A world divided by the Iron Curtain; a world divided by distances of thousands of miles; a world divided by space and time; a world lacking virtual communication tools. When was the last time there was such a world? Take a picture of it and exhibit it in a museum!
Interconnected in a single global whole, the contemporary world enables us to travel between continents within hours, meet our colleagues and friends via social media and find our favorite drink or candy on the shelves of supermarkets during our exotic holidays.
We think globally but act locally; and, as proved by Ulrich Beck as well as by apocalyptic Hollywood movies, the risks of the global threat concern all of us!
And yet, within that global, densely interconnected whole, the differences that have been constructed and deepened for centuries still have not ceased to exist. Modern travel and business expansions undertaken from the heart of educated Europe, the following construction of centers of new capital in political colonies, the massive and uneven boom of the modern industrial revolution as well as the rapid technological development of the past decades have cut out the outlines of many a constant visual representation of the Third World and its cultural otherness by means of the opening scissors of economic, social and cultural differences.
How come that the images of western hegemony associated with the power of economic and social capital on one hand and the images of poverty, illiteracy and political or cultural barbarism on the other hand can be found both in the books by the first great travelers and on the pages of contemporary social magazines? What are the narratives that link the images of the Third World and how are these visual representations used in contemporary media, for instance in connection with the “European migrant crisis”?
Come to the 36th Fresh Eye to discuss with the representatives of visual theory, media and makers of images!
ONDŘEJ LÁNSKÝ, sociologist and social philosopher (The Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague)
TEREZA ENGELOVÁ, documentary filmmaker and journalist
JIŘÍ KREJČÍK, media coordinator of Relief and Development Department, People in Need Czech Republic
