Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography
Every two years, the Institut pour la photographie organizes the Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography, a two-day event featuring discussions and networking opportunities for researchers from the French-speaking world, centered on themes related to research in the history of photography.
The 4th edition of these Days, with the theme The Expanded Field of Photography. Toward a Plurality of Subjects, Approaches, and Practices, is being offered as part of the celebration of the The Bicentennial of Photography .
This session will provide an opportunity to take stock of the historiography on the subject since the previous conference held at the Musée d’Orsay in 2003 Photography: The New Challenges Facing History , this time including new issues such as an interest in the materiality of images, the proximity to “media archaeology,” a broader geographical scope fostering critical reflection on colonial history, and the emergence of situated, feminist, decolonial, and queer .
The event will be held on November 18 and 19, 2026, at the International Center for the French Language in Villers-Cotterêts.
It has been designated a Bicentennial of Photography event by the French Ministry of Culture and is designed to complement and engage in dialogue with the symposium Right Before Our Eyes: Two Centuries of Photographic Archives which will take place at the Mucem in Marseille from March 24 to 26, 2027.
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The Scientific Committee for the 2026 edition:
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Hélène Giannecchini, Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Contemporary Art, University of Lille, CEAC/CRAL (EHESS/CNRS)
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Christian Joschke, Professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ferry
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Anne Lacoste, Director of the Hauts-de-France Institut pour la photographie
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Vincent Lavoie, Professor, Chair of the Department of Art History, Université du Québec à Montréal
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Danielle Leenaerts, Lecturer, Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Namur, Free University of Brussels
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Lise Lerichomme, Lecturer in Visual Arts, University of Picardie Jules Verne, CRAE
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Olivier Lugon, Professor, University of Lausanne, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Transbordeur
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Androula Michael, University Professor, Director of CRAE (Center for Research in the Arts and Aesthetics, UR 4291), University of Picardie Jules Verne, CRAE
2024 Edition - Learning Through Photography: 19th–21st Centuries
From Comenius to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, visual pedagogy has a long history. Even at the dawn of the age of scientific revolutions, drawing on the spectacular spread of woodcut techniques, educators were developing a new approach in which images were used to teach language. In the 19th century, from picture albums to magic lanterns, Romanticism enriched children’s imagery—even before educational institutions, in turn, adopted visual methods based on projection, illustrated books, or the stereoscope.
This third edition of the Francophone Conference on Research in the History of Photography aims to explore the uses of photography and its various practices and methods in the transmission of knowledge and learning across a range of contexts—including teaching, adult education, and children’s literature, among others.
Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography is organized by the Institut pour la photographie of Hauts-de-France under the academic direction of the journal Transbordeur: Photography, History, Society, in partnership with the University of Picardie Jules Verne, the University of Lille, the University of Quebec at Montreal, and the Free University of Brussels, with support from the Institut Français.
2022 Edition - Images of Resistance: Photographs and Visual Strategies of Resistance, Struggles, and Individual and Collective Battles
The second edition of the Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography, open to the French-speaking world, was organized in partnership with: Transbordeur magazine: photography, history, society, in collaboration with the University of Picardie Jules Verne, the University of Lille, the University of Quebec in Montreal, and the Free University of Brussels, with support from the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, the European House of Human and Social Sciences in Lille, and the Institut Français.
The Theme Images of Resistance. Photographs and Visual Strategies of Resistance, Struggles, and Individual and Collective Battles is related to the fourth edition of the Institut's Support Program.
Download the full program
2020 Edition - Photography: A Story for Everyone
The conference Photography: A “Story for Everyone”, organized under the scientific direction of the journal Transbordeur: Photography, History, Society, in partnership with the University of Amiens, the University of Lille, and the European House of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Lille, is organizing an event to honor François Brunet’s work on history and imagery.
Following on from the conference Les manières de faire vernaculaires (University of Paris, LARCA, January 23–24, 2020)—which centered its own tribute to François Brunet on the concept of the vernacular and related works—this event will focus its discussions on popular forms of writing the history of and through photography.