Symposium:
The Messenger
Image-Based
Activism Today

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In the afternoon of Sunday 29 November, Foam and World Press Photo Foundation present a program of lectures, talks and round-table discussions in collaboration with De Balie with artists, journalists, editors, activists and idealists on the current dynamics between reality and its representation by images.

Under the influence of ever-advancing technological developments, documentary photography, especially photojournalism, has changed enormously over the past decade. More than the digitalization of the medium, the use of social media has produced a dynamism that has completely undermined and transformed traditional ways of dealing with images. A sustained critical attitude to media and the questioning of both the players and the playing field is more essential than ever if we are to achieve an appropriate stance towards today’s world. Foam and World Press Photo Foundation will present a symposium at De Balie with a number of gatekeepers who are important in determining which images of an event we get to see, and how. Therefore the focus will not in the first instance be on the image itself, but on the ‘messengers’ behind them with their new strategies in visual storytelling.

PROGRAMME | SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER

15.00-15.05  Opening remarks
Marcel Feil / Artistic director Foam

15.05-15.20  Be part of a bigger story: the new media world
Spoken column: Bjarke Myrthu / Founder of STORYFRIEND and co-founder of Magnum in Motion

15.20-16.00  The Editor: challenges in the media landscape
Roundtable conversation: Evert Hermans / Photo editor NRC Media, Thomas Kuijpers / Visual artist, Benjamin Chesterton / Co-founder and Production Manager of Duckrabbit
Moderated by Marcel Feil

16.00-16.15  Break

16.15-16.35  The Photographer: visual strategies in storytelling
Artist talk: Susan Meiselas / Magnum photographer

16.35-16.50  New strategies in documentary photography
Dialogue conversation: Susan Meiselas / Magnum Photographer, President of the Magnum Foundation, Lars Boering / Director World Press Photo Foundation

16.50-17.30  The Messenger: disseminating images and engaging audiences
Roundtable conversation Pierre Tjerdman / Co-Founder of #Dysturb, Bas Vroege / Director of Paradox, Donald Weber / Photographer, Human Rights Watch, Susan Meiselas / Magnum Photographer, President of the Magnum Foundation
Moderated by Marcel Feil


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