On the Verge of Photography: Imaging, Mobile Art, Humans & Computers

Keynote: Professor Barbara Bolt (Victorian College of Art, University of Melbourne).
24—25 May 2013

Centre for Fine Art Research (CFAR), Birmingham City University
Centre for Media & Culture Research (CMCR), London South Bank University
in association with the journal Philosophy of Photography

There is a pressing need to reframe photographic theory to account for the radical reorientation of image production brought about by the intersecting landscapes of mobile media, fine art, acoustic and visual culture, alongside computer networks. In a world where reality is augmented on (and now off) screen, how do these digital transformations and new forms of production impact on the ways images not only operate in network ecologies but challenge epistemological/methodological and ontological approaches to representation, digital imaging, not to mention art in the age of algorithmic reproduction?

In April 2012, LSBU established the first international ‘conversation’ dealing with this complexity. With over 30 scholars and artists worldwide, Beyond Representation considered the current fate of photography in digital culture and aimed to advance our understanding of the contemporary state-of-play through a call for transdisciplinary contributions that began to open up different approaches to photography within networked cultures. In November of that year, BCU held the second international conversation, opening up the discussion with the provocative question, What is a Photograph?

This last major conference of the series, considers whether there is a need to rethink spatiality and temporality in light of new strategies for mediating the world through photography. Furthermore it asks whether there is a need to examine the methodological and epistemological bases of representation in the face of digital imaging and computer metadata. We are calling for new speculations, theory, analysis and provocations to help reframe photographic theory and our understandings of the utility, temporality and circulation of digital images.

Cutting across disciplinary borders, we welcome papers from scholars, researchers, research students, academics, practitioners, technicians and curators working in any of the areas below. The organizers are keen to encourage transdisciplinary approaches and welcome abstracts from unexpected places of enquiry.

The conference seeks to establish transdisciplinary connections between photography and the following fields of study: photography and digital imaging, the wild sciences, performance studies, contemporary/continental philosophy, cultural studies, aurality, multiversal methodologies, fine art, computing sciences including artificial intelligence and augmented reality, literary / critical studies.

Registration

Full Conference:

Early Bird Rate: £150/£65 concessions

Standard Rate: £200/£100 concessions

Single Day:

Early Bird Rate: £80/£35 concessions

Standard Rate: £120/£55 concessions

The Early Bird Rate will be available from 15 April 2013 when registration opens, until 15 May 2013 after which the standard rates apply. Please contact Grace Williams, CFAR Research Assistant to book. grace.williams2mail.bcu.ac.uk