Studio IMAGE | BA Major in Art

Violent images surround us. They may directly represent violence, or their violent potential may
be revealed in connection with their production, dissemination or use. Images both reflect and exert violence: snapshots from the Abu Ghraib create a meme shared round the world; surveillance expands with facial recognition and drone monitoring; sexist images permeate advertising and the entertainment sector.

Social platforms like Facebook and Google possess sweeping influence over what we view. So- called content moderators remove child pornography and images of atrocities from the global stream – along with art (and trivia) that transgresses their guidelines. Collecting, ordering and curating the visual become a decisive process for producers and consumers of images, and a constitutive aspect of social activity.

Many questions arise: Where does the violence in and of the image begin? What makes an image violent? Or is the image itself innocent? Who decides this, and in what context? How do new production technologies and distribution channels influence the relationship between image and (exercise of) violence?And above all: How do we – as artists – deal with the issue of violence and the violent potential of new image technologies?

The Studio Image project for the summer semester 2019 examined “Violent Images” through
the lens of diverse topics. Students investigated how representations of violence can set in motion, subvert and transform social, political and media discourses. Historical and contemporary image strategies, intense theoretical explorations, a film program and discussions with invited artists and curators supplied inputs as participants developed their own artistic ideas and concepts. During the semester students transferred these in a photographic or video-based project.
The semester culminated in realization of participants’projects in the exhibition space and in the form
of individual artist’s books.

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