Photography Bound: Rethinking the Future of Photobooks and Self-publishing
(2020)
author(s): Adria Julia
published in: Research Catalogue
Curated by Antonio Cataldo and Adrià Julià. Organised by Fotogalleriet, Oslo and KMD, University of Bergen. Throughout this three-day event, Adrià Julià's students at the University of Bergen will actively partake and lead discussions
Photo-based books and self-publishing are a vital emancipatory motor of discussion bringing communities across space and time together. The intent of this conference is manifold; firstly it aims to look at the historical structures for production that enable a multiplicity of voices to speak from their subjective positions. Secondly, addressing the current modalities that give contemporary practitioners, designers and publishers advantages and limitations within the field. Thirdly it addresses the future of photo-based publications through grant systems.
To rethink the current moment which is challenging existing structures and demanding systemic change, this seminar represents a desire to rethink the Nordic Photobook Award. Initially, Fotogalleriet ran the award from 2012–18 in order to accompany upcoming voices within the field by co-producing photobooks with chosen candidates.
The seminar's ultimate goal is to evaluate relevant structures of support providing the possibility to continuously provoke theoretical and practical change.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Terje Abusdal, Abdul Halik Azeez, Heidi Bale Amundsen, Delphine Bedel, Bruno Ceschel, Paul Gangloff, Erik Gant, Hans Gremmen, Roberto Figliulo, Cosmo Großbach, Sohrab Hura, Kay Jun, Aglaia Konrad, Moritz Kung, Silja Leifsdottir, Hailey Loman, Catalina Lozano, Vijai Patchineelam, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Mette Sandbye, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Ahlam Shibli, Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir, Ina Steiner, Niclas Östlind, Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, and Antonio Zúñiga. With a discussion about Nordic funding with Anne Lise Stenseth (moderator), Tom Klev, Henri Terho, Annika Thörn Legzdins, Klara Þórhallsdóttir and Tine Vindfeld.
コスプレ ko su pu re — Ti dedico corpo e animæ
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Gloria Furlan
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This research explores the phenomenon of Cosplay as experienced by Cosplayers themselves through a subjective lens.
A project that stems from specific personal attitudes and inclinations to the practice of Cosplay — コスプレ kosupure — in relation to japanese entertainment media. The focus of the analysis resides in individuals influenced to the point of bordering on obsession, surrounded by characters from works of Japanese animation, illustration and graphics — Anime, Manga and RPG — culminating in the practice of donating one’s body through the practice of interpretation, assimilation and appropriation.
Consistencies and idiosyncrasies between assumptions and experience are addressed starting from Japanese imagery, cultivated by years of tactile and vivid experience of this practice as carried out in Italy.
The impact and perceived impact of the journey facilitated a firsthand, lived experience through my month-long stay in Toshima, one of Tokyo’s twenty three special districts. The reiteration of this practice in the country accredited for the birth and export of Cosplay, put to test the skills and preconceptions developed over years of experience and virtual exploration. Analyzed the ideological presuppositions set forth by Luca Vanzella in Cosplay culture: fenomenologia dei costume players italiani, found within my personal experience in Italy, the same were used as a key to reading and interpreting the experience in Japan, analyzing points of contact and divergence. Through this paper I wish to document the vivid aspects of a research at a still embryonic state, without rushing to judgment.
A vision that is not intended to be faithful to reality as a focused image, but rather as the perception of light imprinted in the first impact with the retina. It represents, in its essence, an investigation that reports testimonies and subjective experiences, exploring with individuals the value placed on their choice of character, the reasons for choosing to lend one’s body to such practice. The unambiguous presence of the self, versus, the assumptions of loss of identity and desire for escape in the link between Cosplayer, performance act and self-perception. Analyzing the relational dynamics between Cosplayers and those shared personas, with a focus on the figure of the otaku and the way it relates to this practice.
This printed object consists of 2 main parts; the first visual and graphic and the second textual and theoretical. Bound together by the “japanese stab binding” technique, that has been appropriated in correlation to the practice of Cosplay. Becoming not only a physical link, but also a key conceptual and graphic element. Giving body and matter to the characters that make up the term Cosplay.