2021 Virtual Conference

Venue: Virtual

Dates: 5-8 JULY 2021

Keeping with the theme “Visualizing Social Changes: Seen and Unseen,” the 2021 IVSA virtual conference featured a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous content. The asynchronous content consisted of pre-recorded presentations from the authors/creators of the accepted papers.

Each paper had a corresponding 8 to 10-minute video recorded presentation. Upon submission to IVSA, video recorded presentations were grouped into themes by the conference committee. These videos were curated and presented on the conference website in the weeks leading up to the live component of the conference. This allowed conference-goers to watch, learn, and prepare for lively real-time interaction during the synchronous engagement in July. Even in advance of the synchronous component, conference attendees were able to engage with presenters via feedback forms that appeared alongside the video presentations.

The synchronous (“live”) portion of the conference was held from July 5-8. This segment featured a number of exciting engagements, including “how-to” workshops on visual methods, tutorials on visual analysis techniques, practical panels (e.g., how to get published in Visual Studies, how to navigate the job market as an early career visual scholar, etc.), a forum for the discussion of ethics in visual research, virtual poster sessions, online digital image exhibits, a panel on visual pedagogy and teaching practices, happy hours, and other opportunities for informal socializing. Additionally, a series of Discussion Forums allowed attendees to interact with the creators/authors of selected paper presentations. The final event in the live segment of the conference was the Annual General Meeting (AGM), a 90-minute gathering of IVSA members and leadership to discuss the current state of the organization and its plans for the future.

The 2021 IVSA conference successfully combined asynchronous and synchronous elements to foster dynamic discussions and interactions, adapting effectively to the virtual format while continuing to advance the field of visual sociology.

Our Conference Theme

A combination of visual sociology and social change provides a broad and welcoming theme. Visual sociologists have developed a specialty in visually chronicling and examining significant social changes, such as visual studies of deinidustrialization and rural decline and ethnic transitions in local neighbourhoods. While many social changes are physically, materially or socially visible and seen, others remain invisible and unseen, like changes in people’s values and beliefs, for example people becoming more liberal and progressive or more illiberal and populist. Of course, even values and beliefs can be manifest, for example, symbolically in slogans and posters, socially in protests and marches, and organizationally in social movements, civil society groups and political parties. The theme of the conference is meant to encompass the variety of ways to visualize social change, seen and unseen, while also posing a response to the challenge of social changes that have emerged in societies in recent times.

Our Next Conference

2027 IVSA Conference: Cardiff, Wales, UK

Venue: University of South Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Conference dates: Wednesday June 30th – Saturday July 3rd 2027

We’re delighted to announce the IVSA Conference 2027, taking place in Cardiff from Wednesday 30 June to Saturday 3 July. Hosted by the University of South Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, this year’s conference brings together scholars, artists, and practitioners from around the world to explore A Dance of Perception – the symbiosis between image and sound, inviting rich, interdisciplinary conversations across visual sociology, sound, culture, and social life.

Find out more