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
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University College London
Research interests
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History and Theory of Photography, Visual Culture, Modern and Contemporary Art
Works
Search Professor Paolo Magagnoli’s works on UQ eSpace
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 Müller and Corinna Peres. London, United Kingdom: UCL Press. doi: 10.2307/jj.4329861.20
2023
Book Chapter
To put a human face on the question of labour: photographic portraiture and the Australian-Pacific indentured labour trade
Magagnoli, Paolo (2023). 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. 315-340) edited by Anamarija Batista, Viola Müller and Corinna Peres. London, United Kingdom: UCL Press.
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
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
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
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
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
2019
Journal Article
The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Magagnoli, Paolo (2019). The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Burlington Contemporary.
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
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.
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
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.
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)
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)
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
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.
2013
Journal Article
Capitalism as Creative Destruction: The Representation of the Economic Crisis in Hito Steyerl’s In Free Fall
Magagnoli, Paolo (2013). Capitalism as Creative Destruction: The Representation of the Economic Crisis in Hito Steyerl’s In Free Fall. Third Text, 27 (6), 723-734. doi: 10.1080/09528822.2013.857899
2012
Journal Article
Moulène, Rancière and 24 Objets de Grève: Productive Ambivalence or Reifying Opacity?
Magagnoli, Paolo (2012). Moulène, Rancière and 24 Objets de Grève: Productive Ambivalence or Reifying Opacity?. Philosophy of Photography, 3 (1), 155-171. doi: 10.1386/pop.3.1.155_1
2012
Journal Article
"European Cinema and Intertextuality: History, Memory and Politics", Ewa Mazierska
Magagnoli, Paolo (2012). "European Cinema and Intertextuality: History, Memory and Politics", Ewa Mazierska. Transnational Cinemas, 3 (2), 239-241. doi: 10.1386/trac.3.2.231_5
2012
Journal Article
Between Mimetic Exacerbation and Abstraction: Images of Atrocities in Contemporary Art
Magagnoli, Paolo (2012). Between Mimetic Exacerbation and Abstraction: Images of Atrocities in Contemporary Art. Akademisk Kvarter, 5, 89-100.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Paolo Magagnoli is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Curating, Sex Work and Social Reproduction
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Andrea Bubenik
-
Doctor Philosophy
The art and literature of Chinese painter-critics through the lens of neuroscience
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Andrea Bubenik
Completed supervision
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Between Communism and Fascism: The Entangled History of Political Photomontage in Italy, 1925-45
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Amelia Barikin
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Refocusing on the Medium: The Rise of East Asia Video Art
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Butler
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2017
Master Philosophy
Drones and Night Vision: Militarised Technology in Paintings by George Gittoes and Jon Cattapan
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Amelia Barikin
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Paolo Magagnoli directly for media enquiries about:
- art
- culture
- ecology
- photography
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