Discussion
The Rituality of Photography in the Contemporary Balkans

Then and Again. Rethinking Ritual in Contemporary Balkans

Thu, 20.06.2024
8:00 PM ΜΙΕΤ–National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Thessaloniki

The Goethe-Institut, the ΜΙΕΤ–Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, and the MOMus–Thessaloniki Museum of Photography invite you to a discussion in the context of the exhibition Then and Again. Rethinking Ritual in Contemporary Balkans, which is currently on display at the MIET Branch in Thessaloniki.

Since its appearance, even before the middle of the 19th century, photography has been a medium that retained a mystical aura of ritual, a magic that made many people feel that the process was extracting something inner, indefinable. Since then, photography has swept through the 20th century and entered the 21st through successive technological revolutions and social upheavals, which seemed to ground it more in a rational world, now defined by algorithmic possibilities and horizons. In the exhibition Then and Again. Rethinking Ritual in Contemporary Balkans, curated by Yorgos Prinos and Dimitris Tsoumplekas, photography as a contemporary artistic practice examines lesser-known micro-ceremonies within contemporary societies, invents new ones, or traces the ritual element in the very creation of analogue photographs. Focusing on the Balkan geographical space, it includes works by nine young photographers, created on the occasion of this exhibition. Based on the exhibition, the speakers will attempt to discuss issues related to photography as a contemporary ritual, photography in the Balkans, and contemporary cultural practices.
  

Speakers:

Eleni Sideri, social anthropologist, Assistant Professor at the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies at the University of Macedonia
Dimitris Kataiftsis, Lecturer in Anthropology at the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies at the University of Macedonia
Stergios Karavatos, photographer, independent curator and professor of photography 
Heracles Papaioannou, curator, MOMus–Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
 

Reservation

A project by Goethe-Institut in collaboration with ΜΙΕΤ–Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, supported by MOMus–Thessaloniki Museum of Photography.