Alternative Mainstreams: The Visual Worlds of Far-Right Parties. An International Conference organised by Jacopo Galimberti.

What once appeared primarily as online, “alt-right” subcultures have evolved over the past decade into broader cultural formations feigning or achieving mainstream legitimacy and discursive hegemony. Across Europe, North America, and beyond, far-right parties and their ecosystems mobilise complex visual strategies across media. Alternative Mainstreams: The Visual Worlds of Far-Right Parties is a conference investigating the aesthetic universes of far-right parties and the institutions and cultural infrastructures that surround them (museums, foundations, academies, think tanks etc.), and exploring their iconographies using methodologies from visual studies and art history.

This conference will offer in-depth analyses of how the contemporary far-right aesthetics shape ideas of temporality, history, and heritage. We welcome proposals addressing far-right parties in Europe and beyond, with particular focus upon their visual strategies and political imaginaries from a historical perspective.

The conference will be organised around three thematic areas:
(1) Temporality and History, (2) Patrimony and Heritage, and (3) Iconography. Abstracts should indicate the section in which the proposed contribution would participate.

Key-note speakers:
Daniel Spaulding, Elke Gaugele, Roland Meyer, Kathrin Rottman, Friederike Siegler and Betrand Tillier.

(1) Temporality and History (topics include but are not limited to):
- Mythic and cyclical conceptions of time in contemporary parties
- Appropriation of medievalism and classicism
- AI-generated historicity
- The longue durée of fascist imaginaries
- End-of-time fascism, archeofuturism and apocalyptic aesthetics

(2) Patrimony and Heritage (topics include but are not limited to):
- National heritage and ethnonationalism
- Monuments, memorials, and museums
- Neo-völkisch landscapes and eco-fascism
- Architectural politics and the built environment
- Heritage branding and neoliberal nationalism

(3) Iconographies (topics include but are not limited to):
- Iconography of leadership
- Fashion, femonationalism and body politics
- Religious imagery
- Anime and gaming aesthetics
- Comparative visual strategies across parties and national contexts

Submission Guidelines:
Please send an abstract of max. 350 words and a short bio (max. 200 words) to: Jacopo.galimbertiuni-hamburg.de

Deadline for submissions: October 10, 2026.
Notification of acceptance: beginning of November 2026.
The conference language will be English.