Photography on a Sofa: Victor Burgin
At this year's "Photography on a Sofa" event we are hosting the British artist and influential theoretician Victor Burgin.
His lecture What is a camera? Where is photography? will be followed by a presentation of the new issue of Fotografija magazine (Camera and Apparatus: Selected Essays of Victor Burgin) and a talk with Victor Burgin and Ilija T. Tomanić, author of the foreword to the Slovenian translation. The talk will be moderated by Jan Babnik, Editor in Chief of the Fotografija magazine. The event will conclude with a total sale of the previous issues of Fotografija.
Questions addressed in numerous essays by Burgin will be addressed during the talk. These will range from questions on the differences between documentary and art photography and their roles in our society, on what constitutes critical contemporary art practices; to questions on what nowadays “understanding photography” actually means. Which are the concepts and approaches used in an attempt to decipher photography (psychoanalytical semiotics, visual rhetoric, the subconscious, scopophilia, apparatus, fetishism, gazing) and what is its role in contemporary times. Burgin’s works constantly intertwine concepts of art, society, politics, photography and the subconscious – all of which that can also be summarised by his lecture’s title – What is a camera? Where is photography?
The lecture and talk will be held in English. The event is a collaborative effort with the Membrana foundation (Fotografija magazine).
Victor Burgin's latest book is available at https://afterlife.victorburgin.eu/.