Transbordeur is a new annual review of photography history edited by the historians Christian Joschke and Olivier Lugon. Its readers will be interested in photography in all its forms and in the history, sociology, and technical evolution, material production and interpretation of images, their relationship to time and history, and their circulation; they will wish to understand the world through the history of culture; and they will be curious and critical observers of the visual phenomena around them.
Rather than adopt a strictly aesthetical point of view, Transbordeur proposes to address the place of photography in all social practices, and to examine the contribution of the medium to the profound transformation of our relationship to the world. Photography pervades every aspect of life, both the public and the private spheres, from education and science, to art and information, business and politics, to warfare and transportation. It is inseparable from book publishing and news broadcasting, exhibition design and cinema, the pursuit of knowledge, writing, and poetry. The review will promote critical analysis and understanding of all the facets of the culture of images.
The first issue of Transbordeur, released in February, brings together over fifteen articles in a richly illustrated 236-page volume. It is divided into four sections: A themed section, “Documentary photography museums,” featuring eight essays; a “Collections” section which succinctly examines photography holdings in museums and archives; a selection of articles on a variety of subjects, largely devoted to translations of international scholarly articles; and a “Readings” section highlighting recent publications.
The title of the review, meaning “ferry” in French, conjures up the passage between two shores and is a metaphor for crossing disciplinary as well as national borders. It also refers to the Marseille Transporter Bridge, considered in the 1920s’ an avant-gardes technological invention, a visionary instrument, and the subject of photographic experiments. The ideas of mobility and permeability associated with the Transbordeur also inform a writing project in the history of images and technical infrastructures integral to this new review.
Transbordeur—Photographie, histoire, société
Issue 1: Themed section: “Musées de photographies documentaires”
Edited by Estelle Sohier, Olivier Lugon, and Anne Lacoste
Published by Éditions Macula
236 pp.
€29.00
