It was a very productive discussion, I felt, and a really good way of beginning to imagine the shape, the role, and the tasks of such an Association.

We’ve set up an online forum as a space where we can discuss the Association, its purpose, role, ambitions, aims and objectives, etc. You are invited to contribute to these on-going discussions by registering as a user at www.journalofvisualculture.org/bbpress.

Once you have registered, you will have to be approved as a user (so we can stop trolls and spam). Do bear with us as we open up this forum to you all. Should you encounter any technical issues, please email contact@visualculturestudies.org.

About the online forum
We have kept the forum open, with one section for aims and objectives, and another for activities – please feel free to add topics under these headings. Also if you have any suggestions for the forum’s development, do let us know.

To explore the Association’s possible composition, structure and purpose, one forum asks:

1. How do we need to imagine this community of scholars, students, emerging scholars, curators, educators, museum professionals, practitioners, and cultural sector specialists?
2. What are the academic, intellectual, and professional ambitions of the Association?

To explore the possible activities of the Association, another forum asks:

1. What will the Association do?
2. What kind of forums are most appropriate/necessary (meetings, networks, conferences, etc.) to support the activities of this community, and facilitate the (formal and informal) exchange of ideas and information, as well as its conviviality, sociality, and collaborative impulse?

Here’s to New York City 2012, and to the launch of the International Association for Visual Culture Studies. And to the many productive conversations that will take place in the next few weeks and months – many thanks for contributing.

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