CVF – Photography Research Centre

CVF aims to investigate the history and theory of photography, create space for sharing and presenting its basic and applied research and actively cooperate with other subjects focusing on similar topics. Officially launched in the spring 2018 in correspondence with one priority research area of the institute, Photography of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the centre has an ambition to become a unique platform for interdisciplinary, internationally-oriented research in the Czech republic. Although photography has been part of all areas of life and all scholarly disciplines for almost 180 years, Czech researchers often only investigate and interpret it as part of narrowly focused projects (in terms of disciplines, institutions, themes and regions involved).

CVF currently concentrates on three research projects: Josef Sudek a fotografická dokumentace uměleckých děl: od soukromého archivu umění k reprezentaci kulturního dědictví (NAKI II, http://www.sudekproject.cz/), Reflections on the Calotype and Early Photography on Paper in Central Europe (GA ČR) and Transnacionální pohled na českou sociální fotografii (part of the postdoctoral program of CAS).

CVF members recently participated in the following publications: Svoboda + Palcr: Vidět sochy (Katarína Mašterová, 2019), Fascinace skutečností (Barbora Kundračíková, 2017), Zobrazení bez reprodukce: Fotografie a performance v českém umění sedmdesátých let 20. století (Hana Buddeus, 2017). In addition to individual publications and presentations, PRC members are organizing the  international interdisciplinary conference Photo: Science. Photography and Scientific Discourse (June 2020), finalizing the SudekProject and preparing the Reflections on the Calotype project’s publications.

CVF members closely cooperate with a number of renowned institutions focusing on the research of photography and visual culture in both the Czech Republic and abroad, such as PHRC/De Montfort University (Leicester), CEFRES (Prague), The V&A Research Institute (London), University of Hull, Sorbonne Université (Paris), FAMU (Prague), SEFO/Muzeum umění (Olomouc). They also co-organize the series of international conferences Photography in Central and Eastern Europe.