David Campany
POSITION
BIOGRAPHY
David saved himself from a tedious adolescence
in Essex by taking up photography and going to the movies. This led
to a degree in Film, Video and Photographic Arts at the Polytechnic
of Central London and later an MA in Photographic Studies at the
University of Westminster.
Today nothing much has changed. Photography
and cinema still fascinate and provide the basis for his work as a
writer, photographer, curator and lecturer. In the 1990s he taught
histories of art and graphic design at Winchester School of Art.
From 2000 to 2004 he taught photographic theory and practice at
Surrey Institute of Art and Design. He became a Reader in
Photography at the University of Westminster in 2004.
RESEARCH AREA
David’s research has five strands. He writes on documentary
photography, fine art photography, and on photography’s relation to
cinema. He also exhibits and publishes his photographic work that
also moves between documentary, fine art and cinema, and curates
photographic exhibitions
In 2001 he co-founded PhotoForum, an
organisation that aims to bring together advanced writers and
practitioners working with the photographic image. Current projects
include a book of extended writings on single photographs; a
collaborative residency in Xiamen, China with the photographer
Polly Braden (summer 2007); and a doctoral thesis on the subject of
Photography and Reproduction.
Beyond the University of Westminster David has
given many public talks and papers at Tate Modern, London; The
Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Photographer’s Gallery,
London; The Whitechapel Gallery, London; The National Portrait
Gallery, London; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; The Gulbenkian
Foundation, Lisbon; Kiasma, Helsinki and Jeu de Paume,
Paris.
PUBLICATIONS
- Art and Photography (Phaidon Press 2003)
- Photography and Cinema. (Reaktion Press
2008)
- The Cinematic, Whitechapel / MIT
Press 2007
- 'A theoretical diagram in an empty
classroom: Jeff Wall's Picture for Women' Oxford Art Journal,
March 2007
- ‘The Lens, the Shutter and the Light Sensitive Surface’
in James Elkins (ed) Photography Theory, Routledge,
2007.
- ‘Straight Images of a Crooked World’ in Paul Seawright
& Christopher Coppock (eds) SO NOW THEN, Fotogallery
Cardiff / Hereford Photography Festival 2006
- ‘Once More for Stills’ in Paper
Dreams - The Lost Art of Hollywood Still Photography Steidl/7L
- ‘Posing, Acting and Photography’ in David
Green & Joanna Lowry (eds) Stillness and Time: Photography
and the Moving Image Photoforum / Photoworks 2006
- ‘Who, What, Where, With What, Why,
How and When? The forensic rituals of John Divola’ in John
Divola: Three Acts, Aperture 2006
- ‘Dust Breeding’ in Singular Images,
Sophie Howarth, ed., Tate Publishing
- David also writes for the journals
Aperture, Photoworks, Frieze, Source, Tate
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
- London in Six Easy Steps, Institute on Contemporary
Arts, London 2005
- Peoples’ London, Friend’s Meeting
House, December 2006
AWARDS
- British Academy funding for the book
Photography and Cinema (Reaktion, 2008)
PHD SUPERVISION
- David is currently completing his Phd on
Photographic Reproduction