Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We would like to kindly invite you to the lecture by the Israeli artist and curator Yanai Toister Photography from the Turin Shroud to the Turing Machine. The lecture will occur on Wednesday, November 9, 2021 at 7:30 pm in Hans Belting Library. The lecture will be held in English.

Abstract:

This lecture introduces two conceptual models of photography: the Turin Shroud and the universal Turing machine. The Turin Shroud inspires a discussion on photography’s frequently acclaimed “ontological privilege,” which has conditioned an understanding of photography as a sui generis breed of images wherein pictorial representation is coextensive with human vision. This is then contrasted with a discussion on the universal Turing machine, which integrates photography into a framework of media philosophy and algorithmic art. Here, photography becomes more than just the present-day sum of its depiction traditions, devices, and dissemination networks. Rather, it is archetypical of multiple systems of abstraction and classification, and various other symbolic processes of transformation.

Bio:

Yanai Toister (Ph.D.) is an artist, curator and educator serving as director of the Unit for History and Philosophy at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Tel Aviv. Toister’s artworks have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions (including Sandroni.Rey, Los Angeles; Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv; Kunstahalle Luzern, Switzerland; Bolsky Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles; Maison Europèenne de la Photographie, Paris; the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale; Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany; Israel Museum). Toister’s writing has been published in various catalogues and journals (including Digital Creativity; Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts; Photographies; Philosophy of Photography; Ubiquity). Toister’s book Photography from the Turin Shroud to the Turing Machine has been published by Intellect/University of Chicago Press.