Revolutionary Photographies: Context(s), Iconography, Curation

What role does the photograph play in revolution(s), does it have agency? Is there a revolutionary iconography? These and related questions are investigated in this seminar on the intertwined histories of lens-based art and political as well as social change. The course traces key moments of an intellectual, cultural, and artistic history of the revolutionary image in and beyond Western modernity. Students will examine specific bodies of revolutionary photographic materials alongside the cultural and historical context and related theoretical texts. The class will include visits to archives as well as a practical section focusing on the curation of revolutionary photographs.