In December 2011 an inspirational expert seminar took place in the framework of the research project 'Erich Salomon: Parliamentary Photographer in Berlin and The Hague. German-Dutch Parliamentary Imagery in Comparison 19181940'. Since September 2010 the Montesquieu Institute is facilitating this research project by Dr. Marij Leenders (Centre for Parliamentary History) in co-operation with the German historian dr. Andreas Biefang (KGParl) about Erich Salomon (1918-1940) as parliamentary photographer in both Berlin and The Hague.

During the December expert seminar thirteen authors gave short lectures and three chairmen gave a general introduction on the topic. Four main topics of interest were discussed here:

1.	representations of parliamentary politics, in written documents and imagery. Within this framework competing conceptions of 'good' or 'real' democracy and of correct / incorrect parliamentary politics were discussed.
2.	the visual economy ': the importance of the infrastructure of the business media (including press and photo agencies) and the media
3.	the importance of technological developments in photography, in graphic design and in the movie business. These developments give an explanation for the changing visualization of politics.
4.	the importance of image conventions, visual traditions, visual strategies in political satire, caricatures, portraiture and self-representation.

The goal of this conference was to achieve greater coherence between the contributions, to compare source material and to discuss the theoretical concepts. These target were certainly met. The aim of the project is the publication of a comparative study on public culture and visual traditions. A German and Dutch publication will appear in the spring of 2013.

Program

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