15137 - History and Technique of Photography and Audiovisual Media

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide a basic knowledge of the history of photography and audiovisuals, and related techniques, from the origins to today's digital technologies. At the end of the course the student is able to apply this knowledge to the documentation work of cultural heritage in the historical, archaeological and demo-anthropological fields.

Course contents

The first part of the course will deal with the birth of photography and the first phase of the development of languages and photographic techniques, starting from the question of origins and relations with the pre-photographic techniques of image reproduction and with particular attention to materials and procedures.
Later the main Italian and international photographers and the main movements,  will be faced the role of photography in the history of contemporary culture, treating first briefly the theoretical critical debate on photography, then relations and plots with a series of cultural and scientific spheres, its applications and derivations, its growing development and the changes that have occurred over time in its function and presence in the social and cultural context, especially in Europe and North America.
Finally, developing the hints made in the previous part, a specific attention will be devoted to the audiovisuals, first of all to the birth of cinema, with prevalent attention to the technical aspects, up to the introduction of sound and color, to the social and cultural aspects connected to its first release; some lessons will also be dedicated to the history of radio, television and recent information technologies.
The second part of the course includes an in-depth study and development of the study of problems related to the conservation and cataloging of photographic and audiovisual materials. In this context, some laboratory exercises will be held, aimed at acquiring a practical knowledge of the main operations and procedures for cataloging and digitizing photographic and audiovisual material.

The monographic course will be dedicated to Vernacular Photography, a term used to distinguish images made by non-artists (including amateurs, traveling photographers and studio photographers) from those fine arts, for a wide range of purposes: commercial, scientific, forensic, governmental and personal. This heterogeneity has always been reflected in the extremely varied production that contains a popular and equally varied imaginary, and thanks to these characteristics since the 70s private collectors and museum institutions have begun to collect this heritage of images by widening the theoretical field and study of photography. During the course particular space will be given to an important form of vernacular photography represented by the Family Album which collects private shots of everyday life and the most significant moments of the family. The album will be studied as an artifact, as a family practice linked to private and collective memory as a symbolic object of the vernacular imagination.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings / Bibliography
Texts

Basic bibliography for the exam (see verification methods for the choice of texts).

A) One of the following manuals, to be chosen:

J.C. Lemagny, A. Rouillé, Storia della fotografia, Firenze. Sansoni, 1989;

I. Zannier Storia e tecnica della fotografia, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1984;

 

B) Works on the theory and methodology of photography and audiovisuals:

W. Benjamin, L'opera d'arte nell'epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica,Torino, Einaudi, 1974 (capp. I e II), abbinato a Francesco Casetti, Teorie del cinema : 1945-1990,Milano, Bompiani, 2004.

R. Barthes, La camera chiara, Torino, Einaudi, 1981; abbinato a Francesca Anania, Breve storia della radio e della televisione italiana, Roma, Carocci, 2004

S. Sontag, Sulla fotografia. Realtà e immagine nella nostra società, Torino, Einaudi, 1978; abbinato a P. Sorlin, I figli di Nadar. Il "secolo" dell'immagine analogica, Torino, Einaudi, 2001.

G. Freund, Fotografia e, società: riflessione teorica ed esperienza pratica di'una allievo di Adorno, Torino, Einaudi, 1976; abbinato a V. Flusser, Per una filosofia della fotografia, Torino, Agorà, 1987

C) Works on the preservation and cataloging of photography and audiovisuals

La fotografia. Manuale di catalogazione a cura di Giuseppina Benassati, Bologna, Grafis Edizioni, 1990;

R. Scaramella, Fotografia: storia e riconoscimento dei processi fotografici.Roma, 1999;

I. Zannier, D. Tartaglia, La fotografia in archivio, Milano, Sansoni, 2000;

S. Berselli, L. Gasparini, L'archivio fotografico. Manuale per la conservazione e la gestione della fotografia antica e moderna, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2000;

R. Biscioni (a cura di) Fotografia e Public History. Patrimonio Storico e Comunicazione Digitale, Firenze, Pacini, 2017.

D) Works related to the monographic part of the course:

For attending students will be indicated during the course.

For non-attending students:

Chalfen R (1987) Snapshot versions of life. Bowling Green State University Press, Bowling Green

 

Teaching methods

The teaching methodology includes a series of lectures and a practical study of the issues related to the history of the photographic documentation of cultural heritage; some laboratory exercises, aimed at acquiring a practical knowledge of the main operations and procedures for cataloging and digitizing photographic and audiovisual material (to be conducted at the Photographic and Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage of the Department of Cultural Heritage).

Assessment methods

For attending students:
The verification will take place through a final oral examination for the part relating to the actual course and through the presentation and discussion of the results of the exercises and work in the laboratory.
The preparation will focus on the lessons taught by the teacher, as well as on laboratory exercises, but as a reference the student must bring:
a manual (from those indicated in point A) of the basic bibliography;
a group of works chosen from among those indicated by the teacher in reference to point B) of the basic bibliography (theoretical and methodological works);
finally the work recommended for the monographic part of the course (Section D).
For non-attending students:
The exam will be taken through an oral test, in which the candidate will present:
a manual chosen from among those proposed in section A) of the basic bibliography;
a monographic work of your choice for section B) of the bibliography;
a work chosen from section C) of the bibliography in place of the laboratory exercise;
Finally the work recommended for the monographic part of the course (Section D) of the basic bibliography.

Teaching tools

The course aims to give to the student a basic education on the main stages of the history of photography and audiovisuals, on historiographical currents, on the methodologies, sources and themes that have recently emerged in the research work and in the discussion within the discipline, but also on the treatment for the purpose of preserving and enhancing the audiovisual materials. To this end, will be used the tools and equipment available at the Photographic and Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage of the Department of Cultural Heritage (via degli Ariani, 1) 

Office hours

See the website of Raffaella Biscioni