Camera Studies

• Applicant: Professor Winfried Gerling
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 529540482

At the center of Camera Studies is the assumption that the specific camera, through its special disposition, shapes the captured image and thus the aesthetics, but also the use of the apparatus in a particular way. This approach takes the fact into account that in film, photography, and media studies and theory one rarely speaks of a specific camera, and that when addressing a general camera one often and very unspecifically means the entire film or photographic equipment. The network examines cameras, or rather camera-related technologies, their use as well as their influence on different cultures of use. The view is not directed from the products (film/photography) to a generally addressed abstract technology – such as the camera, the lens, the film, the sensor, the smartphone – but vice versa from the apparatus and its concrete use: conclusions are drawn about the aesthetics, cultures, modes of production, economies (law) and technological developments associated with it. This reversal of perspective enables a specific view and the influence of singular technologies on their use, and the products and productions created with them. Thus, paradigmatic cameras and camera-related technologies will be at the center of the discussion: The materiality of the technical object – for example a lens, with which aesthetic expressions are produced –, is not to be seen simply as existing and transparent, but is to be understood with its possibilities and resistances as an essential condition of use. The aim of Camera Studies is to systematically investigate the use of cameras as technical objects, their economic and juridical effects, and – last but not least – their concrete influence on the productions created with them. An essential aspect of the investigation of contemporary technologies is how analog technologies are incorporated, simulated, and further developed by digital apparatuses. The main focus will be on so-called digital consumer products that have been developed for the mass market. Thus, also the influence of popularly available technologies on visual culture will be reflected. This form of analysis requires an interdisciplinary and cooperative approach and thus the integration of different subject cultures: film/photography, STS, film, media and cultural studies. It further combines procedures and theories of production, software and interface studies as well as praxeology. The network consists of 15 scholars of all career levels. The specific cases to be studied at the biannual meetings are determined at the beginning. The aim is to establish the research field of Camera Studies, in order to create a broader awareness of the influence of concrete technical apparatuses in (moving) image production.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks