Since 2022, Folkwang University of the Arts has been hosting the lecture series Folkwang Photo Talks. They provide a public stage for renowned scholars who are working in the interdisciplinary field of photo research. The lectures offer the opportunity to present and discuss new research projects. Anyone interested, whether from within or outside Folkwang University, is welcome to attend without registration. About four weeks in advance, you will find the exact dates and the lectureʼs topic on our website.
2026
Carolin Görgen, Sorbonne Université Paris
Black Gold: Photography, Extraction, and the Promise of the Petroleumscape
January 27, 2026
2025
Andrew Fisher, Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen
One Thing After Another: the Broken Promises of Photographic Sequence
20. November 2025
Nicoletta Leonardi, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milano
Shadow Archives: Artistic Pedagogies and the Politics of the Copy in the Nineteenth Century
6. November 2025
Elizabeth Otto, University at Buffalo
Gray Zones in Black and White: Bauhaus Photography, Realism, and the Limits of Resistance in Nazi Germany
July 15, 2025
Tomáš Dvořák, FAMU Prag
Synthetic Media: A New Anthropological Revolution?
May 15, 2025
Michelle Henning, University of Liverpool
The Significance of Photographic Technologies: Infra-Red and Far-Right Imperialism
April 24, 2025
2024
Sabine Kriebel, University College Cork
Aenne Biermannʼs Sachlichkeit
July 10, 2024
Susan Laxton, University of California, Riverside
Photomontage 1931: The Proving Ground of Surrealist Communism
June 13, 2024
Siobhan Angus, Carleton University Ottawa
Tarnished Visions: The Platinum Print Between Pictorialism and Atmospheric Pollution
April 26, 2024
2023
Yi Gu, University of Toronto
Infrastructure of Persuasion: Chinese Photography and the Cold War
November 16, 2023
Olivier Lugon, Université de Lausanne
From »Books of Light« to the »Total Image«: The Rise of »Immersive Exhibitions« in the 1960s and 70s
July 12, 2023
Romuald Valentin Nkouda Sopgui, Université de Maroua, Kamerun
Kolonialfotografie und »kritisches Blickregime« am Beispiel von deutschen Kolonialfotografien zu Kamerun (1884–1918)
June 23, 2023
Suryanandini Narain, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
A Feminine Archive: Making, Viewing and Inhabiting Women’s Photobooks in South Asia
April 27, 2023
Luke Gartlan, University of St Andrews
The Duration of Imperial Portrait Photography
February 1st, 2023
2022
Jens Schröter, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Versuch über die UFO-Fotografie
December 8, 2022
Verena Kick, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Stop Writing! Curate! Digital Curation and Photobook Research
November 17, 2022
Olga Moskatova, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Smart Images. Bildplattformen als Medien der Klassifikation
June 30, 2022
Kathrin Yacavone, Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen
Für eine Sammlungsgeschichte der Fotografie
May 19, 2022
Sara Dominici, University of Westminster, London
The Recipe, the Equipment, and the Site of Making: on Learning to see like an Amateur Photographer in the Darkroom
April 21, 2022