Wie fotografische Lehre und Restaurierung zusammenfinden - Werkstatt Fotorestaurierung Essen

24.06.2026•16:02

Fotokonservierung beginnt nicht beim Erhalt, sondern bei der Idee einer Fotografie. Das sagt Peter Konarzewski, Fotorestaurator am Museum Folkwang in Essen. Für ihn ist die Lehre an der Folkwang Universität der Künste so wichtig wie die Arbeit in der Werkstatt selbst. Je früher Studierende lernen, Materialität, Verarbeitung und Präsentation zusammenzudenken, desto geringer fällt später der konservatorische und restauratorische Aufwand in denSammlungen aus. Im Gespräch mit seiner Kollegin Theresa Fritzen erklärt Peter Konarzewski, wie Fotokonservierung in Essen vermittelt wird, wie sie bereits bei der Konzeption ansetzt – und wie Fotograf:innen ihre Entscheidungen über den gesamten Produktionsprozess hinweg richtig treffen. Werkstatt Fotorestaurierung ist eine Reihe im Rahmen des Audioformats »seeing by ear. Essener Gespräche zur Fotografie«. In loser Abfolge berichtet das Team der Fotorestaurierung am Museum Folkwang aus der konservatorischen Praxis – anhand konkreter Objekte, Fragestellungen und Entscheidungen.

Fotografinnen als Wandgestalterinnen: Feministische Perspektiven auf die Geschichte des »photomural«

22.06.2026•39:45

Ein Folkwang Photo Talk von Johanna Spanke, Universität Hamburg Der Vortrag betrachtet die Genese des »photomural« durch die Linse einer spezifisch feministisch orientierten Fotohistoriografie. Er spannt einen Bogen von denkommerziellen Anfängen des Mediums als Fototapete im privaten Raum bis hin zu den monumentalen Auftragsarbeiten im öffentlichen Raum, die zwischen den 1930er und 1950er Jahren realisiert wurden. Stärker als auf dem Gebiet der Wandmalerei konnten sich hier Frauen mit großformatigen fotografischen Arbeiten einen sichtbaren Platz im öffentlichen Raum erstreiten. Was waren Handlungsräume und Strategien dieser Akteurinnen, die ihre Wandarbeiten dezidiert als künstlerische Positionierungen verstanden sehen wollten? Wie wurden fotografische Autorschaft, Technik und Monumentalität geschlechtlich codiert? In der Reihe »Folkwang Photo Talks« teilt Johanna Spanke bislang unveröffentlichte Einsichten undÜberlegungen aus ihrer Forschungsarbeit.

AI and Speculative Archives: The Archive of Grigoris Antoniou

19.06.2026•21:27

A Folkwang Photo Talk by Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Cyprus University of Technology & Linköping University (in English) Can artificial intelligence help retrieve forgotten histories – or does it create new fictions instead? In this talk, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert presents »The Archive of Grigoris Antoniou«, a speculative archive commissioned by the Hasselblad Foundation for the exhibition »Bugs and Metamorphosis« (2025). Combining AI-generated imagery with reframed historical photographs, the project aims to reconstruct the overlooked story of Grigoris Antoniou (1849–1940), a Cypriot foreman whose crucial role in colonial-era archaeologyhas largely disappeared from official historical narratives. Drawing on forty lantern slides and a film following the cataloguing of this fictional collection, the work explores how we create, interpret, and authorize archives. A fictional »Museum Bot« becomes both an assistant and unreliable narrator, exposing the tensions between archival evidence, machine interpretation, and historical truth. How can colonial photographic archives be reinterpreted by exposing their silences and underlying power structures? What responsibilities do museums and archives have when using AI to catalogue, interpret, and digitize their collections? Listen to Theopisti to explore how photography, archives, and artificial intelligence reshape our understanding of the past.

Black Gold: Photography, Extraction, and the Promise of the Petroleumscape

19.06.2026•37:50

A Folkwang Photo Talk by Carolin Görgen, Associate Professor of American Studies at Sorbonne Université Paris (in English) This talk examines the entanglements of photography and petroleum in early twentieth-century Southern California. As Los Angeles County became the center of U.S. oil production in the 1920s and 1930s, photographers such as Shigemi Uyeda and Florence Kemmler redirected their lenses from iconic Westernlandscapes toward the emergent »petroleumscape« of derricks, tanks, and trenches. Their images normalized the presence of oil in built environments and turned petroleum into a readily accessible resource, both physically and visually. Situating »oil photography« within the fraught environmental histories of the American West, this talk integrates an expanded concept of extraction that encompasses the physical operations of drilling, the aesthetic practices that crystallized around petroleum, as well as their material repercussions. How has photography contributed to presenting resource extraction as natural, aesthetically appealing, and virtually limitless? Listen to Carolin to discover how photography not only documented the oil industry, but also helped shape itsvisual culture and extractive imaginaries.

Conclusion: Points of Departure

23.03.2026•12:27

A summery of the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography by Markus Rautzenberg, Media Theorist and Professor of Philosophy at the Folkwang University of the Arts What if photography’s future is not defined by what it is, but by how it operates? In his conclusion, Markus Rautzenberg reframes photography as a shifting field of »modal configurations« – a set of changing, rule-based practices that gain and lose relevance over time – rather than a stable medium grounded in technique, materiality, or indexicality. The lectures of the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography reveal a medium shaped by friction, overlap, and transformation. Follow this talk to understand how photographic knowledgeemerges not from images alone, but from shared social expectations and uses. When and under what conditions do images count as credible, meaningful, or true? And does this mean that photography may be less in crisis than our waysof understanding it? Join the conversation and leave a comment to speculatewith Markus and us. This session was recorded on February 4, 2026, on theoccasion of the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography »What Will Photography Be? An Invitation to Speculate«, hosted by the Essen Center for Photography. Photo credit: Essen Center for Photography / Silviu Guiman

Welcome and Introduction: Points of Departure

22.03.2026•20:21

The opening of the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography by Steffen Siegel, Professor for the Theory and History of Photography at Folkwang University of the Arts What if speculation about photography’s future has alwaysshaped the medium’s presence? In his opening address, Steffen Siegel frames photography as a history of past futures, shaped by expectations, hopes, and projections – from early daguerreotype announcements to the launch of the iPhone. Speculation, he suggests, is a forward-looking practice with a double edge: it can generate insight, yet also distort perception. So understanding photography’s future requires a deep graspof its ruptures, reconfigurations, shifting material and epistemic conditions, rather than a simple linear narrative. What happens if the real question may not be whether speculation can mislead, but how engaging with its risks might reveal unexpected ways of understanding the medium? Join the conversation and leave a comment to speculate with Steffen and us. This session was recorded on February 4, 2026, on theoccasion of the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography »What Will Photography Be? An Invitation to Speculate«, hosted by the Essen Center for Photography.