space REsolutions: Intervention and Research in Visual Culture

International Conference Hosted by the Visual Culture Programme
Vienna University of Technology
21-23 October 2010



What has emerged over the last decade as one of the most significant aspects of work in Visual Culture is a persistent desire for both a critical sensitivity toward its theoretical underpinnings and an experimental elasticity in its methodological approaches. This drive is giving rise to a plethora of new investigative practices and multi-directional engagements, particularly vis-à-vis matters of geopolitical urgency and their cultural and spatial implications.

Marking ten years of Visual Culture studies at Vienna University of Technology, this conference aims to bring together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners interested in the dynamics between emergent spatial phenomena and new modes of theoretical inquiry. Examining the blurring roles of intervention and research, the conference seeks to debate how critical and creative work in Visual Culture negotiates unexpected transitions and oscillations between individual and collective, real and virtual, center and periphery, and activism and academy.

We invite submission of papers that address the current liminalities of theory and practice in Visual Culture. Participation from graduate students and early career academics is especially welcome. Topics may range from investigating the intimate, indiscreet or collaborative architectures of globalisation to discussing the genealogy of ideas, implemented utopias or unperformed failures.Current shifts in global politics and economy – financial crises, protest movements, natural disasters, worldwide migrations of people and concepts, new shadow economies – contain a myriad of micro and macro processes whose contingent interactions may offer new perspectives for an emerging culture of research as intervention. How can we conceptualise the transformations in the way we share space and the political regimes operative in these spaces? What kinds of strategies does this ambition require? Where will the novel confluences of spatial realities and practice based research lead Visual Culture as a field of critical investigation?

Confirmed keynote speakers include Jorella Andrews (Goldsmiths, University of London), Suzana Milevska (Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje) and Erica Robles (Steinhardt, NYU).

The conference will partly take place within the exhibition setting of 2 or 3 Things we’ve learned – Intersections of art, pedagogy and protest (IG Bildende Kunst, 14th Sep to 29th Oct 2010), which aims to produce a discursive space to address processes, displacements and intervention through art in education. In order to be considered for the conference, please send a paper proposal of 200-300 words (and an optional image) to the conference organisers at
conference@visuelle-kultur.net by 1 August 2010. Please also include a brief biographical sketch of the author(s) of 100-150 words. All abstracts will be reviewed by members of the conference board. Participants will be notified of the acceptance of papers by 1 September 2010.

Conference registration is free of charge. Participants are encouraged to draw on their own resources for travel and accommodation, although there might be some funding available to support paper givers from CEE countries or from outside the EU. Papers from the conference may form the basis for an edited volume. Please address all correspondence (including paper submissions, registration and additional inquiries) to the conference email address: conference [at] visuelle-kultur [dot] net
Updated information will shortly be available on the conference website: http://www.kunst.tuwien.ac.at/conference.htm

Review Board:
Gulsen Bal, Open Space – Zentrum für Kunstprojekte, Vienna
Brigitta Busch, University of Vienna
Eva Egermann, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, IG Bildende Kunst
Susan Kelly, Goldsmiths, University of London
Elke Krasny, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Architekturzentum Wien
Helge Mooshammer, Vienna University of Technology
Peter Mörtenböck, Vienna University of Technology
Irene Nierhaus, University of Bremen
Johanna Schaffer, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Conference Organising Committee:
Karin Reisinger
Amila Sirbegovic
Stefanie Wuschitz
Nada Zerzer
Institute of Art and Design, Vienna University of Technology
Karlsplatz 13, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

FULL PROGRAMME

Thursday 27th May 2010

12:00 Registration

1:00-2:15 Session 1
W.J.T. Mitchell (English and Art History, University of Chicago)

2:15-4:15 Session 2 Roundtable: Education
Mark Dunhill (School of Art, Central Saint Martins College)
Will Cobbing (Wimbledon College of Art)
Joanne Morra (School of Art, Central Saint Martins College)
Adrian Rifkin (Art Writing, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Joy Sleeman (History and Theory of Art, Slade School of Fine Art)
Victoria Walsh (Education and Interpretation, Tate Britain)

4:45-6:30 Session 3
Gary Hall (Media and Performing Arts, Coventry University)
Joanna Zylinska (Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London)

6:30-8:30: Reception

Friday 28th May 2010

10:00-11:15 Session 4
Keith Moxey (Art History and Archaeology, Columbia)

11:15-1:00 Session 5
Divya P. Tolia-Kelly (Geography, Durham University)
David Cunningham (Cultural & Critical Studies, University of Westminster);

1:00-2:00 Lunch (Not provided)

2:00-4:00 Session 6 Roundtable: Design Studies – Visual Studies – Cultural Studies
Glen Adamson (Design/Craft, RCA/V&A)
Sarah Chaplin (Architectural Humanities, Greenwich University)
Elizabeth Guffey (Design, SUNY, Purchase)
Raiford Guins (Digital Cultural Studies, SUNY, Stony Brook)
Guy Julier (Design, Leeds Metropolitan University)
Penny Sparke (Design History, Kingston University)

4:30-5:45 Session 7
Lisa Cartwright (Communication, UC, San Diego)

Saturday 29th May 2010

10:30-11:45 Session 8
Nicholas Mirzoeff (Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University)

11:45-1:30 Session 9

Esther Leslie (Political Aesthetics, Birkbeck, University of London)
Esther Gabara (Romance Studies, and Art, Art History, & Visual Studies, Duke University)

1:30-2:30 Lunch (Not provided)

2:30-4:30 Session 10 Roundtable: The Future Institution: An International Association for Visual Culture Studies?
Michael Ann Holly (The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown)
Jeremy Gilbert (University of East London)
Stephen Melville (Art/Aesthetics/Philosophy, Ohio State University)
Griselda Pollock (Art Histories/Cultural Studies, University of Leeds)
Marquard Smith (Visual Culture Studies, University of Westminster)

4:30 Conference Ends

Organizers: Nicholas Mirzoeff (New York University), Joanne Morra (University of the Arts London), Marquard Smith (University of Westminster, London)

The Whitechapel Salon is back! Spanning art, architecture, performance and sustainability, the forthcoming year-long series of four Salon discussions focus on the matter of ‘matter’ – its nature, substance and the productive forces that govern it. Chris Horrocks (Principal Lecturer, Kingston University) and Julian Stallabrass (Reader, Courtauld Institute of Art) consider Popular Matters including mass culture, vernacular photography, Web 2.0 and user-generated content.

Book now to avoid disappointment! Tickets: £8/£6 (includes free glass of wine)

Programmed by Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture, University of Westminster, and Journal of Visual Culture

Last month’s international conference entitled ‘Visual Culture Studies in Europe’, hosted by the Institute, was a huge success. A stella cast of leading academics, curators, and editors from Austria, Spain, Croatia, Norway, Belarus, Italy, England, and France including Iain Chambers, Oliver Grau, and Adrian Rifkin came together to discuss the study of visual culture within the context of European universities, art colleagues, and cultural institutions. The audience, a talkative mix of staff and students from Westminster as well as welcome guests from elsewhere in London, Brighton, and as far away as Lithuania, had a day to remember. The conference speakers, members of the Visual Culture Studies in Europe Network, plan to meet again next year, this time in Barca!

See also Lorraine Audric’s conference presentation ‘Visual Culture Studies in France‘.

12:00 Registration

1:00 Welcome

1:05-2:15 Session 1
W.J.T. Mitchell (English and Art History, University of Chicago)

2:15-4:15 Session 2 Roundtable: Education
Mark Dunhill (School of Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design)
Will Cobbing (Wimbledon College of Art)
Joanne Morra (School of Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design)
Adrian Rifkin (Art Writing, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Joy Sleeman (History and Theory of Art, Slade School of Fine Art)
Victoria Walsh (Education and Interpretation, Tate Britain)

4:15-4:45 Break

4:45-6:30 Session 3
Gary Hall (Media and Performing Arts, Coventry University)
Esther Leslie (Political Aesthetics, Birkbeck, University of London)

6:30-8:30: Reception

Friday 28th May 2010

10:00-11:15 Session 4
Keith Moxey (Art History and Archaeology, Columbia)

11:15-1:00 Session 5
Divya P. Tolia-Kelly (Geography, Durham University)
David Cunningham (Aesthetics/Urban Studies, University of Westminster);

1:00-2:00 Lunch (Not provided)

2:00-4:00 Session 6 Roundtable: Design Studies – Visual Studies – Cultural Studies
Glen Adamson (Design/Craft, RCA/V&A)
Sarah Chaplin (Architectural Humanities, Greenwich University)
Elizabeth Guffey (Design, SUNY, Purchase)
Raiford Guins (Digital Cultural Studies, SUNY, Stony Brook)
Guy Julier (Design, Leeds Metropolitan University)
Penny Sparke (Design History, Kingston University)

4:00-4:30 Break

4:30-5:45 Session 7
Lisa Cartwright (Communication, UC, San Diego) and Marita Sturken (Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University)

Saturday 29th May 2010

10:30-11:45 Session 8
Nicholas Mirzoeff (Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University)

11:45-1:30 Session 9
Joanna Zylinska (Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Esther Gabara (Romance Studies, and Art, Art History, & Visual Studies, Duke University)

1:30-2:30 Lunch (Not provided)

2:30-4:30 Session 10 Roundtable: The Future Institution: An International Association for Visual Culture Studies?
Michael Ann Holly (The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown)
Laura Mulvey (Screen Media, Birkbeck, University of London)
Stephen Melville (Art/Aesthetics/Philosophy, Ohio State University)
Griselda Pollock (Art Histories/Cultural Studies, University of Leeds)
Marquard Smith (Visual Culture Studies, University of Westminster)

4:30 Conference Ends

10:00 Introduction

10:15-12:30 Session 1: Cartographies of Power
Iain Chambers, University of Naples, Italy
Joachin Barriendos, Curator, Santa Monica Art Centre, Barcelona, and Professor Anna Maria Guasch, University of Barcelona, Spain
Dr Almira Ousmanova, European Humanities University, Belarus/Lithuania

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:45: Session 2: Education, Education, Education
Dr Joanne Morra, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, England
Lorraine Audric and Professor Andre Gunthert, Laboratoire d’histoire visuelle contemporaine, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Dr Nina Lager Vestberg, Norwegian, University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway

3:45-4:15 Break

4:15-6:30: Session 3: Projects
Dr Oyvind Vagnes, University of Bergen, Norway
Kresimir Purgar, Center for Visual Studies Zagreb, Croatia
Professor Oliver Grau, Danube University, Krems, Austria

Confirmed contributors: Glenn Adamson (RCA/V&A); Dipti Bhagat (London Met, tbc); Lisa Cartwright (UC, San Diego); Sarah Chaplin (Greenwich); Will Cobbing (Wimbledon College of Art); David Cunningham (Westminster); Mark Dunhill (Central Saint Martins); Esther Gabara (Duke); Elizabeth Guffey (SUNY, Purchase); Raiford Guins (SUNY, Stony Brook); Gary Hall (Coventry); Michael Ann Holly (The Clark Institute); Guy Julier (Leeds Met); Esther Leslie (Birkbeck); Stephen Melville (Ohio State); Nicholas Mirzoeff (NYU); W.J.T. Mitchell (Chicago); Joanne Morra (Central Saint Martins); Keith Moxey (Columbia); Laura Mulvey (Birkbeck); Griselda Pollock (Leeds); Adrian Rifkin (Goldsmiths); Joy Sleeman (Slade); Marquard Smith (Westminster); Penny Sparke (Kingston); Marita Sturken (NYU); Divya P. Tolia-Kelly (Durham), Victoria Walsh (Tate Britain); Joanna Zylinska (Goldsmiths).

Price: £ 50 / £ 20 concessions
Venue: The Old Cinema, 309 Regents Street, University of Westminster, London

Organizers: Nicholas Mirzoeff (New York University), Joanne Morra (University of the Arts London), Marquard Smith (University of Westminster, London)

This conference is a collaboration between established and emerging scholars, curators, educators, and editors from across a number of European universities and cultural institutions with a commitment to Visual Culture Studies in Europe, and the study of visual culture.

Featuring Joachin Barriendos (Curator, Santa Monica Art Centre, Barcelona, Spain), Jose Luis Brea (Editor of Estudios Visuales, Madrid, Spain), Iain Chambers (University of Naples, Italy), Anna Maria Guasch (University of Barcelona, Spain), Oliver Grau (Danube University Krems, Austria), Joanne Morra (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, England), Almira Ousmanova (European Humanities University Belarus/Lithuania), Kresimir Purgar (Center for Visual Studies Zagreb, Croatia), Vivian Rehberg (Parsons Paris School of Art + Design, France), Marquard Smith (University of Westminster, England), Oyvind Varges (University of Bergen, Norway), and Nina Lager Vestberg (Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway).

Location: Room 2.05c, 4-12 Little Titchfield Street, University of Westminster, London W1W 7UW
Cost: £20/£10 concs.

Registration 9:30 am; Conference begins at 10:00 am.

This conference sets out to consider the emergence of interdisciplinary research within the Arts and Humanities during the last 40 years. Emerging out of the political, social and cultural ambitions of a changing western world from the 1960s onwards, as well as the academic corollaries of these endeavours, interdisciplinarity within the academy became a means of developing a new and complex understanding of what it means to situate oneself: to act, teach, and undertake research in a world that no longer broke down according to existing disciplinary boundaries.
The shifting terrain for these scholarly, institutional, and personal politics became manifest in, for instance, the emergence of cultural studies, media studies or, more recently, visual culture studies; the importation of ‘theory’ within the academy; the political investment captured in the institutionalization of postcolonial theory, queer theory, and feminism within the University; as well as the emergence of new trans-disciplinary problematics such as globalization. Some of this genealogy has been written. And yet, more work needs to be done. Our interest in this genealogy is to consider it in light of the histories of interdisciplinarity within an expanded field: to think of the social, political and academic field of interdisciplinarity, and its relation to publishing, governmental policy and funding bodies.

Within this expanded context, it is possible to propose that as a result of these necessary incursions within the social and academic field, a forum was required for the public interrogation and dissemination of our past and present cultures. Thus, the interdisciplinary journal, in particular, emerged in both the UK and US as a ready and willing space within which to debate the complexity and intertwined nature of these cultures. Having very specific political and epistemological agendas, these journals created an arena for dialogue, provided us with new, interdisciplinary knowledge, while shaping our understanding of the world. This genealogy has not been written, and is one of the main streams/points of interrogation of our conference.

Interdisciplinary journals are, in many respects, the primary means of (print and electronic) dissemination, and continue to be the contemporary ‘gold star’ of research achievement. Yet journal publishing is rarely discussed on its own terms. Equally, with the catchword – ‘interdisciplinarity’ – in the air, government funding bodies and policy makers have caught on to it, and today it has become an overarching term for a type of research evacuated of its earlier political, social and cultural commitments. Or did it? The third stream of this conference will consider the history and political ramifications for interdisciplinary research as a result of institutional and governmental seizure. As such, this conference is the first to bring together the relationship between journal publishing, policy-making and research itself, so as to discuss the future of interdisciplinary work in the Arts and Humanities of the twenty first century.

Contributors

Professor GEORGINA BORN, Sociology, Anthropology, and Music, University of Cambridge / Dr DAVID CUNNINGHAM, Literature and Aesthetics, University of Westminster, Editor of ‘Radical Philosophy’ / Professor THOMAS DOCHERTY, English and Comparative Literature, Warwick University / Dr JEREMY GILBERT, Cultural Studies, UEL, Editor of ‘New Formations’ / Professor SUSAN MELROSE, Performance Arts, Middlesex University / Dr JOANNE MORRA, Art History and Theory, University of the Arts London, Principal Editor of ‘Journal of Visual Culture’ / Professor PETER OSBORNE, Director, Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University, Editor of ‘Radical Philosophy’ / Professor ADRIAN RIFKIN, Art Writing, Goldsmiths College, former Editor of ‘Art History’ / Dr MARQUARD SMITH, Visual Culture Studies, University of Westminster, Editor-in-Chief of ‘Journal of Visual Culture’ / Professor SHEARER WEST, Director of Research, AHRC / Dr JOANNA ZYLINSKA, Media and Communications, Goldsmiths College, Editor of ‘Culture Machine’

This conference is organized by: Dr DAVID CUNNINGHAM (University of Westminster and Editor of ‘Radical Philosophy’), Dr JOANNE MORRA (Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Principal Editor of ‘Journal of Visual Culture), Dr MARQUARD SMITH (University of Westminster and Editor-in-Chief of ‘Journal of Visual Culture’), and Dr JOANNA ZYLINSKA (Goldsmiths College and Editor of ‘Culture Machine’)

This conference is the first in a series of projects and events organized by the Network for Editors of Interdisciplinary Journals (NEIJ).