
I am a German artist and researcher living in London. I studied photography, typography and media theory at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, and gained a PhD from the Royal College of Art in London. My work challenges the limitations of mimetic representation and individual likeness, often focusing on the human image as a canvas, a medium or an agent. Committed to interdisciplinary approaches and working in collaboration, my work seeks transformative and performative conditions of portraiture in which the image becomes a catalyst for an interplay between viewer and imaginary referent. As an artist I work with photography, projection, performance, publication, drawing and collage; my writing is in English and German and my written practice spans from academic papers to text-based installations for the gallery. I also work with public institutions, organising international events, conferences and exhibitions. Ongoing research groups include the Theatre of Photography research network and the Writing Photographs teaching research project. Before teaching at the Royal College of Art, I was Course Leader for MA Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Building on methods of artistic research and experimental pedagogics, I established the MA Photography internationally with a focus on conceptual lens-based installation practices. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and recipient of a collaborative UAL Teaching Scholars Award. During this time at UAL, I was a core member of the Photography and the Archive Research Centre, co-organiser of the Photography and the Contemporary Imaginary Research Hub and the convener of the UAL Interdisciplinary Practice Research Forum. My research was included in the 2008 RAE and 2014 & 2021 REF submissions, and I continue to supervise PhD students across different UAL colleges. I also taught conceptual photography, integration of theory & practice, artistic research and intermedial strategies at Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Folkwang Universität der Künste and The Photographers’ Gallery in London. During the academic year 2018-19, I was seconded to Bielefeld as DAAD Professor of Photography to develop research-into-teaching methodologies and internationalisation strategies. Since 2021, I have been on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Arts Writing by Students.
Coordenação:
Wiebke Leister(Folkwang University of the Arts, Royal College of Art)
Organização:
Filipe Figueiredo (CET-FLUL)
Cosimo Chiarelli (CET- FLUL)
