Our lives and coexistence are determined by unpredictable events. Many events were probably irregular and unplannable, which then appear in our lives in a supposedly orderly fashion. This also applies in particular to creative processes in artistic, documentary fields of work. These are often non-linear in their genesis and erratic in their temporal development. These characteristics can be described as chaotic.  

The introductory art-scientific lecture focuses on photographic positions that deal with chaotic moments. The three other speakers will examine their own working methods and the resulting works with regard to these aspects. Their very different approaches and groups of works are linked by a partly chance-driven approach, often in correlation with their protagonists, the surrounding environment or an inner discourse.  

Programme

11:00h Keynote by Prof. Dr Sabine Bartelsheim (in German)  

12:00h Lecture by Bieke Depoorter (in English)  

13:00h Lunch break  

14:00h Lecture by Giovanna del Sarto (in English)  

15:00h Lecture by Philipp Goldbach (in German)  

Welcome and moderation by Prof Dirk Gebhardt (FH Dortmund) and Felix Dobbert (TU Dortmund)  

Location

Campus Stadt der TU Dortmund im Dortmunder U, U1, Hochschuletage I Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse, 44137 Dortmund

Date

FR 13.06.2025, 11:00 to 16:00h 

Admission

free and registration is not required

An event organised by TU Dortmund in cooperation with f² Fotofestival, FH Dortmund and Hochschule der bildenden Künste (HBK) Essen.  

About the speakers:

Prof. Dr Sabine Bartelsheim  

Professor of Art Studies at the Hochschule der bildenden Künste (HBK) Essen since 2014, Head of the Institute for Art and Design Studies since 2024. She writes monographs, catalogue contributions and essays on art studies, including on images of nature in contemporary art (Lebende Pflanzen in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts), image and media history (Bilder, Räume, Realitäten for kunsttexte) and on border areas between art, design and everyday culture.  

Bieke Depoorter  

Bieke Depoorter obtained a Master's degree in photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 2009. She is a full member of the renowned photo agency Magnum Photos. Depoorter has won several prizes and awards, including the Magnum Expression Award, the Larry Sultan Award and the Prix Levallois. She exhibits internationally and has published several books. The relationships Depoorter establishes with the subjects of her photographs form the basis of her artistic practice. Chance encounters are often the starting point, and how these interactions develop naturally dictates the suite. Many of her works are the result of a constant questioning of the photographic medium itself.  

Giovanna del Sarto   

Giovanna Del Sarto is an Italian photographer based in London who specialises in documentary photography and is known for her in-depth and engaging work on migration and refugees. One of her most significant long-term projects is ‘A Polaroid for a Refugee (APfaR)’, which captures the transitional moments in the lives of individual refugees. Giovanna completed her Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London in 2008 and has been working as a freelance photographer ever since. She has worked for renowned publications and organisations such as National Geographic, L'Espresso, La Repubblica, The Guardian, Amnesty International and the Huffington Post.  

Philipp Goldbach  

Philipp Goldbach's work explores the relationship between time, written language and the technical image - with a focus on photography as material and metaphor. He appropriates selected sources from philosophy and art and recodes them in order to discuss the intellectual history of storage media, the materiality of information and the physical processes of inscription in a field of tension between corporeality and digital technical (re-)production. Goldbach's work processes often take on a labour-intensive performative character. Philipp Goldbach studied photography, art history, sociology and philosophy. He held a visiting professorship for photography at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and was a lecturer at various universities in the field of film and photography studies at Leiden University. He was a member of the curatorial team of the Simultanhalle Cologne and is part of the artist group darktaxa-project. Selected exhibitions have been held at the Augsburg Art Collections and Museums, the MUDAM in Luxembourg, the Museum Folkwang in Essen and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others.