14 June, 7pm

Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Join Magnum Photos for the first in a programme of talks at the Barbican Centre, leading up to the celebration of Magnum’s 70th anniversary in 2017.

The world is currently experiencing the largest migration of people since WWII, with an estimated 60 million people on the move fleeing from war, persecution and poverty, according to the UN. Since September 2015 Magnum has been commissioning its own photographers to cover the migrant crisis across Europe, through the Middle East and into North Africa.

During this panel discussion, four expert panelists will reflect on the role of the image in this current crisis; how documentary practice can represent, analyse and challenge; connecting the public to the lived experiences of a political and economic crisis.

Anthony Downey, academic, editor and writer, will chair the panel.

Mark Power - Magnum Photographer
David Kogan - Magnum's Chief Executive
Steve Symonds - Programme Director for Refugee and Migrant Rights, Amnesty International
Sophie Henderson - Director, The Migration Museum Project

Magnum's ambitious self commissioned group project is a long term invested response to a critical issue, created in partnership with key media outlets.

From initially covering the immediate emergency of the refugee situation as people began to travel huge distances across land and sea, from Syria predominantly but also from Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran and elsewhere, Magnum photographers have now worked on nearly 16 stories that go beyond the news coverage of the crisis to look at the source of the problems in the countries of origin, to the infrastructure of the camps and the international aid delivery, to the various European responses including welcoming refugees into people’s homes the UK, France and Belgium. As the lead on this initiative, Magnum's CEO David Kogan will expand upon the agency's response to this crisis.

Mark Power captures the everyday architecture of the temporary spaces which are now home to more than 100,000 people; the Azraq and Zaatari Camps in northern Jordan. The latter was built in 2012 with the intention of temporarily housing 5,000 people; one year later 150,000 had settled there. Unlike Zaatari, the Azraq camp was intended to be a long-term settlement. It could accommodate 100,000 residents but only has 30,000 as of April, 2016. The 80,000 refugees that currently live in Zaatari have seen conditions improve over time and development continues. Current and coming projects will introduce better water supply, sewage systems, internet access and solar power. Thousands of small shops offer most of what one would expect to find in a fixed city’s shopping district.

Amnesty has been working with refugees and migrants for decades. From helping to prevent refugees being returned to be persecuted to protecting the most vulnerable migrants from being exploited and abused by their employers, traffickers and smugglers. Steve Symonds will discuss Amnesty's response to the recent crisis, and the role (and responsibility) of the photographic image in their communications and advocacy work.

The Migration Museum Project plans to create the UK’s first dedicated Migration Museum and to tell the story of movement into and out of the UK in a fresh and engaging way. The museum will be an enquiry into who we are, where we came from and where we are going. The Migration Museum aims to contribute to the public debate about migration, through a range of touring exhibitions and events, and through an inspiring education programme, opening up conversations and discussion about Britishness and belonging in a way that polarised media and political debates are not able to do.

The talk will be chaired by academic, editor and writer, Anthony Downey. His research focuses on global forms of cultural production and their relationship to the politics of contemporary art practices; new media, collaborative and participative art practices; human rights, bio-politics and migration; and contemporary cultural production the Maghreb, the Middle East and Global South.

Recent and upcoming publications include Future Imperfect: Art Institutions and Critical Practices in the Middle East (Sternberg Press, 2016); Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2015); Art and Politics Now (Thames and Hudson, 2014); Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practice in North Africa and the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2014); Slavs and Tatars: Mirrors for Princes (JRP Ringier, 2015); and The Future of a Promise: Contemporary Art from the Arab World (Ibraaz Publishing, 2011).

For tickets and further information please <a href='http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=19639' target='_blank'>click here</a>