Visual Ecologies: Workshop

Participants

Lisa Cartwright, University of California San Diego
Victoria Di Palma, University of Southern California
Finis Dunaway, Trent University
Lynda Nead, Birkbeck, University of London
Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University

At a time of increasing threat to the climate and increasing pressure on climate science, the problem of how we imagine, describe, and document our relationship to the planet has never been more urgent. 

This one-day workshop investigates the ways in which forms of visual evidence, such as photography and film, condition our relationship to ecological change and affect our ability to respond, when necessary, to ecological crisis.  From the earliest days of photography to our present-day immersion in a highly media-saturated culture, the capacity of images to compel, confirm, disrupt, and challenge has always been important; as we move into a new era of doubt and transformation, what are the future limits and possibilities of the visual record to shape our understanding of the ecological system in which we are enmeshed. And what can we learn from past efforts to shape human relations to the planet using visual tools?  Scholars and artists working in a range of fields that includes Film, History, Art History, Communications, and Architecture, and on periods that span from the 19^th century on into the future, come together to consider these critical questions, and to discuss a way forward.

Please register for the workshop by May 8 to Sini Elvington ([email protected] or 626-395-1724).

Speaker biographies and the full workshop schedule are available on the website (linked below).