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Author: Nigel Brunsdon

2027 Conference Call for Submissions

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in Conference Announcements.

We invite practitioners, artists and scholars from around the world to contribute to the 2027 IVSA Conference, A Dance of Perception: The Symbiosis of Image and Sound. Submissions should explore how image and sound intertwine to shape meaning, emotion, identity, memory and our understanding of social life, drawing on diverse disciplinary, methodological and cultural perspectives. Proposals are welcomed for papers, workshops, posters, exhibition installations and films, with participation from practice-led and early career researchers particularly encouraged. Read the full Call for Submissions for details of the conference themes, submission formats, requirements and key dates.

Call For Submissions

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in Conference Information.

Conference Theme:

A Dance of Perception – the symbiosis between image and sound.

The IVSA Conference 2027 invites us to reflect on the intricate ways in which image and sound intertwine in shaping our understanding of society. Visual sociology not only employs images and image-making in practice, research and analysis, but also studies how visual culture itself constructs and reflects social life. Yet images rarely exist in silence. Whether in film, performance, digital media, ritual, or daily encounters, intentional or ambient sounds accompany and transform the visual, affecting perception and meaning. Indeed, the concept of ostranenie, or defamiliarisation, as articulated by Viktor Shklovsky, plays with perception by making the familiar strange.

It challenges us to see and hear the everyday anew, revealing unnoticed rhythms of social life. In this conference, we explore this dance of perception through a multicultural lens, recognising that ways of seeing and hearing are deeply rooted in cultural contexts. From indigenous visual storytelling to global social media aesthetics, we consider how image and sound co-produce meaning, emotion, identity, and memory. By bringing together practitioners, artists and scholars from across the world, we aim to illuminate how this symbiosis between image and sound reveals new dimensions of social reality and how, through their interplay, we all share in this dance of perception.

Milestones

Abstract Submission deadline:
30th November 2026
Notification of acceptance:
From 1st December 2026
Registration opens:
1st December 2026
Registration closes:
31st March 2027
Conference:
30th June – 3rd July 2027

Upcoming IVSA Anniversary Activities

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in News.

We hope you are having lovely summers/cosy winters!

Just a quick update on the IVSA’s program of 40th anniversary activities over the coming months. So far this year, with the support of the IVSA, our members have hosted anniversary activities across Europe, Asia, North and South America. Together, these activities showcase the global reach of the IVSA and the continuing evolution of visual research as a vital, interdisciplinary field. We hope that there is an upcoming anniversary activity near you that you are able to attend!

From 1-3 September, in New Delhi, the IVSA are delighted to be supporting Visual Research in South Asia: Methodological Opportunities, Challenges and Ethical Concerns. The aim of this three-day workshop is to equip early-career researchers working in South Asian contexts with critical methodological, ethical, and practical skills in visual research.

Please do also check out the call for papers for Affective Visuality – Emotion in Visual Research, a three day event to be held in Alicante, Spain from 15-17 October. This workshop will explore the role of emotions in visual sociology and will address how images function with respect to emotions, how researchers address affect in their methodological design, and its impact on themselves, their work, and its reception. Back in the UK, in late November/early December, IVSA members may be interested in a workshop on Making the Invisible Visible: Visual Education for Peace, at Middlesex University. This workshop aims to create a space for discussion, debate and creative engagement with UNSDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

And to round off the year in Chicago, IVSA Exhibitions Director Julie Patarin-Jossec will curate the IVSA’s annual exhibition, on the theme of REFLECTIONS, DISTORTIONS, SUBVERSIONS. The exhibition will open on November 22nd, and includes a month-long program of performance and activities – and the launch of The Visual Studies Companion.

Also in December, stay tuned for the special 40th Anniversary Issue of the IVSA’s journal, Visual Studies, which showcases the rich history of the journal. This issue will also contain our long awaited revised ethics code!

Thanks to all who have contributed to our exciting rota of anniversary activities. It is wonderful to see so many IVSA members around the world connecting!

Best wishes,

Susan, on behalf of the IVSA board

P.S. To renew your IVSA membership, and to receive your postal copies of Visual Studies journal, and news of upcoming conferences, events and activities for IVSA members please click here.

International Urban Photography Summer School (iUPSS)

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in IVSA Anniversary Past Event.

The IVSA is pleased to include the renowned International Urban Photography Summer School (iUPSS) summer school as part of its 40th Anniversary Activities. The summer school was previously run from Goldsmiths College for some eight years. It is now based at Four Corners Film and Photography Centre, in London’s thriving and diverse East End. The cost of the summer school is £1450 and for IVSA members, a discount of 10% applies, along with a further 10% discount for students and applicants receiving state benefits and pensions.

The programme will be of particular interest to artists, photographers, filmmakers, urban researchers, architects, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, urban planners, community development workers, teachers and lecturers, along with many others.

The summer school, scheduled to run from 17-28 August 2026, will also have a public exhibition at the Four Corners gallery, and this will be part of the Whitechapel Gallery’s Backyard Biennial.

For further information, see www.urbananalogue.com and to apply email: info@urbananalogue.com

2026 IVSA Exhibition

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in Exhibitions.

REFLECTIONS, DISTORTIONS, SUBVERSIONS

While the IVSA celebrates its 40th anniversary, this theme calls for artworks that reflect on the heritage of visual practice within the social sciences; engage with the ways of knowing this heritage has marginalized beyond “the visual”; and/or propose subversive approaches to research-creation beyond existing disciplinary canons.

The exhibition will be held at the Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago (United States). Opening reception is planned on 20 November 2026; the exhibition will close on 1 January 2027.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY IVSA!

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in News.

2026 marks the IVSA’s 40th anniversary as a truly international association!

While 1981 marks the year where the decision to form an international association for visual sociology was first made, the association was then still linked to the American Sociological Association as a parent organisation, with the IVSA as an “interest group.” The first annual meeting of the IVSA was in 1983, in Windsor Canada, and the second and third meetings were held in 1984 and 1985 at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. 1986 marks the year of our first international conference, with the IVSA’s first meeting outside of North America (at the University of Bielefeld, Germany). This year also marks the launch of our association’s flagship journal, Visual Studies (then the Visual Sociology Review).

This anniversary thus marks 40 years of being a truly international association. To celebrate, we have coordinated an international series of anniversary activities devoted to Visual Studies and Visual Sociology, to be run throughout 2026. Thank you to all of our IVSA members who have taken on the role of organising an anniversary activity!

Throughout 2026, activities will be held by IVSA members across the globe (including the USA; France; South Korea; Italy; Chile; Wales; UK; India; Spain and Hong Kong SAR) in reflection of our increasingly international membership. Most anniversary activities are free to IVSA members, however some events do have a modest registration fee.

We kick off our programme this Sunday March 1, with the launch of an exhibition curated by IVSA board member Laura Krystal Porterfield, at Rutgers University–Newark, USA, on The Storied Experiences of Educators of Color Through Photovoice.

We hope you are able to attend an anniversary activity near you!

Best wishes,

Susan on behalf of the IVSA board

Tales of the Self-Replicating City

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in IVSA Anniversary Past Event.

“Tales of the Self-Replicating City” is a day-long workshop on how Hong Kong pictures itself. The city is full of its own reproductions, sometimes overtaking the actual thing they picture within the same field of view. We add to this constantly, every time we point a camera at the city ourselves. The workshop spends a day noticing how that works.

Accepted participants receive a welcome packet in advance with the topic, examples to look for, and logistics for the day. They spend the day photographing wherever they like in Hong Kong, on their own schedule, looking for spots where the city is picturing itself, and each shoots a 360-degree panorama at the spot they find most alive to this. We then meet at CityU’s School of Creative Media in the late afternoon over light food to share what we noticed and select four panoramas to take into the 360 theater. There, participants collaboratively edit the panoramas using photorealistic generative AI, adding what they wish was there or what they expect the city would produce next, given what they saw earlier in the day. We will finish around dinner time.

The workshop produces a printed zine that will be deposited in the Asia Art Archive’s zine collection, and the edited panoramas will also be available online for viewing afterward.

The fee for accepted participants is 330 HKD, which covers the workshop and includes a one-year IVSA membership at a discounted rate. Food and transport from each participant’s shooting location to CityU are covered (within reason). No prior experience needed.

IVSA Exhibition

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in IVSA Anniversary.

REFLECTIONS, DISTORTIONS, SUBVERSIONS

While the IVSA celebrates its 40th anniversary, this theme calls for artworks that reflect on the heritage of visual practice within the social sciences; engage with the ways of knowing this heritage has marginalized beyond “the visual”; and/or propose subversive approaches to research-creation beyond existing disciplinary canons.

The exhibition will be held at the Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago (United States). Opening reception is planned on 20 November 2026; the exhibition will close on 1 January 2027.

Workshop: Affective Visuality – Emotion in Visual Research

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in IVSA Anniversary.

In a spirit of interaction, this event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the IVSA (International Visual Sociology Association) will be held on October 15, 16, and 17, 2026, at the University of Alicante (Spain). Collaborators include Concordia University (Montreal), the International Research Group on the Sociology of Emotions, Bodies, and Sensibilities (EMOCS) at the University of Alicante, and ISA Research Committee 57 (Visual Sociology).

This workshop will explore the role of emotions in visual sociology and, specifically, will address how images function with respect to certain emotions, how researchers address affect in their methodological design, and its impact on themselves, their work, and its reception. The workshop will feature eight international speakers, two round tables, interactive participatory research workshops, and a cultural activity. It will also explore various theoretical and methodological constructs to inform.

Workshop leaders will lead interactive sessions for participants’ work in progress and a series of participatory activities such as photo walks, card and map making, we will explore various theoretical constructs to ground activities. All of these are intended to explore the role of emotion in visual sociology and look at the question of how researchers deal with affect in their methodological design.

Main Event Website Event posters

On the CfP button below scroll down the page for the call for papers. Deadline Sept 15.

Workshop: Visual Research in South Asia: Methodological Opportunities, Challenges and Ethical Concerns

Written by Nigel Brunsdon on . Posted in IVSA Anniversary Past Event.

The aim of this three-day workshop is to equip early-career researchers and young scholars working in South Asian contexts with critical methodological, ethical, and practical skills in visual research. This intensive three-day activity brings together leading scholars and practitioners in the field of visual research and South Asian studies to engage young researchers in methodological dialogue and practical skill development. This offers a unique opportunity to participate in field activities on Visualizing Delhi’s Syncretism: History & Heritage.

Participants will be asked to bring their working paper or idea for a research paper for feedback and inputs during the workshop. During the field-based activity in Delhi, participants will learn how to navigate the ethical complexities, cultural sensitivities, and creative potentials of visual methodologies used in social research.

Organized in collaboration with senior members of the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA), the workshop will focus on Methodological Challenges in South Asian Contexts, Ethical Dilemmas and Codes of Conduct in Visual Research, Practical Skill-Building in Visual Methods including photography, ethnographic film, visual storytelling, participatory video, etc. and publishing and disseminating visual research.

Call For Papers

Themes, guidelines and important dates

2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) as a truly international association. As part of the anniversary activities of IVSA, abstracts for working papers and posters are invited from scholars across the world whose research engages with visual methods, visual cultures, visual media, ethnographic film, photography, digital imagery, or visual storytelling in South and Southeast Asia.

We particularly welcome submissions from early-career researchers; doctoral and postdoctoral scholars; faculty members; filmmakers, visual practitioners, and interdisciplinary researchers working with visual materials.

Submissions may relate to, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • collaborative and participatory visual methods;
  • visual ethnography and documentary practice;
  • photography and community memory;
  • urban visuality and public culture;
  • digital images, social media, and platform visibility;
  • AI and the future of visual research;
  • ethics, consent, and visual authorship;
  • visuality, heritage, and place-making in South and Southeast Asia.

Submission Guidelines

Applicants should submit an abstract of 300–400 words for working papers/posters; a short bio-note of 100 words; institutional affiliation and contact details.

Selected participants will be invited to submit a working paper of 3,000–5,000 words in advance of the workshop. The workshop is designed to provide constructive feedback and mentorship on these works.

Important Dates

  • Deadline for Abstract Submission: 15 June 2026
  • Notification of Acceptance: 30 June 2026
  • Deadline for Registration Fee Payment: 30 July 2026
  • Submission of Working Papers: 15 August 2026
  • Workshop Dates: 1–3 September

Submit your paper at the button below.

Submit Paper