Since its conception in the nineteenth-century, critical and theoretical discussions on photography tended to focus on issues of representation, “objectivity,” and “truth.” Yet recently scholars from different disciplines have reconsidered the relations between photography and knowledge by focusing on the roles and function of the imagination in the production, dissemination and consumption of photographs. This seminar will focus on the performative aspects of photographs: the way they trigger emotional projections and investments, create expectations towards the “real,” and constitute imaginary entities. We will look at spirit photography, scientific and press photographs, the photographically illustrated novels of W.G. Sebald, and photographic documentation of performances and sculpture.