Tomáš Dvořák: Malé dejiny rozpoznávania obrazu
The Department of Photography and New Media at AFAD invites you to a lecture by Czech theorist and historian Tomáš Dvořák as part of its Masterclass programme.
- Venue: AFAD, Hviezdoslavovo námestie 18, Bratislava, meeting room 135 (first floor)
About the lecture
We usually tell the history of images as a history of their creation. But what if images arise through natural, technical or supernatural processes as well as deliberate human action, and recognising them is itself a particular form of creation?
The lecture will explore historical practices of finding, recognising and recording images that nobody intentionally made as images. From prehistoric finds and natural patterns through miraculous images and early modern optical devices to photography and contemporary machine vision, it will trace the shifting boundaries between intention and chance, creation and recognition, and human and non-human activity. It will offer an alternative view of the history of visual culture in which humans lose their privileged position not only as makers of images but also as their viewers and interpreters.
Tomáš Dvořák
Tomáš Dvořák heads the Department of Photography at FAMU in Prague and is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. His work focuses on the theory and history of media, art and visual culture. He recently published Modulation: The Parameter-Image (University of Exeter Press, 2026) and edited the collective volume Umělá inteligence jako (nové) médium (Karolinum, 2025).
