14:30
Salle du Conseil
Collège Erasme
Place Blaise Pascal 1
Louvain-la-Neuve 1348
On Friday 25 November, Jana Haeckel will defend her PhD on the comparative analysis of the representation of the face and the body in contemporary art and visual culture. Hereby, she will consider the changing politics of the image and the body since 9/11.
In her doctoral research, Haeckel tries to answer the way in which artists can evoke the consciousness on the use of new technologies (such as facial recognition systems, Google Glasses, Google Earth or drones) that reduce the human body into algorithmic information. The answer to this question can be found in the works of artists, such as Hito Steyerl, Trevor Paglen, Omer Fast, and more. These artists try to deconstruct the myth of surveillance technologies and military technologies considered to be infalliable. Within their own visual strategies, they develop critical practices of documentary and activism. Finally, Haeckel also analyses the processes of digitalisation, as well as the origines of photography and, in particular, the origins of the portrait.
The PhD defense will be conducted in French. The jury consists of the following honorable scholars:
- Prof. em. Jean-Marie Yante (UCL), president
- Prof. Alexander Streitberger (UCL), thesis promotor
- Prof. Ralph Dekoninck (UCL)
- Prof. Hilde Van Gelder (KU Leuven)
- Prof. Pamela C. Scorzin (University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund)
