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Join the Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography
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 —Bicentenaire de la Photographie.
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.
This edition 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.
↘︎ The event will be held on November 18 and 19, 2026, at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts.
↘︎ Download the full programme
↘︎ The Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography is organised with the support of the Institut Français, in cooperation with the Hauts-de-France Region. The event has been designated as part of the Bicentenary of Photography by the French Ministry of Culture.
Photography credits: La Conserverie
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The Scientific Committee for the 2026 edition
↘︎ Hélène Giannecchini, Senior Lecturer in History and Theory of Contemporary Art, University of Lille, CEAC/CRAL (EHESS/CNRS)
↘︎ Christian Joschke, Professor at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Co-editor-in-chief of the journal Transbordeur
↘︎ Anne Lacoste, Director of the Hauts-de-France Institut pour la photographie
↘︎ Vincent Lavoie, Professor, Head of the Department of Art History, Université du Québec à Montréal
↘︎ Danielle Leenaerts, Lecturer, Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Namur, University of Brussels
↘︎ Lise Lerichomme, Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts, University of Picardie Jules Verne, CRAE
↘︎ Olivier Lugon, Professor, University of Lausanne, Co-editor-in-chief of the journal Transbordeur
↘︎ Androula Michael, University Professor, Director of the CRAE (Centre for Research in Arts and Aesthetics UR 4291), University of Picardie Jules Verne, CRAE
The Expanded Field of Photography: Towards a Plurality of Subjects, Approaches and Practices
This new edition will provide an opportunity to take stock of research in the history of photography, complementing and engaging in dialogue with the symposium to be held at the Mucem in Marseille from 24 to 26 March 2027. A historiographical approach is adopted, drawing on the last international symposium, ‘Photography: New Challenges in History’, organised by the Musée d’Orsay and the Société française de photographie in 2005.
The Francophone Days of Research in the History of Photography are organised with the support of the Institut français, in cooperation with the Hauts-de-France Region. The 4th edition of these Days has been designated as part of the Bicentenary of Photography by the Ministry of Culture and is being held in partnership with the Cité internationale de la langue française.
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 albums to magic lanterns, Romanticism fuelled 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 Research Days in the History of Photography aims to examine 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.
The Francophone Conference on Research in the History of Photography is organised by the Hauts-de-France Institute for Photography under the academic supervision of the journal Transbordeur: photography, history, society, in partnership with the University of Picardie Jules Verne, the University of Lille, the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Free University of Brussels, with the support of the Institut Français.
Images of Resistance. Photographs and visual strategies of resistance, struggles, and individual and collective battles
The second edition of the Research Days in the History of Photography, open to the French-speaking world, was organised in partnership with: the journal Transbordeur: photography, history, society, together with the University of Picardie Jules Verne, the University of Lille, the University of Quebec in Montreal, and the Free University of Brussels, with the support of 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, ties in with the fourth edition of the Institut’s Grant.
Download the full programme
This conference, organised under the academic supervision of the journal Transbordeur: photography, history, society, in partnership with the University of Amiens, the University of Lille and the Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société in Lille, aims to pay tribute to François Brunet’s work on history and imagery.
Following on from the symposium Les manières de faire vernaculaires (University of Paris, LARCA, 23–24 January 2020), which centred its own tribute to François Brunet on the concept of the vernacular and related forms of expression, this event will focus its discussions on popular forms of writing the history of and through photography.