A Passion for Image

Free and open to all.

This two-hour symposium brings together distinguished visual practitioners and theorists to invoke the idea of ‘Image’ as a sensual material entity.

Here, ‘Images’ are identified as a distinct genre of things. They exist in the manner of presenting, exhibiting, and showing. From visual media to the sensuous presentation of objects, ‘Image’ is broadly conceived. The discussion posits modes of descriptions which accentuate the ‘imageness’ of Image.

Critically, the symposium reinstates a formalist mode of image analysis (and to re-think what this might entail). It addresses aesthetic forms and idioms that bring Images into being. What kind of attentions/analyses restore the material specificity of images? And more importantly, how do we register the sensuous capacity of Images? Forms procure effects. Images may structure the ‘flesh’ of a perceptual body; they may compose a social encounter or lend textures to collective experiences. Images are always already ‘social’. The conversation is centered around the question of how a formalist angle of image analysis is integral to cultural experiences and ways of thinking about them.

Diverged from the discursive mode of visual cultural analysis, the symposium invites us to practice new avenues of Image explorations.

Professor Esther Leslie (Birkbeck University)

Professor Michelle Henning (University of Liverpool)

Professor William Raban (University of the Arts London)

Professor Nicholas Hamlyn (University for the Creative Arts)

Professor Sunil Manghani (University Southampton)

Dr Yi Chen (University of the Arts London)

Important filming and photography notice: Please note that filming and photography may be taking place at this event. Both bigger crowds, smaller groups and individuals may be captured on camera. All imagery and footage may at some point be published on the College website, social media channels, and in print.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

UAL The Hub at Eagle Wharf, 42 Bonar Road, London, United Kingdom