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Susann Köhler (Erlangen-Nürnberg): "Places of Dereliction and Decay:
US-American Ruins in Contemporary Photography"
Abstract
Recent years have witnessed an increasing tendency in contemporary photography to represent ruins of US-America. So far, a wide range of photobooks by European and US-American photographers has been published presenting, for example, images of abandoned buildings and towns, rusting bill boards, broken neon signs and damaged cars in rural and urban areas in the U.S. These contemporary images of post-industrial sites and consumer goods contrast with traditional motifs and concepts of the ruin which have been developed in Europe ever since the Renaissance. Within this European tradition, the image of the ruin served predominantly in a discourse on the philosophy of history as symbol for the passage of time, the mortality of man and civilizations and the failure of morality. With regard to the current US-American debate on sites of dereliction and decay, which evolved around the contemporary photographic images, it seems that these traditional concepts of signification cannot be applied to the American context without further ado.
In my presentation, I will outline the current discourse on contemporary photographic representations of US-American ruins. The contextualization and categorization of the photographic images is part of my dissertation thesis in which I will analyze the cultural meaning of photographic representations of ruins. In reference to memory studies, I will concentrate on the potential of the photographic medium to serve as a specific means of producing cultural memory and address the question of what is remembered and for whom in these images.
In my presentation, I will outline the current discourse on contemporary photographic representations of US-American ruins. The contextualization and categorization of the photographic images is part of my dissertation thesis in which I will analyze the cultural meaning of photographic representations of ruins. In reference to memory studies, I will concentrate on the potential of the photographic medium to serve as a specific means of producing cultural memory and address the question of what is remembered and for whom in these images.
Bio
Born 1985
2011, Master’s degree in Theater and Media Studies and American Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg; master’s thesis on the photobook as a special medium for the representation of photographs
Since 2012, doctoral student of the Research Training Group “Presence and Tacit Knowledge“ at the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
Dissertation thesis on „Ruins in America – Contemporary Photographic Representations and Sites of Memory” (working title)
2011, Master’s degree in Theater and Media Studies and American Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg; master’s thesis on the photobook as a special medium for the representation of photographs
Since 2012, doctoral student of the Research Training Group “Presence and Tacit Knowledge“ at the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
Dissertation thesis on „Ruins in America – Contemporary Photographic Representations and Sites of Memory” (working title)