The Department of Photography & Imaging at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Magnum Foundation present programming in Photography and Human Rights for the third summer, spearheaded again by Professor and Associate Chair Fred Ritchin of the Department and Susan Meiselas of the Foundation. This summer program is comprised of four courses and is designed to enable students to explore strategies to create effective documentary projects in pursuit of human rights.
Students will propose multimedia or traditional presentation strategies for their photo essays, which they will develop through two studio courses. The seminar course will provide participants with an opportunity to look at photography's strengths and weaknesses in attempting to determine new strategies for its use as both society and technology evolve. The fourth class is a discussion and writing course correlating with a public guest lecturer series featuring speakers from the fields of photojournalism, law, human rights and media. Courses can be taken for credit or non-credit.
(Note: International students must take at least 8 credits during a 6-week stay. There are scholarships available through the Magnum Foundation for international students from select areas, see magnumfoundation.org for details).
For registration and housing information, please consult nyu.edu/summer or call Tisch Special Programs at 212-998-1500. You may also contact the department directly at 212-998-1930 or visit the department website at photo.tisch.nyu.edu.
DATES: May 22 – May 31
THE PICTURE ESSAY FOR PAPER AND PIXEL (2 credit lecture)
This course is designed for students that are taking all of the Human Rights courses. However there is space available to other students interested in this topic. Please contact the Department for permission to register.
This course will focus on the long-term photographic essay. It will look at both linear and non-linear forms of the essay, with and without the use of text, sound, video and other media. Intent, ethics, grammar and presentation issues will be considered. There will be many references to a variety of historical models from magazines, newspapers, books, exhibitions and digital environments, including the Web.
Fred Ritchin is professor of Photography & Imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is also the director of PixelPress (www.pixelpress.org), creating web sites, books and exhibitions investigating new documentary strategies and promoting human rights.
DATES: May 23 – June 27
PHOTOGRAPHY & HUMAN RIGHTS: ADVOCACY, TECHNIQUE, AESTHETICS (2 credit lecture)
This course is open only to students who are taking all of the Photography & Human Rights courses.
Photography, like the notion of human rights, is fundamentally modern and—also like human rights—conceptually problematic, tense with contradictions about agency, context and authenticity. Documentary photographers willing to use their skills for the advancement of right must continually question themselves: Is photography merely a technique, a medium to reflect reality, or a procedure to create reality? Is the photographer a silent witness or an active agent, a militant? Is there a pact, an expectation, or even an authorization between photographers and victims of human rights abuses? And even after these questions are answered, how can one ensure that photographic documentation will be effective in terms of ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights? The basis for tackling these and other questions is a basic understanding of the key political and legal instruments of human rights. During the six sessions of the course, students will review major international documents such as treaties, declarations and court decisions, to identify basic concepts relevant to human rights advocacy. The sessions will combine a discussion of concepts with the critique of concrete experiences concerning the interaction of photography and human rights advocacy: images that have served as denunciation, evidence or icon. This course will include guest lecturers and a film series open to the public.
Anne Nelson specializes in the area of international media development and has worked extensively as an analyst, evaluator, and practitioner in the field. She has taught at Columbia University since 1995, integrating student online publications on their research.Nelson consults for many leading U.S. foundations, including OSI, Gates, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Knight. Nelson was formerly the director of the International Program at the Columbia School of Journalism and executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Nelson has written extensively on media, conflict, and human rights. She was a war correspondent in Latin America, and reported from Eastern Europe and Asia, with work appearing in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Harper's, BBC, CBC, NPR and PBS. Her writing has won six awards, including the Livingston Award for international reporting.
DATES: June 11 – June 27
DIRECTED PROJECTS: PRESENTATION STRATEGIES (2 credit studio)
This course is open only to students who are taking all of the Photography & Human Rights courses.
The focus of this class is on the completion of a body of work; an intensive environment will be created for the development of one's own vision. The project will be self-directed from the student's personal interest and concerns. The instructor will help direct, challenge and teach the practice of questioning, analyzing and completing a creative project. Students are expected to be self-reliant and responsible for ideas and intentions. Independent thinking and working is fostered, as well as form, content and the way the work addresses a given audience. Classes include lectures along with group and individual critiques. Lively, insightful and supportive exchanges will be encouraged. Students will learn skills in multimedia editing in time-based photography works with sound. A lab fee of $175 is charged for this course.
Elizabeth Kilroy is an award-winning multimedia designer with a background in graphic design, theater and installation. She is the founder of ElizabethK Studio, a new media firm, serving a wide variety of clients, cultural, artistic and commercial. She has taught design and web design at Temple University and the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, in addition to the Department of Photography and Imaging. Her current work-in-progress includes collaboration with the artist Hana Iverson in a site-specific installation that implements internationally located kiosks in a dynamic user-built archive of personal history and historical artifacts via an Internet/intra-network. As a counterpoint to the computer, Elizabeth is currently designing a toy collection and keeps a craft blog which focuses on the renaissance of hand made crafts and how that is fueled by the Internet. Her goal is to find a way to help traditional craft makers from impoverished countries use technology to sell their goods.
DATES: May 29 – June 14
DIRECTED PROJECTS: THE PHOTO ESSAY (2 credit studio)
This course is open only to students who are taking all of the Photography & Human Rights courses.
This is an advanced course that concentrates on creating photo essays in the context of human rights. Students will photograph, edit, sequence and present a photographic essay that they produce during the course, using allied media when useful; they will also read essential human rights literature and discuss in class its importance in pursuing the photo essay. Issues in effective fieldwork will be discussed, both strategic and ethical. The class will also consider the potential usefulness of such documentary projects and how to target work for greater social impact.
A lab fee of $175 is charged for this course. You must also register for The Picture Essay for Paper and Pixel when you enroll in this course.
Susan Meiselas (www.susanmeiselas.com) is a professor of Photographic Studies at Leiden University. She is well-known for her coverage of the insurrection in Nicaragua and her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America, including the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador, and her work documenting the Anfal campaign in Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. Meiselas is a member of Magnum Photos and the President of the Magnum Foundation.
This Course Meets:
1. 5/24 THU 9:30-1pm, 5/28 (MON MEMORIAL DAY – no class),
2. 5/31 THU 9:30-1pm,
3. 6/4 MON 9:30-1pm,
4. 6/7 THU 9:30-1pm,
5. 6/11 MON evening class 6-9:45pm,
6. 6/14 THU 9:30-1pm
Courses are held at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts Department of Photography & Imaging at 721 Broadway on the 8th floor.
The lab fee is $360 for each 4 credit studio class and $180 for each 2 credit studio class for the summer 2012, and labs are open from 10am-10pm Monday-Thursday, 10am-8pm Friday and noon-6pm Saturday. Labs are closed Sundays and Memorial Day.
Courses can be taken for credit or non-credit. Lab fees still apply.
