IMAGE AND MEDIA COMPETENCE AT FOTOMUSEUM WINTERTHUR IN A NUTSHELL
1) We see networked images and the photographic as a key element in our society: addressing this topic is a core educational task.
2) Our approach to fostering image and media competence is based on peer-to-peer communication: the process unfolds in an experimental setting, with everyone learning from and with one another.
3) The subjects and content we focus on are directly connected with our everyday experience – we draw on topical examples as a means to explore contextual complexity, while keeping sight of historical parameters.
4) We encourage participants to boldly question norms and mechanisms, while opening up space for discussion – where the focus is on a sensitive and precise use of language.

At Fotomuseum Winterthur, education is considered a key aspect of our work. In addition to exhibitions, publications and theory-driven investigations, education is one of the central pillars of our institution. Our educational activities take place not only on the museum’s premises but also on location at conferences, in schools, as guests of other institutions and online.

The rapid changes in photography call for active engagement. We are faced with new kinds of images every day. Photographers no longer necessarily press the shutter release, but copy, edit, remix and recontextualise existing material. They write codes and let algorithms generate images. Also, we are not merely consumers of images, but also produce and distribute them by posting them in social networks, sending them via instant messaging services or storing them in the cloud. At Fotomuseum Winterthur, we are very open and adventurous in our engagement with these changes, researching contemporary developments and participating in the discourse on photography. We are committed to a reflective examination of photographic media and wish to encourage an independent, thoughtful and creative use of media. For this reason we are expanding our educational program with a strong focus on image and media competence and reflect on the entire spectrum of photography.

From 2015–2017 Nadine Wietlisbach was Director of Photoforum Pasquart Biel/Bienne, following her post as a curator at the Nidwaldner Museum in Stans, where she was responsible for all contemporary art exhibitions and publications, as well as presentations of the museum’s collection from 2012–2015. In 2009–2010 she worked for Pro Helvetia the Swiss Arts Council in Zurich and South Africa. Between 2013–2016 she was a regular lecturer at the Berner Hochschule der Künste in Bern. She founded the independent art space sic! Raum für Kunst in Lucerne in 2007, which is still up and run by the third generation of female* curators.