In this elective, we explore gestures and their meanings. They are fundamental forms of bodily expression. In a visually oversaturated culture, gestures are constantly being re-coded, copied, ironized, or politically charged. Through social media, they are presented to us in rapid, short clips, requiring us to decode and interpret them within seconds. Gestures can be used in highly manipulative ways: they reproduce power structures or challenge them. We analyze the cultural codes behind them and examine role models within a global context.

Gestures of empowerment aim to strengthen self-determination, self-confidence, and a sense of agency, both in oneself and in others. They help to break stereotypes and question established structures. Through photography, we explore how gestures function in photography, film, and social media. We also engage with artistic forms of expression such as staging and performance that make use of gesture.

The artistic goal of this elective is to develop photographic stagings of gestures in the context of empowerment and its opposite. We will make them visible through stop-motion films composed of photographic still images. These contrasting gesture stagings in stop-motion form should either contradict or comment on each other. For example: power versus vulnerability, protest versus acceptance, visibility versus invisibility, individuality versus algorithm.

The historical technique of Pepper’s Ghost projection, developed in theatrical and stage contexts, allows us to combine two contrasting interpretations of gestures through overlay and blending. To apply this technique, we will work in the photo studio using black background and flash lighting. In this setting we develop performative stop-motion sequences photographically. In a playful way, participants of this Elective will also acquire extensive knowledge in studio photography and post-production.

To bring the contrasting stop-motion sequences together, we will develop a spatial media installation: a box made of MDF panels in which the Pepper’s Ghost method is applied.

Pepper’s Ghost is an illusion technique using reflective surfaces from the 19th century, widely used in theater. Today it is often described as a form of 3D holography. By projecting onto a reflective surface positioned at a 45-degree angle, ghost-like figures or objects appear on stage. The artist William Kentridge has used this technique extensively in his work and serves as an inspiration for these miniature stage settings.