The Cosmopolitics of Visual Memory: Albert Kahn and the Archives of the Planet

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Kjetil A. Jakobsen Editor

Trond E. Bjorli Editor

Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich, 2013, English

Nonfiction, Photography

6.5 x 9.5 inches, hardcover, 400 pages, approximately 250 illustrations

ISBN: 9783037783405

Suggested Retail Price: $65.00

From the Publisher. In 1912, the French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn ( 1860 –1940 ) founded “The Archives of the Planet,” an extensive collection of photographs and films that today contains 72,000 autochromes and 183,000 meters of film. Between 1909 and 1932, Kahn sent documentarists to sixty countries on four continents to capture on film and in autochromes the everyday life and the art, culture, and religion of different societies. He was convinced that the knowledge of foreign cultures promoted mutual respect among people. The Cosmopolitics of Visual Memory: Albert Kahn and the Archives of the Planet is the first publication offering a thematic access to this fascinating collection of visual records, highlighting aspects such as mobility, communications, or ethnographic documentation. Texts by Jay Winter, Paula Amad, Kjetil A. Jakobsen, Trond E. Bjorli, and Gilles Baud-Berthier discuss the role of the then new media in establishing a cosmopolitan and pacifist worldview as well as Henri Bergson’s influence on Albert Kahn. In addition, Trond Lundemo reflects on the medial conditions of analogous imagery, seen from our perspective of the digital age.

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