From Marta Filipova <marta.filipovaeca.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 05
Subject: CFP: Reading Images (Wassenaar, 21-23 Apr 06)

Reading Images: Art History, Medicine, Astronomy and other Discourses

NIAS - Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
Wassenaar, the Netherlands

21-23 April 2006

Deadline: 15 January 2006

Images surround us everywhere, they relate to every topic imaginable, and
are inextricably connected to how we perceive the world. In the so-called
'visual turn' of the 1990s, images and imaging became central to debates
on art, science, technology, and their interconnections. Their fascination
is enhanced by the increasing use of computer-generated images and new
imaging technologies. This workshop will discuss scientific and artistic
imagery in a global context, considering the modes of production and
reception of non-art images across disciplines and across cultures, and
the cross fertilization that occurs.

Art History has a long tradition of studying artistic imagery, but
worldwide images are also important means of communication and objects of
research for the physical and biological sciences, as well as a range of
other knowledge practices. Information about the body, the brain, the
natural environment, the cosmos, etc. that is not visible with the naked
eye, is made visual and is applied in scientific research. Often, these
images are assumed to represent objective knowledge, but they are also
culturally dependent and rely on specific conventions of representation
and practices of looking. This workshop will therefore consider the
following questions:

· How do scientific and non-art images function?
· What do such images represent in different contexts and discourses?
· What is the impact of scientific imagery on artistic modes of
representation and how does art respond to and apply scientific
representations?
· What is the relationship between non-art images, and what is their
impact on art (how do artists view and use them)?
· What happens when images shift from one domain to another with regard to
representing, communicating and producing knowledge?

In responding to these questions participants may wish to consider the
following topics:
· The epistemic character of representation
· The agency of images
· Image as site and as modality (producing images, the image itself, the
audience)
· Scientific imaging as a challenge for art and for the discipline of art
history, and vice versa
· Cultural diversity, globalisation and practices of visualization

Speakers are requested to submit a 200-word proposal for a 30-minute talk
by January 15, 2006 to Marta Filipova (marta.filipovaeca.ac.uk). The
working language will be English, but participants may also present in
French or German, provided that an English-language version of their
presentation is available in advance of the workshop. This workshop is the
fifth of the Discourses of the Visible research network funded by the
European Science Foundation. The ESF will pay for speakers' return travel
to the NIAS, accommodation and subsistence during the duration of the
workshop.