Title Photography as medium dispositif in the 1960s–80s in Lithuania /
Translation of Title Fotografija kaip medijos dispozityvas XX a. septintojo-devintojo dešimtmečio Lietuvoje.
Authors Michelkevičius, Vytautas
Full Text Download
Pages 62
Keywords [eng] Soviet Lithuania ; art photography ; media studies ; actor-network theory ; dispositif analysis
Abstract [eng] The doctoral thesis deals with a methodological problem of analyzing photography. The argumentation is built on assumption that analysis of a content of a medium (in this case: photography) alone is unable to reveal important social and political aspects of the medium. Therefore an integral analysis of medium and its context is indispensable. Combination of approaches used in communication and media studies, philosophy, and art history lets to define the notions of dispositif and medium, which lead to construction and operationalization of a model of medium dispositif. The model is used for research and analysis of power relations around photographical discourse in Lithuania in 1960s–1980s. Research material gathered while interviewing relevant actors in the field and analyzing visual and textual archives lets to define the dispositif of photography of the time period chosen as the a particular actor-network. The analysis reveals how the network of art photography developed, how it became stable and irreplaceable, what was its impact on specific mode of use of photography, so called photo-art, and formation of common photographical style, The School of Lithuanian Photography. The institutional role of Society of Art Photography, its interaction with communicational conventions (eg. Social Realism), philosophical statements, and the whole photographical discourse are taken into particular account. The analysis and combination of different elements, constituting photographical medium, aim at revealing causal relations between aesthetical, political, and social aspects of Lithuanian photography.
Type Summaries of doctoral thesis
Language English
Publication date 2010