For a Visual Culture of (and from) the Sky

Monday, 7 July 2025: 13:00-14:45
Location: FSE013 (Faculty of Education Sciences (FSE))
RC57 Visual Sociology (host committee)

Language: English and Spanish

The present panel aims to stimulate a conversation around the connection between the sky and visual studies. Inviting contributions focused both on the sky as an object of visual scholarship as well as a perspective from which to gather innovative insights on the human- and nature-made environment, the panel aims to attract presentations focussed on, for example:

  • drones, airplanes, kites, paragliders and other forms of human presence in the sky;
  • birds, insects and other forms of animal life;
  • satellite imagery, meteorology, data visualizations and other forms of visual information regarding the sky;
  • clouds, aurora borealis, rainbows, mirages and other uncertain visions;
  • astronomical imagery, telescopic visions and the history of human ways of depicting planet earth as part of the universe.
  • indigenous/local knowledge on how to read the sky

We equally welcome presentations with theoretical, methodological, empirical or historical focus.

Session Organizer:
Paolo FAVERO, Belgium
Oral Presentations
Teaching the Vertical Turn in Visual Sociology.
Gary BRATCHFORD, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom
Eye in the Sky
Raffaella FRASCARELLI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Being a Drone
Paolo FAVERO, Belgium
Vertical Liminal Space: The User-Generated Visual Experience of Urban Informal Rooftops
Yufan GUO, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
See more of: RC57 Visual Sociology
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