The teaching area of photography focuses on conceptual work and experimenting with the photographic medium.

Starting out from the perception of photography as a medium that represents reality, students will explore the difference between the photographic depiction and the depicted subject as a way of discovering the possibilities, conditions and boundaries of the medium. This can also involve going beyond the realm of photography and incorporating other media. Possible areas of study include works that straddle the border between still and moving images, or practices that combine ‘hand-crafted’ approaches with machine-based or photographic methods of recording.

We look at how photographic images have been used by artists in previous decades, but also how photographs turn up in different areas of present-day society and the influence they have upon the viewer’s gaze – considering, for example, the use of product photography by manufacturing companies, the pictures generated by surveillance technology or everyday images created with camera phones. Another interesting aspect is the relationship between photography and painting, as painting has had the most significant influence on our idea of what makes a ‘successful’ image.

Studying art photography is not just a matter of reflecting upon the medium, however; it also involves engaging with historical, social, political, local, private or marginal themes, subjecting these to careful examination and evaluating one’s own particular interest in them, with a view to subsequently working on these topics using photographic means or another medium.

The aim is for students to develop their individual artistic stance, which may also be clearly opposed to the content and themes described above. In this respect, the realm of photography serves as a reflective framework within which students are encouraged to formulate their own position.