The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has announed that it will re-openin two phases in 2025 following 'unforeseen delays' during its £6m Sound and Vision capital redevelopment.The museum will now reopen to visitors at the start of Bradford’s City of Culture year, with the new Sound and Vision galleries launching later in 2025.

The museum closed in June 2023 to undergo a £6 million transformation bringing in two new permanent galleries, a new passenger lift and an improved entrance. During the lift's excavation contractors discovered an unexpected make-up of ground that has led to delays.

Commenting on the change Jo Quinton-Tulloch, the director of the National Science and Media Museum, said “While the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come,” said . “Our new Sound and Vision galleries will completely transform the museum’s visitor offer by showcasing our incredible collections and ensuring visitors can find stories that resonate with them". She added: the additional passenger lift is “a crucial part of our transformation that will enable us to welcome many more visitors in 2025 and beyond. “Despite extensive survey work before the excavation commenced, our contractors encountered an unexpected make-up of ground at the base of the lift, which took much longer to excavate than anticipated. Whilst the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come.”

Designed by gallery architects, AOC (Agents of Change), the new galleries will showcase the museum’s core collections through the four key themes of Innovation, Identities, Storytelling and Everywhere, to lead visitors on a journey through the explosion of sound and image technologies, and the impact on our lives. The latest design renders illustrate some of these themes and the key moments and stories that visitors will be able to explore throughout the galleries.  

In the section on Identities, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. A key moment in Storytelling will take visitors through the long history of creating animation from flipbooks and stop motion to digital illustrations through the stories of beloved fictional characters such as the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. Local radio station, Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB) will also feature in the new galleries in Everywhere, where an interactive studio space will tell the story of how sound and image technologies have enabled local community representation in broadcasting and give visitors the chance to be a radio DJ.   

In a newly reconfigured part of the galleries which has opened up a double height space, artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called ‘Circus.’ Visitors will be invited to enter a room that comes to life using a captured live feed of themselves, like a chamber of mirrors, encouraging visitors to engage with broadcast technologies and see how image manipulation has changed over time.  

The museum has shared some of the designs that can be expected when it reopens next year, including an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. Elsewhere, the artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called Circus, where visitors will enter a 'chamber of mirrors' room filled with a captured live feed of themselves.

“Our new gallery designs reveal how the spaces will be dynamic, interactive and inspiring, underlining how all areas of our collection from photography to videogaming are embedded in every aspect of our lives,” said Quinton-Tulloch. “Visitors will be able to see the first ever photographic image, have a go at being a sound engineer, step inside the studio of a local radio station and enter a live art installation. We’ve also worked closely with local communities to ensure we’re telling stories that are relevant to Bradford, showcasing the creativity and diversity of our home city. We look forward to welcoming visitors back into the museum and into our new Sound and Vision galleries in 2025.”

See: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/sound-and-vision-project
and FAQs: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/closure-FAQ

Titled Photography and Cinema, from A to Z, the lecture will take the form of twenty-six short reflections on still and moving images. It will consider the relations between Photography and Cinema:stillness and movement, cinema’s changing attitude to the depiction of photographers on screen, the freeze frame and the art of the film publicity still.

The lecture series, newly established by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, will provide a platform for perspectives on photogra­phy, the moving image and the relationship between the two. Presented in partnership with the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, Birkbeck.

David Campany is an internationally renowned writer and curator. His books include On Photographs (2022), So Present, So Invisible – conversations on photography (2018), Walker Evans: the magazine work (2014), Gasoline (2013), Jeff Wall: Picture for Wom­en (2010), Art and Photography (2003) and Photography and Cinema, which received the 2009 Kraszna-Krausz Award. He has written over two hundred essays for, among others, Tate, MoMA New York, Cen­tre Pompidou, The Photographers’ Gallery London, and the Stedelijk Museum. Many of his touring exhibitions have combined still and moving images, including William Klein -YES: Photographs, Paint­ings, Films 1948-2013 (2022), A Trillion Sunsets: a Century of Image Overload (2021), A Handful of Dust (2015-2020), The Open Road: pho­tography and the American road trip (2016- 2019); The Still Point of the Turning World: Between Film and Photography (2017); Victor Burgin: A Sense of Place (2013); Anonymes: Unnamed America in Photogra­phy and Film (2010); and Hannah Collins: Current History (2010). He was the curator of the six-museum Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, (Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Heidelberg, Germany) which opened in February 2020.

The KRASZNA-KRAUSZ LECTURE 2024
Photography and Cinema, from A to Z, by David Campany
6.30pm, Tuesday 16 April 2024
Clore Lecture Theatre (CLO B01), Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, WC1E 7JL
Free, booking essential - Book your ticket here
Doors open 6pm. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception

Image: © Chris Marker, frame from La Jetée, 1962 courtesy Argos Films

In conjunction with its Bert Hardy exhibition this one-day conference invites participants to rethink existing narratives concerning post-war photography and its legacies.  Known for his work on the seminal British publication Picture Post, Bert Hardy is a pivotal figure in British photography. We will examine the formal qualities of Hardy’s photographs and the material conditions in which they were produced, reflecting, too, on discussions surrounding photojournalism to expand contemporary debates related to image-making today.

Key themes include ethics of social documentary practices; image circulation and the printed image; and broader questions on representation and methodologies in photojournalism.

Photographing Britain
Friday, 10 May 2024, 1200-1730
The Photographers' Gallery, London 
£15, £10 (members and concessions)
Book here: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/conference-photographing-britain?mc_cid=df96de44d4&mc_eid=355dc0ec8f

With support from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 

See details of the Bert Hardy exhibition here: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/bert-hardy-photojournalism-war-and-peace

The Dutch National Archives has announced that the Archive's photogeraphy collections including the Spaarnestad Photo Foundation will close to users effective from April 1, 2024. The Spaarnestad collection, which consists of approximately 15 million photos, will be preserved as a collection in its entirety. 

The National Archives has been working with the foundation since 2010 and has the collection in its possession. Until now, the services surrounding the collection were provided by Spaarnestad Photo, which is no longer sustainable. More than 1 million photos are accessible via the National Archives' image bank. About 400,000 photos are digitally available and downloadable to everyone. This remains the case.

The Dutch Archives states that the closure was necessary for the bulk of the collection - some 800,000 photographs - because copyright and/or image rights apply to them. The National Archives is currently in discussions with an external party to provide the services previously provided by the Spaarnestad Photo Foundation in the short term. 

Spaarnestad Photo provided services for the Spaarnestad collection, so that (copy)rights holders received payment for image use. A solution to the issue of copyright payments is currently being worked on. Part of the payments for images went to Spaarnestad to cover costs.  Even though the foundation will cease to exist on 1 April 2024, the collection will be preserved in its entirety.  The NA is currently considering next steps for specific services to museums, media, publishers and other external users.

The Dutch national Archives  manages 15 million photos, with more than one million online. The photo collection provides an overview of events from the period between 1865 and 1990. Of these  more than 400,000 high-resolution photographs are available for use for free. The National Archives has relinquished its copyright for most of these photographs and they can be used freely, including in commercial publications.

The closure has prompted an outcry from historians and users and claims that the Archive's photography collections have a low priorities with a lack of trained staff to support them.  

Spaarnestad Photo Foundation runs one of the world’s largest photographic archives, managing a collection of over 13,000,000 images, specializing in Dutch life dated from 1867 through until the digital era. It is undoubtedly the richest visual resource documenting how Dutch people lived and breathed in the mid to late 19th and entire 20th centuries. In the collection you can find art, culture, festivals, inventions, fashion, food, housing, traffic, healthcare, business and finance imagery and much, much more.

Working hand in hand with the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands, the complete physical collection is recognized as a national heritage. Since 2011 the photo collection has been rehoused and is conserved at their depot in The Hague, while Spaarnestad Photo handles the professional usage.

See: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/nieuws/de-spaarnestad-collectie

https://spaarnestadphoto.nl/spaarnestad-photo

Image: Fotocollectie Spaarnestad Onderwerpen / 477067_006

The publication of Through Shaded Glass – women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860-1960 (Te Papa Press, 2023) represents a significant milestone in foregrounding the involvement and photographic work of over 190 women makers of photography in Aotearoa prior to 1960.

The book draws on years of primary research locating names, photographs and researching the lives of women photographers. The book explores photographic practise where women have made strong contributions and which have been sidelined or overlooked in this country’s photographic histories to date such as collaborative working practises, photographers and the Second World War, non-binary practises, and the involvement of Māori women in making early photography here.

This illustrated talk will focus on the hidden legacies of women photographers. Of particular focus will be the tension between the lives and work of a selection of photographers working during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Lissa Mitchell is a photographic historian and curator of photography at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. They are the author of Through Shaded Glass - women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 to 1960 (Te Papa Press, 2023) and have contributed to numerous publications including An Alternative History of Photography (Prestel, 2022) and Brian Brake – Lens on the World (Te Papa Press, 2010).

Through Shaded Glass - women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 to 1960
Lissa Mitchell, hosted by National Library of New Zealand
Online:  Wednesday 3 April 2024, 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m; (12am UK)
Register: https://dia-nz.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GHdzwYtAQka18PAYF1ZXyw#/registration

The nature, form, and impact of the book changed dramatically with the introduction of photography, altering the way books would be made, would appear, and would help transform the communication of ideas in visual form.

In parallel to this phenomenon, the ability of the photograph to reach its widest audience would entail an essential partnership with the form of the book. The nomenclature of photography remains tied to the book: we think of the photographic “print” and of “printing” a photograph, even in an era where digital imagery dominates. 

Alongside these intertwined histories is the current phenomenon of the “photobook,” with a great resurgence and flowering of studies on photobooks, and of contemporary photography’s increased creative engagement with the format of the book through dealers, fairs, specialized auction sales, and publications, and through a wealth of practice. 

This course is designed to explore the history of the photographic book since Anna Atkins’s Photographs of British Algae was first privately circulated in 1843. It will be comprised of six two-hour sessions delivered online, based on the collections of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.

The six sessions will emphasize the physical form of the photographic book, an element neglected by most of the recent studies of the genre. It aims, therefore, to bring together the twin disciplines of the history of the book and the history of photography. Classes will be structured around the examination of exemplar cases—and will examine these case studies through paying close attention to the materiality of the books: paper, printing techniques, and design, as well as distribution, sales, and prices. Many of the examples will be illuminated through supporting archival evidence.

Topics

Introduction and Overview to the Course / The Earliest Photobooks

• Bibliography and historiography of the photographic book, from Johann Heinrich Schulze to Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
• Outline of history of technology of reproducing photographic images
• Early experiments in the photographic book: Anna Atkins, William Henry Fox Talbot, Hill & Adamson 

The Nineteenth Century, Photography in Silver and the Pasted-in Print

• From paper to glass negatives; salted paper prints to albumen
• The Blanquard-Evrard era: August Salzmann, Maxime Du Camp
• The Albumen era: Francis Frith, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alexander Gardner, George Washington Wilson 

Not Fade Away: The Rise of the Photomechanical Processes

•  Photogravure, carbon prints, woodburytype, collotype
• Nasmyth and Carpenter, The Moon; Men of Mark; John Thomson; P. H. Emerson; Gertrude Kasebier, Camera Work

Fit to Print: Photography in Ink and the Mass Image

•  The half-tone and rotogravure
• Germaine Krull, the rise of the picture magazines, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, Brassai, August Sander, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson 

The Ubiquitous Image: Photolithography 

• The continued evolution of photolithography
• Ed Ruscha, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, Diane Arbus, Josef Koudelka, Daido Moriama, Eikoh Hosoe, Killed by Roses; Richard Benson and the mastery of photolithography, The Work of Atget; Madonna’s Sex
• Innovation in the photobook: the integration with digital Susan Meiselas Nicaragua
•  Making a photobook: Martin Parr, Oxford (2018), and a glimpse inside the Steidl printing shop

The Photographic Book since 1843
Delivered by Richard Ovenden, for Rare Book School
Course Length: 12 hours
Schedule: 1–5 July 2024
Format: Online
Fee: $800

Details: https://rarebookschool.org/courses/illustration/i45v/

The Bodleian Library's first curator of photography, Phillip Roberts, has left his post to spend more more time with his family, Writing last week on X, formerly Twitter, Roberts said "I decided to stop being the Bodliean’s [sic] photography curator The library has been wonderful, but the loves of my little life are 300 miles away and I want to be part of a family I’m tired of trains and sleeping on my own. My life is more than my work and my work doesn’t give me the things that I really want. I’d rather be in love".

He added that "I’m sad because I have built something really special in Oxford The Bodliean [sic] is going to be one of the country’s most important photographic collections. It’s one of the very few places able to collect complete photographers archives (and one of the few collecting at all). British photography desperately needs somewhere committed to preserving its history. Oxford has the resources to guarantee the survival of vulnerable archives and to give weight to an underresourced photo heritage sector". 

Phillip Roberts joined the Bodleian in March 2022 as as Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography. He was previously at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford. 

See: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bodleian-curator-of-photography-announced

UPDATE: Phillip's former role is now bring advertised: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/vacancy-the-bern-and-ronny-schwartz-curator-of-photography-bodlei

At the Rijksmuseum, we conduct cutting-edge research into our collection every day. For example, delving into the stories behind the photos or the purposes for which they were created. As a curator of photography, you connect history and art, making important themes from past and present visible. It's a challenging position where you bridge art, history, society, and the public.

You'll be responsible for the collection of photography from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and closely involved in all aspects of scientific research, publication, and interpretation of works in this field. You'll also propose new acquisitions and play a significant role in exhibitions and presentations.

Your main tasks are:

• Carefully managing the assigned collections and ensuring their registration and accessibility;
• Conducting scientific research and publishing on photography;
• Organizing and contributing to exhibitions and smaller presentations;
• Sharing expertise with both specialists and a wider audience through publications, lectures, and tours;
• Monitoring the art market and proposing acquisitions of photography for the museum;
• Maintaining contacts with collectors;
• Representing the Rijksprentenkabinet in the field.

Curator of Photohgraphy
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Closes, 29 March 2024
See: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/careers/vacancies/curator-of-photography--1058431

Photo Oxford has appointed Katy Barron as its new director. She has been involved in Photo Oxford since 2021 and played a key role in the delivery of the last highly successful festival. Katy is a photography curator, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Photofusion and has worked with museums, galleries, festivals, collectors and artists. She studied at the Courtauld Institute and Magdalen College Oxford. 

Paul Bullivant, chair of Photo Oxford said: "We are delighted to be working with Katy and look forward to sharing her passion, energy and ideas with you. I also want to take this opportunity to confirm that the next Photo Oxford Festival will take place in October and November 2025. Meanwhile we are running a series of exciting events with a range of partners during 2024 and in the run-up to the festival next year".

Katy can be reached at: e: katy@photooxford.org

The National Trust has launched its new book 100 Photographs. The book was showcased with a public talk from national curator of photographs Anna Sparham at The Photography and Video Show on 17 March, followed by a launch event in partnership with the book's sponsor CEWE.

Spanning the history of photography from the 1840s to the present day, the book showcases 100 photographs chosen from the more than 250,000 held in collections at Trust properties. Alongside works by photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Chambré Hardman, Dorothy Wilding, Angus McBean and Jane Bown are remarkable images captured by less familiar practitioners. Professional studio portraits, landscapes and images of war sit beside family groups, domestic scenes and travel photographs by talented amateurs who provide glimpses into the way we have viewed and recorded the world over the last two centuries. Many of these photographs have only recently been discovered and are reproduced here for the first time. More than 25 per cent of the photographers highlighted are women. 

The book is currently available through National Trust shops and then through bookshops from 4 April 2024. 

100 Photographs. From the Collections of the National Trust
Anna Sparham, with an introduction from Robin Muir
National Trust, 2024
£10, hardback, 224 pages
Order from the Trust: https://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/100-photographs-from-the-collections-of-the-national-trust.html

Photographs: © Michael Pritchard

Tate London has appointed Singaporean Charmaine Toh as Senior Curator International Art (Photography). She replaces Dr Yasufumi Nakamori who was appointed in 2018 and has returned to the United States. 

Charmaine Toh has curated over 30 exhibitions ranging from small solo shows in independent spaces to large survey exhibitions in museums. At her former role as Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore, she led the exhibitions Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia (2022), Chua Soo Bin: Truths and Legends (2019) and Earth Work 1979 (2016) and contributed to Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia (2018-2019) and Siapa Nama Kamu: Art in Singapore since the 19th century (2015).

Prior to that, Toh curated exhibitions at ACC Gwangju (2015), the Fukutake House at the Setouchi Triennale (2013) and BankArt Yokohama (2011). She was also co-curator of the 2013 Singapore Biennale. With extensive commissioning experience, she has worked with artists such as Danh Vo, Ho Tzu Nyen, Erika Tan, Amanda Heng, Vertical Submarine, Li Hui and Matthew Ngui. Charmaine is also the founder and Director of The Art Incubator (2009-2015), where she worked with over 20 emerging artists to develop new work via residency programmes.

She received her PhD from the University of Melbourne. She is the author of Imagining Singapore: Pictorial Photography from the 1950s to the 1970s (Brill, 2023). She has published in numerous catalogues and journals, and has contributed to Survey Practices and Landscape Photography Across the Globe (Routledge, 2022) and An Alternative History of Photography (Prestel, 2022). She is the editor of History and Imagination: Modern Photography from Singapore (2021), Earth Work 1979 (2016) and Reflect/Refract: Essays on Photography (2013).

See also:

https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/tate-modern-appoints-senior-curator-international-art-photography
https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/tate-modern-s-simon-baker-leaves-for-paris
https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/tate-britain-appoints-kate-bush-to-a-new-curatorial-role

The Photographic Collections Network is a specialist subject network, providing support for UK photographic collections. PCN aims to ensure that the value of photographic collections is acknowledged and maximised for the public benefit, in order that people can understand their own heritage and that of others.
 
We are on the journey to becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and this will bring great opportunities for us to expand our reach and provide support for the UKs photographic collections and heritage. We are looking for people to help us to build this potential so we can better deliver on our aims. Are you the person that can help lead this change? We are looking to recruit Trustees to help steer our organisation during an exciting period in its development.

As part of PCNs commitment to supporting photographic collections and heritage, we need to develop our organisation and our sustainable future. As part of this journey we are looking to create a new board of trustees. We are also looking to secure long term sustainable premises that better support our activities and ambition. 
Currently we are seeking an interim Treasurer while we set up PCN as a CIO. There is the opportunity for the interim Treasure to apply to remain as PCN Treasurer when CIO status is achieved. At this time we will recruit additional Trustee roles. 

Our ideal candidate for the interim Treasurer would have accountancy qualification or an equivalent level of experience and expertise in accountancy and charity finance and reporting. A person working in Finance, Governance, Legal, with Charity experience either through an executive or previous Trustee role would be suitable. The candidate Ideally would have professional experience with organisational Governance and Financial management. A background in the photography or understanding of collections sector is not necessary but an enthusiasm and interest in the charitable sector is. If you have any of the skills listed above, we would love to hear from you.

Interim Treasurer Role:
Key to our fiscal responsibility we require a treasurer to oversee our finances as we become a CIO and continue to deliver our engagement programme for the Museums, Collections and Photographic Heritage sector supported by Arts Council England. The interim Treasurer will liaise with relevant staff, advisory board and Board members to ensure the financial viability of the organisation.

You will oversee the financial matters of the Photographic Collections Network in line with good practice and in accordance with the governing document and legal requirements, and report to the Board of Trustees at regular intervals about the financial health of the organisation. The interim Treasurer will ensure that effective financial measures, controls and procedures are put in place, and are appropriate for the charity.

PCN welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds and would love to hear from applicants who belong to groups underrepresented in the charitable sector.

Full details here: https://www.photocollections.org.uk/news

As part of the Women and Worlds of Learning in Europe: From the Medieval to the Modern Day conference, Rose Teanby, a PhD student at De Montfort University, will present a paper on Friday, 12th April, titled 'A Woman’s Place?: Photographic Education in England 1839 – 1861'

Women and Worlds of Learning in Europe: From the Medieval to the Modern Day
12-13 April 2024 (|registration closes 31 March 2024)
Oxford, History Faculty Building, George Street
£8 (without conference dinner)
Details: https://www.womenandworldsoflearning.com/

The Photographers’ Gallery has announced the appointment Amanda Gray as the new Chair of the  Board of Trustees. Working closely with Director Shoair Mavlian, Amanda will lead the Board in supporting the Gallery’s vision to be the home for next generation photography.

Amanda Gray is a Partner at international law firm, Mishcon de Reya, specialising in art law and the related field of luxury assets. Amanda has been a trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA); is the Honorary Legal Counsel for Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Sussex; is the co-chair of the Art Lawyers Association; and is also a member of the Responsible Art Market committee, London Chapter.

Amanda Gray said: “It is such a pleasure to be joining The Photographers' Gallery to work with Shoair Mavlian and her team. The Photographers' Gallery has a rich and vibrant creative legacy of photographic programming, exhibitions and curatorship and it is an exciting time to be involved in the Gallery's next phase. Since 1971, The Photographers' Gallery has held a central and leading role in the history of photography.  It is therefore such an honour to play a small part in this treasured institution's journey as it continues to flourish. The photographic image has never been more significant in witnessing and commentating on our society and the recent sell-out Daidō Moriyama show was indicative of that. As a visitor to the gallery in Great Newport Street many years ago, I could scarcely have imagined that I would find myself lucky enough to step into this role many years later. I have large shoes to fill and I hope I can achieve half as much as former Chairs, such as  Matthew Stephenson and Michelle Shuttleworth, who have done so much for the Gallery.”

Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, Shoair Mavlian said: “I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Gray to The Photographers’ Gallery as our new Chair of Trustees. Amanda brings with her a wealth of experience which I’m sure will support the Gallery’s goals and purpose over the coming years. It is an exciting time for the Gallery and we look forward to welcoming Amanda into The Photographers’ Gallery community.”

The Photographers’ Gallery explores how photography is connecting, captivating and radically changing our world today. The Gallery’s programme and spaces – from exhibitions, events and digital platforms, to the galleries, shop and cafe – all explore the beauty, complexity and future of photography. Right outside the Gallery, the very best of contemporary photography is shown for free, day and night, in Soho Photography Quarter. tpg.org.uk

The UK's Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published visitor numbers for its sponsored museums. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has also done the same. Of particular interest are those for the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford. Other photography venues such as the V&A Museum do not report individual gallery visitor numbers, and other venues report numbers in annual reports, or to sponsoring bodies such as Arts Council England.

NSMM:   

The NSMM closed in June 2023 with an expected re-opening date of late 2024, ready for 2025's Bradford Year of Culture. 

ALVA has published visitor numbers back to 2006 and BPH has reported historical numbers in the past. 

The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum recently hosted an interview with James Hyman, art historian, gallerist, curator and co-founder, with Claire, of the Centre of British Photography. The interview looked at James's early education, his career as a critic and art historian, and as a gallery owner. It then turned to the Hyman Collection (41m 50s), photography in Britain (42m 31s), and audiences for photography (44m 20s). James notes "photography is one of the best value areas of the enture art market".

The ethos and thinking behind the Centre for British Photography is explained (50m 10s) and James then turns to the current position of the Centre and its aspirations for the future (1h 00m 03s) which include educational partnerships, touring exhibitions and acquiring phootgraphers' archives.

It's an engaging interview throughout. 

James Hyman interviewed about his career in the art world from James Hyman Gallery on Vimeo.

or link here: https://vimeo.com/753828812

The Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Stereo World carries new research by Rebecca Sharpe in to the Stamford photographer and stereographer Elizabeth Higgins (1828-1899). The research was prompted by the discovery of stereocards by Higgins dating from c1859.  

Rebecca Sharpe, 'The hidden depths of Elizabeth Higgins (1828-1899). Early Lincolnshire stereo photographer'
Stereo World, v.49, no. 4 (Jan-Feb) 2024, 12-19

There is also some information on Higgins here: https://www.stamfordsightsandsecretstours.com/virtual-tour-stamford-women/2020/11/28/elizabeth-higgins-photographer 

Image: Elizabeth Higgins, St Peter's Collis Almshouses, All Saint's Street, Stamford, c1859., one-half of a stereo pair.

Join the V&A for an exploration of the work of one of Vogue’s first and most influential fashion and portrait photographers. During his glittering career in Europe and America, George Hoyningen-Huene collaborated with the likes of Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst and Lee Miller, and befriended Hollywood’s brightest stars. V&A Curator Lydia Caston and Condé Nast Corporate Photography Director Ivan Shaw join author Susanna Brown to discuss Hoyningen-Huene’s extraordinary life and legacy.

This event celebrates the publication of the major new book from Thames & Hudson, George Hoyningen-Huene: Photography, Fashion, Film.

George Hoyningen-Huene: Photography, Fashion & Film
Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 1900-2045
London: V&A Museum
https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/PaeDyR2xd3B/photography-fashion-film

“In 2012, I found a piece of material in a rock pool that changed my life. Mistaking this moving piece of cloth for seaweed, started the recovery of synthetic clothing from around the coastline of Britain for the next ten years”. 

Two hundred and two ‘specimens’ of clothing and garments recovered from one hundred and twenty-one beaches mimic different species of marine algae, with the intention to raise awareness about the over consumption of synthetic plastic clothing also referred to as ‘fast fashion’, which is currently having the greatest impact on global climate change. 

After seeing an original copy of the book, ‘Photographs of British Algae, Volume 1’, by Anna Atkins, at The Royal Society in London, Barker was captivated by its detail and significance, for the way it changed how we looked at science in 1800’s, but more importantly for the possibility to re-create similar work that could engage how we look at science in connection with a present-day critical issue.

In this new presentation titled ‘Cyanotype Imperfections’, instead of the Atkins ‘Cyanotype Impressions’, the book includes 202 cyanotype images and 8 cyanotype text pages using original 1800’s J Whatman paper that Atkins used from the original Turkey Mill in Kent. 

The project was first published in The Guardian on 16 March, Atkins' birthday. See: https://twitter.com/plasticpieces/status/1768926794114089403

PHOTOGRAPHS OF BRITISH ALGAE CYANOTYPE IMPERFECTIONS
A - B (Atkins - Barker) 1843 – 2023. 
See: https://www.atkins-barker.com/

UPDATED see: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/mar/19/mandy-barker-ocean-waste-cyanotypes-anna-atkins and https://twitter.com/plasticpieces/status/1771099288782651535

Art curators will be able to recover images on daguerreotypes, the earliest form of photography that used silver plates, after a team of scientists led by Western University learned how to use light to see through degradation that has occurred over time.

Research published in Scientific Reports – Nature includes two images from the National Gallery of Canada’s photography research unit that show photographs that were taken, perhaps as early as 1850, but were no longer visible because of tarnish and other damage. The retrieved images, one of a woman and the other of a man, were beyond recognition.

“It’s somewhat haunting because they are anonymous and yet it is striking at the same time,” said Madalena Kozachuk, a PhD student in Western’s Department of Chemistry and lead author of the scientific paper. The image is totally unexpected because you don’t see it on the plate at all. It’s hidden behind time,” continues Kozachuk. “But then we see it and we can see such fine details: the eyes, the folds of the clothing, the detailed embroidered patterns of the table cloth.”

The identities of the woman and the man are not known. It’s possible that the plates were produced in the United States, but they could be from Europe.

For the past three years, Kozachuk and an interdisciplinary team of scientists have been exploring how to use synchrotron technology to learn more about chemical changes that damage daguerreotypes.

Invented in 1839, daguerreotype images were created using a highly polished silver-coated copper plate that was sensitive to light when exposed to an iodine vapour. Subjects had to pose without moving for two to three minutes for the image to imprint on the plate, which was then developed as a photograph using a mercury vapour that was heated.

Kozachuk conducts much of her research at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and previously published results in scientific journals in 2017 and earlier this year. In those articles, the team members identified the chemical composition of the tarnish and how it changed from one point to another on a daguerreotype.

“We compared degradation that looked like corrosion versus a cloudiness from the residue from products used during the rinsing of the photographs during production versus degradation from the cover glass. When you look at these degraded photographs, you don’t see one type of degradation,” said Ian Coulthard, a senior scientist at the CLS and one of Kozachuk’s co-supervisors. He is also a co- author on the research papers.

This preliminary research at the CLS led to today’s paper and the images Kozachuk collected at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source where she was able to analyze the daguerreotypes in their entirety.

Kozachuk used rapid-scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence imaging to analyze the plates, which are about 7.5 cm wide, and identified where mercury was distributed on the plates. With an X-ray beam as small as 10×10 microns (a human scalp hair averages 75 microns across) and at an energy most sensitive to mercury absorption, the scan of each daguerreotype took about eight hours.

“Mercury is the major element that contributes to the imagery captured in these photographs. Even though the surface is tarnished, those image particles remain intact. By looking at the mercury, we can retrieve the image in great detail,” said Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham, Western’s Canada Research Chair in Materials and Synchrotron Radiation. He also is a co-author of the research and Kozachuk’s supervisor.

This research will contribute to improving how daguerreotype images are recovered when cleaning is possible and will provide a way to seeing what’s below the tarnish if cleaning is not possible. The prospect of improved conservation methods intrigues John P. McElhone, recently retired as the chief of Conservation and Technical Research branch at the Canadian Photography Institute of National Gallery of Canada. He provided the daguerreotypes from the Institute’s research collection.

“There are a lot of interesting questions that at this stage of our knowledge can only be answered by a sophisticated scientific approach,” said McElhone, another of the co-authors of today’s paper. “A conservator’s first step is to have a full and complete understanding of what the material is and how it is assembled on a microscopic and even nanoscale level. We want to find out how the chemicals are arranged on the surface and that understanding gives us access to theories about how degradation happens and how that degradation can possibly or possibly not be reversed.”

As the first commercialized photographic process, the daguerreotype is thought to be the first “true” visual representation of history. Unlike painters who could use “poetic licence” in their work, the daguerreotype reflected precisely what was photographed.

Thousands and perhaps millions of daguerreotypes were created over 20 years in the 19th century before the process was replaced. The Canadian Photography Institute collection numbers more than 2,700, not including the daguerreotypes in the institute’s research collection.

By improving the process of restoring these centuries-old images, the scientists are contributing to the historical record. What was thought to be lost that showed the life and times of people from the 19th century can now be found.

Image (top right): National Gallery of Canada//Western University.  An image of a woman is recovered from a 19th-century daguerreotype that had tarnished almost beyond recognition. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life.

(Below): Left:  An image of a man is hidden in this tarnished 19th-century daguerreotype. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life. Right:  An image of a man is recovered from a 19th-century daguerreotype that had tarnished beyond recognition. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life.

With thanks to Joan M. Schwartz.