The Visual in Sport
A Two-Day International Conference at Burwalls, University of Bristol
13-14 June 2009
Organized by
Mike Huggins (University of Cumbria) & Mike O'Mahony (University of
Bristol)
Supported by BIRTHA (Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and
Arts)

Rigorous analytical explorations of the intersections between visual
culture and the history of sport are still relatively new, but have
recently begun to attract vastly increased scholarly interest. It was only
a few years ago sports historians still noted 'the invisibility of the
visual', and a widespread reluctance to explore 'the deeper levels of
experience which images probe'; even a 'condescension towards images'.
Conversely, in disciplines that focus predominantly on the visual, sport
has frequently been regarded as of secondary interest. Studies dedicated to
the visual representation of the sports theme, for example, have been
relatively few and far between and regarded as on the periphery of visual
culture studies. But the centrality of sport to popular culture has
encouraged many scholars to begin to open up this new and exciting field.
This conference seeks to expand further research in this area by bringing
together speakers from a wide range of disciplines including sports
history, social history, art history, film history, design history, and any
other related field, to present papers addressing the representation of
sport in visual media (painting; sculpture; photography; cinema; and mass
culture).

Speakers include:
Patrick Clastres (Paris), Paul Dietschy (Besançon), Lynda Nead (London),
Doug Booth (Otago), Michel Brousse (Pessac), Sandra Budy (Hamburg), Kenneth
Cohen (Delaware), John Fagg (Nottingham), Alison C. Fleming
(Winston-Salem), Lorettann D Gascard (New Hampshire), Mark Haywood
(Cumbria), Cathal Kilcline (Galway), Fiona Kinsey (Melbourne), Marius Kwint
(Portsmouth), Jo Longhurst (London), Fred Mason (New Brunswick), Dylan
Miner (Michigan), Gary Osmond (Melbourne), Pat Simpson (Hertfordshire), Rob
Steen (Brighton), Jennifer Sterling (Loughborough), Elizabeth Tobey
(Virginia), Bernard Vere (London), Paul Wells (Loughborough).

The conference will take place at Burwalls, an outstanding example of
Victorian architecture situated in five acres of beautiful grounds and in
the shadow of Brunel's famous Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Full Conference Fee: (incl. two nights basic accomm, breakfast, lunch,
dinner, tea and coffee): £250 for two days
Day Rate (no accommodation, breakfast or dinner): £50 per day

FOR FULL INFORMATION AND TO DOWNLOAD A REGISTRATION FORM VISIT:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/arthistory/events/visualinsport.html
Or email art-historybristol.ac.uk