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Dr Paolo Magagnoli
Dr

Paolo Magagnoli

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 334 68808

Overview

Background

I completed my MA and PhD in Art History at University College London in 2012, and moved to Australia in 2015 to take up my position at UQ. I am an art historian with expertise in the history of photography, artists’ cinema and video. I have written widely on modern and contemporary art and his articles have appeared in Oxford Art Journal, Third Text, Afterall, Philosophy of Photography, Photography and Culture. I am also the author of Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary (2015). I am in favour of a broader approach to image culture, one which crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines such as art history, media studies, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. My research interests are contemporary artists’ use of images for the production of history and memory, and the aesthetics and politics of documentary. I am interested in the history of Australian photography and the role that lens-based images and visual culture have played in advancing social and environmental justice movements in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Availability

Dr Paolo Magagnoli is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University College London

Research interests

  • History and Theory of Photography, Visual Culture, Modern and Contemporary Art

Research impacts

Citation Counts According to Google Scholar my book Documents of Utopia has been quoted 55 times since its publication. My metrics:

H-Index: 5

Hi-Index: 5

Total Citations: 138

Standing of Publishers

MIT Press (Documents of Contemporary Art Series): MIT Press is one of the leading academic presses in the field of art and visual culture.

Columbia University Press is one of the top academic presses in the field of the arts and humanities.

Routledge is one of the top publishers in the field of photography studies, publishing some of the most utilized textbooks in the discipline.

History of Photography is ranked Q2 by SCImago (between top 50% and top 25%).

Journal of Australian Studies is ranked Qby SCImago (between top 50% and top 25%).

Photography and Culture is ranked Q2 by SCImago (between top 50% and top 25%).

Oxford Art Journal is the leading journal in the field of art history. It has a H-index of 13. It was ranked A in ERA 2010.

Third Text was ranked Q1 (top 25%) in the SCImago Visual and Performing Arts subject category for 2011 through to 2013 and Q2 (between top 50% and top 25%) from 2014 to the present. It has a H-index of 14. It was ranked A in ERA 2010.

Journal of Chinese Contemporary Art: the journal’s editorial board includes some leading international scholars from the University of Chicago, University of Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Philosophy of Photography is ranked 15th among the top 20 journals in Google Scholar’s Visual Art subject category (accessed: 29/2/16)

Afterall is published by Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London and the Department of Visual Arts, University of Chicago, in association with the University of Chicago Press. It has a h5-index of 4 and h5-median score of 5.

Art In America, Frieze, Camera Austria, Burlington Magazine are very influential art magazines with a worldwide circulation of up to 75,000 printed copies.

Selected Reviews of Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary

“Drawing on a dazzling array of sources, the book offers a clear and sophisticated argument that a desire to recover the past can also be one to rethink the future” — As Paul Wilson, Associate Professor of Art History, Ithaca College, New York.

Selected Reviews of Work: Documents of Contemporary Art

“A truly brilliant anthology that could function as a textbook for students interested in understanding this major issue in contemporary art debates.” — Angela Dimitrakaki,

Professor, University of Edinburgh.

Works

Search Professor Paolo Magagnoli’s works on UQ eSpace

29 works between 2010 and 2025

1 - 20 of 29 works

Featured

2025

Journal Article

Photography and Racial Capitalism: A Special Issue of <i>History of Photography</i>

Magagnoli, Paolo (2025). Photography and Racial Capitalism: A Special Issue of History of Photography. History of Photography, 48 (3), 207-210. doi: 10.1080/03087298.2025.2572933

Photography and Racial Capitalism: A Special Issue of <i>History of Photography</i>

2025

Journal Article

Symbolic violence: Pacific Islander labourers and photography

Magagnoli, Paolo (2025). Symbolic violence: Pacific Islander labourers and photography. History of Photography, 48 (3), 226-246. doi: 10.1080/03087298.2025.2580797

Symbolic violence: Pacific Islander labourers and photography

2025

Journal Article

Photography as labour and industry: reading photographic archives of indentured labour

Magagnoli, Paolo (2025). Photography as labour and industry: reading photographic archives of indentured labour. Labour History, 129 (129), 201-210. doi: 10.3828/labourhistory.2025.33

Photography as labour and industry: reading photographic archives of indentured labour

2024

Other Outputs

Nothing Has Changed: Interview with Ian Millis

Magagnoli, Paolo (2024, 04 23). Nothing Has Changed: Interview with Ian Millis Labor Art Review 1-9.

Nothing Has Changed: Interview with Ian Millis

2024

Other Outputs

Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Intimate Archeologies of Australian Slavery

Magagnoli, Paolo (2024, 04 21). Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Intimate Archeologies of Australian Slavery Town Hall

Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Intimate Archeologies of Australian Slavery

2024

Book Chapter

To put a human face on the question of labour: photographic portraiture and the Australian-Pacific indentured labour trade

Magagnoli, Paolo (2024). To put a human face on the question of labour: photographic portraiture and the Australian-Pacific indentured labour trade. Coercion and wage labour: exploring work relations through history and art. (pp. 331-356) edited by Anamarija Batista, Viola Franziska Müller and Corinna Peres. London, United Kingdom: UCL Press. doi: 10.2307/jj.4329861.20

To put a human face on the question of labour: photographic portraiture and the Australian-Pacific indentured labour trade

2023

Journal Article

From national hero to national problem: the image of the worker in Pix Magazine (1938-1954)

Magagnoli, Paolo (2023). From national hero to national problem: the image of the worker in Pix Magazine (1938-1954). Journal of Australian Studies, 47 (1), 49-70. doi: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2155685

From national hero to national problem: the image of the worker in Pix Magazine (1938-1954)

2022

Journal Article

Histories of the illustrated magazine in Australia

Johnston, Anna and Magagnoli, Paolo (2022). Histories of the illustrated magazine in Australia. Journal of Australian Studies, 47 (1), 1-7. doi: 10.1080/14443058.2023.2156085

Histories of the illustrated magazine in Australia

2022

Book Chapter

Museums in late populist democracies: the photographic archive and the working class

Magagnoli, Paolo (2022). Museums in late populist democracies: the photographic archive and the working class. Museums and the working class. (pp. 90-107) edited by Adele Chynoweth. New York, NY United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003029519-6

Museums in late populist democracies: the photographic archive and the working class

2020

Journal Article

“A library of photographs covering the entire continent”: Walkabout magazine and the politics of documentary in post-war Australia

Magagnoli, Paolo (2020). “A library of photographs covering the entire continent”: Walkabout magazine and the politics of documentary in post-war Australia. Photography and Culture, 13 (1), 29-56. doi: 10.1080/17514517.2019.1693878

“A library of photographs covering the entire continent”: Walkabout magazine and the politics of documentary in post-war Australia

2020

Journal Article

Blinded by quarry vision: Nicholas Mangan, Australia, and the history of extraction in the South Pacific

Magagnoli, Paolo (2020). Blinded by quarry vision: Nicholas Mangan, Australia, and the history of extraction in the South Pacific. Third Text, 34 (6), 415-435. doi: 10.1080/09528822.2020.1823703

Blinded by quarry vision: Nicholas Mangan, Australia, and the history of extraction in the South Pacific

2019

Journal Article

The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Magagnoli, Paolo (2019). The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Burlington Contemporary.

The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

2018

Book Chapter

‘How Mining Made Australia’: Populist Nostalgia and the Spectre of Climate Change in the Television Documentary Dirty Business

Magagnoli, Paolo (2018). ‘How Mining Made Australia’: Populist Nostalgia and the Spectre of Climate Change in the Television Documentary Dirty Business. Climate Change and The Media: Vol. 2. (pp. 120-138) edited by Benedetta Brevini and Justin Lewis. New York, NY United States: Peter Lang. doi: 10.3726/b14826

‘How Mining Made Australia’: Populist Nostalgia and the Spectre of Climate Change in the Television Documentary Dirty Business

2017

Book Chapter

Moulène, Rancière and 24 Objets de Grève: productive ambivalence or Reifying Opacity?

Magagnoli, Paolo (2017). Moulène, Rancière and 24 Objets de Grève: productive ambivalence or Reifying Opacity?. Work. (pp. 140-142) edited by Friederike Sigler. Cambridge, MA, United States: MIT Press.

Moulène, Rancière and 24 Objets de Grève: productive ambivalence or Reifying Opacity?

2016

Journal Article

The civilized artist beautifies pollution: Zhao Liang’s Water and Beijing Green

Magagnoli, Paolo (2016). The civilized artist beautifies pollution: Zhao Liang’s Water and Beijing Green. Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 3 (3), 367-377. doi: 10.1386/jcca.3.3.367_1

The civilized artist beautifies pollution: Zhao Liang’s Water and Beijing Green

2016

Journal Article

The Internet as Ruin: Nostalgia for the Early World Wide Web in Contemporary Art

Magagnoli, Paolo (2016). The Internet as Ruin: Nostalgia for the Early World Wide Web in Contemporary Art. Transformations, 28.

The Internet as Ruin: Nostalgia for the Early World Wide Web in Contemporary Art

2016

Journal Article

'Just Enough Critique’: the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Magagnoli, Paolo (2016). 'Just Enough Critique’: the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Seismopolite (13)

'Just Enough Critique’: the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

2015

Journal Article

Mapping Artists’ Films: Exhibiting Cinema in Contemporary Art

Magagnoli, Paolo (2015). Mapping Artists’ Films: Exhibiting Cinema in Contemporary Art. Senses of Cinema (74)

Mapping Artists’ Films: Exhibiting Cinema in Contemporary Art

2015

Book

Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary

Magagnoli, Paolo (2015). Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary. Columbia, CA, United States: Columbia University Press. doi: 10.7312/columbia/9780231172714.001.0001

Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary

2013

Book Chapter

'Let meaning disintegrate': digital compression as revelation in the art of Sean Snyder

Magagnoli, Paolo (2013). 'Let meaning disintegrate': digital compression as revelation in the art of Sean Snyder. The Versatile Image: Photography, Digital Technologies and the Internet. (pp. 223-240) edited by Alexandra Moschovi, Carol McKay and Arabella Plouviez. Leuven, België: Leuven University Press.

'Let meaning disintegrate': digital compression as revelation in the art of Sean Snyder

Funding

Past funding

  • 2016
    Chinese contemporary art and the politics of ecology
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Dr Paolo Magagnoli is:
Available for supervision

Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Dr Paolo Magagnoli directly for media enquiries about:

  • art
  • culture
  • ecology
  • photography

Need help?

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communications@uq.edu.au