Research area: Photography

The University of Gothenburg is the only Swedish university with practice based research, doctoral studies and post docs in photography. The subject of photography spans over a vast field of visual culture where technological developments has continuously challenged and expanded its fields of practice.

Research in photography at HDK-Valand reflects this development of photography and we are engaged in different approaches to research: artistic, archival, historical, environmental and curatorial. In addition to this there are individual and project based research that extend this even further.

Photography today is merged with film not only in its practical sense reflected in technology but also in its conceptual framing. Photography and film is an integral part of contemporary extended reality technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. Combined and expanded with 3D-technologies photography is at a new level. Our research embraces these tools and their possibilities for cross disciplinary research where we work across the field of arts, humanities and science. We respond in our research to these challenges in technological advances in research projects collaborating with science, humanities, Visual Arena Lindholmen and other external institutions connected to Arctic, northern and environmental studies.

In visual culture photography carries all its history within its contemporary practice from the early analogue applications to contemporary digital platforms. In its conceptual framings photography in an equal manner carries its history and particularly its ways of seeing and framing the world around us.