While society’s “oversaturation” with images has been discussed by many, the numbers of gallery and museum visitors are not soaring; on the contrary, new possibilities of amateur production of visual content and its spreading via social media and other online channels are developing with unstoppable speed. The democratization of visual culture, as the process has been labelled, enters all fields of the visual world ranging from journalism through contemporary art and popular culture to science. On the one hand, this process brings a possibility of self-expression and raises the visibility of persons and groups that are not heard in the social mainstream. On the other hand, however, amateur visual production often lacks quality form and content, or repeats and deepens genre and social stereotypes.
What is the position and role of unprofessional digital images circulating on the surfaces and in the depths of the Internet in contemporary visual culture? What are the mysterious ways of “trash” videos filling social media? And how do these images relate to professional works in the field of visual arts, music and media?
The program is loosely inspired by the essays by contemporary artist and theorist Hito Steyerl “In Defense of the Poor Image”.
Guests:
DAVID KOŘÍNEK, new media theorist and artist (CAS FAMU, Scholastika, Rafani) On the ‚Stunning‘ and the ‚Plain‘
PAVEL TUREK, music journalist (Respekt) Poor Sound
TOMÁŠ KAJÁNEK, visual artist The Need to Share
