Thursdays

September 24 - October 22

6 - 8 PM

Class Size Max: 10

Our era is one when everyone has become an archivist of their own experience. People often complain there are too many images in the world; the curator David Campany likes to reply, "How many do you want there to be?" This course takes the ocean of images as a condition to work with, offering entry points into conceptual photography and an expanded idea of documentary: how images relate to systems, how style carries histories and hierarchies, and why a question can be more generative than an idea. Each session pairs an hour of lecture with an hour of group discussion focusing on topics such as fact and fiction in photography, the potential of low-resolution imagery, questions of the archive, and labor and its relationship to images. Open to photographers, artists, and writers at all levels; no technical prerequisites. Students leave with a framework of questions for building conceptual projects of their own in photography, writing, film, installation, and book form. 

If your desired tuition option is unavailable, please email info@penumbrafoundation.org and we will do our best to accommodate you. If the entire class is sold out, we can add you to the waitlist.

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Caleb Stein (b. 1994, UK) is a multimedia artist working in photography, video, installation, and artist books, engaging questions of community, perception, and memory. He frequently works as an artist duo with Andrea Orejarena and in close collaboration with a wide range of collectives. His work is held in the permanant collections of The J. Paul Getty Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, among others and his artist books are held in institutional collections including MoMA, the Met, Harvard, Yale, and the Rijksmuseum. He has exhibited at FOAM, Deichtorhallen, and Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, among other places, and has lectured at ICP, Vassar College, and Sotheby's Art Institute. Down by the Hudson, just published this summer via Palo Gallery Press, is his fifth book. His work has been published in The New York Times, Kunstforum International, LA Review of Books, The Guardian, i-D Vice, Vogue Italia, British Journal of Photography. Stein is represented by ROSEGALLERY, LA, Palo Gallery, NY and Vin Gallery, Shanghai/HCMC. 

Image Credits:

Images 1 & 4: © Caleb Stein. From the series ‘How to Move a Mountain’ published by Luhz Press in 2024.

Images 2, 3, 5, 6, & 10: © Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein, From the series ‘American Glitch’ 2020-ongoing, with books by Gnomic Book 2023 and Palo Gallery Press 2025.

Images 7 & 9: © Caleb Stein. From the series ‘Down by the Hudson’ published by Palo Gallery Press in 2026.

Image 8: © Caleb Stein. From the series ‘Car Wash’ forthcoming with Luhz Press in 2027, edited by David Campany.