GRK 1843:  The Photographic Dispositif

• Subject Area: Art History, Music, Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 207700493

The Research Training Group approaches not only the photographic image, but the photographic process as a complex act that is based on specific medial, technological, social, cultural and aesthetic conditions, including the potential to disturb and modify these very conditions. The formation, handling, perception, and exhibition of photography alongside its discourses unveil a complex yet specific power of the image and the gaze that can be effective as a means of discipline and as creative potential. This "photographic dispositif" will be focussed by the planned PhD programme. It will be scrutinised theoretically, used in approaches to photographic practices of the past and present, and developed into an innovative method for photographic research. Interdisciplinary exchange between art and media studies, philosophy and visual culture, fine arts and design offers the perfect context for the proposed broadening of perspectives, which covers the analysis of specific photographic objects, research on the photographic act and its conditions and multifaceted practices of creating, displaying and reflecting photography. The study programme proposes four different major subjects. Each one focusses on different aspects of the "photographic dispositif" and includes theoretical and practical exploration. The first central subject is entitled "Writing the Photographic Dispositif". Its goal is to define and specify the term "dispositif" as applied to photography. The second subject discusses "The Photographic Dispositif as a System of Knowledge". Visits to photography museums and photographic archives in Germany, Europe and internationally will help to analyse specific archival systems and are complemented by studying archive theories and the applications of archival approaches in photographic art. The third subject explores "The Photographic Dispositif as a Mode of Presentation". It examines how displays construe photography as a medium and lend it different meanings. The fourth subject, "Crossing the Boundaries of the Photographic Dispositif", monitors the migration of the specific characteristics of photography in other media.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Katharina Sykora
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Hubertus von Amelunxen; Professorin Dr. Ilka Becker; Professorin Dr. Ulrike Bergermann; Professorin Dr. Victoria von Flemming; Dr. Sabine Kampmann; Professorin Dr. Heike Klippel; Dr. Bettina Lockemann; Professor Dr. Rolf F. Nohr; Professorin Dr. Annette Tietenberg