Symposium:
The Messenger
Image-Based
Activism Today

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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