Society Photographic Education 35th National Conference Adams Mark Hotel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania March 26-29, 1998 If one had read Afterimage's coverage of the annual national conference of the Society Photographic Education (SPE) over the 25 years of its publication, without ever attending an SPE conference, one might think that these events were regressive, disorganized and politically encumbered, with presentations and discussions of only occasional note. Repeatedly citing poor scheduling, an absence of a thematic focus, a disregard programming dedicated towards timely changes in academia and an insistence on a formalist approach to that excluded issues of cultural relativity, Afterimage reviewers have acquired what might be characterized as a status of antagonistic notoriety within the organization. As two M.F.A. students having no prior affiliations with Afterimage or SPE, we found ourselves anticipating a prescribed outcome, projecting expectations on the conference based on those previous reviews. We questioned, example, how this year's event could possibly deal with its nebulous theme, Expression-Insight, to unite its various panels, presentations and discussions. Better put, would the conference put forth a well thought out plan to encourage cohesive discussion of relevant and current issues, or would it, as it had in the past, follow a free-for-all model, providing a little something each of the 1700 artists, educators, historians, critics and students that comprise SPE's membership? Uninformed about ongoing SPE activities since 1992, when Afterimage ran its last report of a SPE conference, we were interested to see if its numbers had risen from the lows of the 1980s when the organization was divided over minority struggles representation. While a review of SPE's history is not the primary focus of this report, it should be mentioned that during the '80s the Women's Caucus, arguably the most transformative faction in SPE's history, emerged and called radical change. Caucus, a vocal and determined group of feminist educators, critics and artists, pushed for the advancement of women in the profession of and photographic education and the advancement of women's issues in the exhibition, discussion and teaching of photography (Ed. note: see Afterimage 12, no. 10 [May 1985]). Caucus' efforts spurred SPE, not without resistance, to reevaluate its purpose. Questions surrounding the group's agenda permanently changed SPE's identity. Among these: Would the Society be a battleground women's struggles equality? What was the relevance of feminism to photographic education? Should politics and aesthetics share the same arena? As the Society's programming shifted to accommodate these issues, its membership plummeted. We were curious to see the status of this debate. Had it been resolved? And if so, what was SPE's current focus, at least as represented by this thirty-fifth national conference? Based on our interests, we divvied up the weekend's 56 official offerings. As six activities were often scheduled simultaneously, between the two of us we were able to attend 30% of these events with topics as diverse as The Cultural Body and Teaching Photography with the Internet. programming followed the usual SPE national conference recipe. Thursday night was opened by a reception and a keynote address. Friday and Saturday were filled with panels, presentations and workshops, as well as talks by the year's Honored Educator and Featured Speaker. On Sunday, a members' meeting, various board meetings, and a general work share closed the event. Joel-Peter Witkin, artist and educator, presented the keynote address. Well-known his grotesque and often controversial photographic tableaus, Witkin gave an entertaining and wide-ranging talk that addressed his motivation, his work's historical reference, public reaction to its subject matter (Jesse Helms, et al) and his process, from set building to the logistics of securing corpses. …