16 – 17 November 2012
Laing Art Gallery
Newcastle upon Tyne
Photographers, curators and researchers explore contemporary photographic practices and the post-industrial landscape.
The aesthetic traditions of British landscape and place are complexly remixed in contemporary visual cultures, from the pastoral vision of a green and pleasant land through to the darkly sublime satanic mills of the industrial revolution evoked in Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony. Taking our cue from such contemporary articulations, this symposium will consider how recent photographers negotiate the aesthetics and politics of place. How do photographers respond to the dramatic refocusing of Western economies in the past three decades, from manufacturing and extraction to service industries? In considering different local and global contexts, we will explore photographic landscapes where past histories haunt present experience and future possibilities, and where the (post-) industrial is variously visualised.
Our symposium will look both forwards and backwards, surveying some of the territories of new photographic landscapes that have emerged since the late 1970s, and addressing the challenges facing photographers today. Different archaeologies of practice, place and history will be discussed, with presentations from leading practitioners, curators and academics. Futureland Now: Reflections on the Post-Industrial Landscape, featuring work by John Kippin and Chris Wainwright is at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle until 20 January 2013
Join us for two days of photographic debate, provocation and networking.
Friday 16 November, 6pm – 8pm: David Chandler in conversation with John Kippin and Chris Wainwright
Saturday 17 November, 9.30am – 5pm: Day Symposium
Speakers include: Professor Liz Wells (lecturer and curator); Professor Jem Southam; (photographic artist and lecturer) Dr Eugenie Shinkle (writer and lecturer); Professor Mike Crang (Geographer and Associate Dean of the Centre of Visual Arts and Cultures, Durham University) and Martin Newth (artist and curator).
Symposium organised in partnership with the University of Sunderland, University of the Arts London, University of Plymouth and Laing Art Gallery.
Registration open now. Please click HERE to be taken to the online store to register and pay.
Early-bird rate offer until 31 October! Fees are £20 for full event or £10 unwaged/students. Register on or after 1 November and fees will be £30 full price, £15 unwaged/students.
Download:
Futureland Now Symposium Programme
Speaker Biographies
John Kippin, Hidden (National Park, Northumberland) (1988), from Futureland
