Visual Studies: A Social Scientific Perspective
Language: English
This session presents a new textbook on Visual Studies to be published in early 2025, authored by Paolo Favero and Asko Lehmuskallio. It departs from an understanding of the look as a medium, focusing on the role of mediations in social scientific studies of the visual. With the help of this approach, historical notions of visions are presented, after which the authors discuss an expanded understanding of the image. Specific attention is given to discussing a tension between the icon and index, helpful for disentangling how various visual technologies affect ways of looking at images. The role of social interaction for understanding image use is foregrounded, after which the authors juxtapose virtual reality technologies with byzantine icons. Exemplary applications of visual studies are presented, focusing on the significance of faces, on cameras and their environments, on the visual culture of death, on x-rays and on the role of shadows.
In addition to the book presentation by Paolo and Asko, four other presentations are included in this session that broadly touch upon the theme of the book.