Images as Agents in Digital Public Spheres

3rd International Workshop on Visual Research for Doctoral Students

Department for Cultural Analysis, Division of Visual Culture: Prof. Anna Schober
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt,

in cooperation with the
International Sociological Association’s, Research Committee/ RC 57 Visual Sociology

The third International Workshop on Visual Research, organized in cooperation with the International Sociological Association addresses students interested in conducting empirical and theoretical research in the fields of visual sociology and visual culture studies, digital media and contemporary public spheres.

Subsequent to the second workshop at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan), UK, in 2017, which focused on the politics of visibility, this event will focus on questions concerned with visual practices in digital public spheres. A second focus is on methods suited to bridging sociological and visual research in the digital age. The workshop calls for interdisciplinary approaches in the field of cultural, social and media sciences.

Possible themes for presentations are:
- the political and social agency of (moving) images in the digital age
- social practices related to contemporary image production
- global-local changes and transculturality connected to contemporary media worlds
- visual media as agents of postmodern cultures of the self and identity politics
- art, new media and ecology
- visual media as a means for social and cultural research
- artistic research
- economies of looking and sharing in social networks
- cultural und economic aspects of popular image production
- Non-human photography and automated image production
- contemporary art practices in relation to digital image making

The workshop will present two keynote lectures. Keynote givers are:
Robert Hariman. Hariman is a professor of rhetoric and public culture in the department of communication studies at Northwestern University. His scholarship focuses on how texts, images and media function as forms of action, with particular regard to democratic societies and with a special interest in the aesthetic dimension of human experience. His recent book (together with John Louis Lucaites), The Public Image, explores the role of photographic image production and forms of “visual citizenship” in the digital age. His work on photography also includes an archive of images and commentary on his co-authored blog, nocaptionneeded.com.

Yvonne Volkart. Lectures art and media theory at the Academy of Art and Design FHNW Basel where she conducts the Swiss National Science Foundation research project Ecodata – Ecomedia –Ecoesthetics. The Role and Significance of New Media, Technologies and Technoscientific Methods in the Arts for the Perception and Awareness of the Ecological (2017-2020). Completed research projects include: Times of Waste (2015–2018). From 2009 to 2012 Volkart was co-curator at the Shedhalle Zürich. Last publication: Techno-Eco-Feminism. Inhuman Sensations in Technoplanetary Layers, in: Cornelia Sollfrank: Die schönen Kriegerinnen (The Beautiful Warrioresses), p. 167-201,Vienna 2018.

Three sessions are reserved for papers by doctoral students, who will have the opportunity to present and discuss material and from their current PhD projects. One extra slot is reserved to discuss methodological questions in relation to visual research in the humanities and social sciences. Besides the keynote-speakers, Dr. Gary Bratchford (University of Central Lancashire, Uclan, president of RC 57 Visual Sociology) and Prof. Dr. Marc Ries (Professor of Sociology Offenbach) will comment on the presentations.

How to apply

To apply, please send an abstract (in English, max. 400 words) and a short CV (max. 200 words) by 19 April 2019 at the latest to visualworkshopisa19gmail.com
We will inform you about acceptance by 29 April 2019.

One scholarship of 300 euros has been made available by the ISA RC 57 Visual Sociology. This is intended as a contribution to cover some of the travel and accommodation costs of a participant who is currently registered for a PhD (preferably from a B or C rated country). You can apply for the scholarship after having been notified of your acceptance for the workshop.

Further information about the workshop, the preliminary programme and general information can be found on our website: www.visualworkshop.info

To attend the workshop the registration is mandatory. You can register via the online form at our website. Registration deadline: 10 June 2019.

The workshop language will be English.
Workshop location is: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria.

For more information and registration see: https://visualworkshop.info/workshop-program/