The Power of Art: How to Approach Images? Epistemologies, Theory, and Method.

In its many manifestations, art emerges as a catalyst for human experience and expression. Endowed with inherent power, images are more than just esthetic reflections. They transcend the visible and act as transformative agents that shape and redefine how we understand the world.

Throughout its historical development as an academic discipline, the study of art (and images more broadly) has been closely linked to the great questions and transformations that have driven the humanities. From the transcendence of the great philosophical systems of idealism, through historical empiricism and the great artistic biographies, culminating in the rehabilitation of philosophical esthetics and a new conception of the subject's place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, art also faced a broader conception of "visuality," which began to consider its social and historical-cultural dimensions and challenged the dominance of formalism.

While these trends marked a profound change in forms of visual communication and epistemological concepts, the contemporary moment imposes new challenges. In a context of self-proclaimed crises, not only are the concepts of art and esthetics called into question, but so too is the erasure of geographies and other forms of knowledge. The formulation of new analytical tools becomes a central theme. Interdisciplinarity becomes inevitable as it reveals the links between esthetics, politics, and power relations. At the same time, a global art history is taking shape, going hand in hand with the decentralization of epistemological centers and the revaluation of otherness. This trend is particularly significant in interrogating the privileges and power relations that underlie the valorization, dissemination, and presentation of art.

This special issue seeks to explore the theoretical and methodological challenges related to working with images. We invite contributions from a variety of disciplinary fields that engage with themes at the intersection of art, aesthetics, and methodology, including (but not limited to):
- Intersections between Aesthetics and Politics
- The Political and Ideological Use of Images
- Intersections between Media, Technology, and Society
- Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of Art History
- The Use of Images in Historical Research
- Decolonizing Art and Aesthetics

Submissions should be made through OJS. The journal guidelines are available at:

https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/ideias/about/submissions

Articles written in English, Portuguese, or Spanish sent until November 30, 2024, will be considered for publication. The special issue will be published in 2025.

Please send any queries to the editors, Priscila R. Pereira Barreto (barreto.priscilaunifesp.br) and Serzenando A. Vieira Neto (vieira.netounifesp.br).

Idéias is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal published by the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and is available in open access. Founded by Professor Márcio Naves in 1994, the journal has since served as a platform for the open exchange of ideas, fostering interdisciplinary debate at the postgraduate level.