Talking about vibes is paradoxical: to name them is already to risk losing them. The recent proliferation of the term “vibes” in cultural discourse points to a mode of perception that precedes clear interpretation. Vibes describe diffuse alignments of mood, space, and expectation—situations in which something feels meaningful without becoming fully legible. This lecture asks what role such atmospheric perception plays in contemporary photography.

Drawing on theories of Stimmung and atmosphere—from Kerstin Thomas to Hermann Schmitz, Gernot Böhme, and Peli Grietzer—the lecture approaches vibes as relational phenomena that emerge between image, viewer, and environment. Rather than stabilizing meaning or explaining events, photographic images can produce perceptual fields in which elements resonate through color, gesture, and tone.

Through works by Iris Winckler, Neven Allgeier, Jenny Schäfer, and Cemil Batur Gökçeer, I argue that these images suspend causal narration and instead organize perception through resonance and correlation. The lecture therefore proposes that photography may increasingly function as a medium of atmospheric knowledge rather than visual evidence.