Third Essen Symposium for Photography

5.2.2026

»What Will Photography Be? An Invitation to Speculate« – the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography, held from February 4–5, 2026, aims at addressing interest in the medium’s prospective forms and uses. It is looking for speculations that critically engage with recent developments in the open and much-diversified field of visual media and try to position photography’s future role within such a realm.

How will photographic media participate in the dynamics of current technological advancements? How can photography impact and promote such developments with respect to social, artistic, scientific, and everyday practices? We are interested in ideas about photography’s future roles in social, artistic, scientific, and everyday realms. What will we mean when we say »photography«? Will we discuss specific techniques, aesthetics, or practices bound to visual images? Keeping the lessons taught by »operational images« in mind, will we leave the idea of the visual behind us? In short, what will be our point of reference when we address something as »photography«?

These are the symposium’s confirmed speakers: Bernd Behr (London), Monica Bravo (Princeton), Paul Frosh (Jerusalem), Michelle Henning (Liverpool), André Gunthert (Paris), Cringuta Irina Pelea (Bukarest), Terrence Phearse (New York), Daniel Rubinstein (London), Jens Schröter (Bonn), Therese Schuleit (Mülheim), and Helen Westgeest (Leiden).

The Essen Center for Photography’s website provides detaiuled information on the program and the opportunity to registrate.

As part of the symposium’s accompanying program, Krupp Historical Archive, Museum Folkwang, and Ruhr Museum will offer guided tours of their current exhibitions and provide insights into their photographic collections. Further information will be announced soon. Please keep February 3 and 6, 2026, available if you wish to take part.

On behalf of the Essen Center for Photography, the 3rd Essen Symposium for Photography organizers are Franziska Barth (Ruhr University Bochum), Vera Knippschild (Folkwang University of the Arts), Mona Leinung (Folkwang University of the Arts), Markus Rautzenberg (Folkwang University of the Arts), Anja Schürmann (KWI – Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities), Steffen Siegel (Folkwang University of the Arts), Jakob Schnetz (Folkwang University of the Arts, KWI – Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities), and Francisco Vogel (Folkwang University of the Arts).