Conference Information

Call For Submissions

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

Download Call as PDF

Submission Form

Thematic Strands and Possible Approaches

We invite submissions that engage with the conference theme from diverse disciplinary, methodological, and cultural perspectives. We especially encourage the participation of practice-led and early career researchers. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

The Sensorium of Everyday Life
Soundscapes and visual environments of domestic, urban, and rural spaces
Silence as presence: what does the absence of sound reveal in images?

Media, Film and Digital Cultures
The politics of soundtrack: how music and sound design shape visual narratives
Ethnographic film: ethical and aesthetic choices in audiovisual representation

Performance, Ritual and the Body
Sound and image in religious, ceremonial, and community practices
Dance, movement, and the embodied interplay of auditory and visual experience

Memory, Identity and Emotion
Nostalgia, trauma, and the affective power of image-sound pairings
Oral histories and photographic archives: voicing the visual record

Indigenous and Multicultural Perspectives
Indigenous visual storytelling and the politics of sound
Cross-cultural encounters: how different communities see and hear differently

Technology, AI and the Future of Perception
Synthetic media: deepfakes, AI-generated soundscapes, and authenticity
Virtual and augmented reality as multisensory social environments

Methodological Innovations
Techniques for analysing audiovisual data
Participatory and arts-based approaches to image-sound research
The challenges of representing multisensory research findings

Submission Form

Submission Types

Abstracts must clearly state research questions, methods, and relevance to the conference theme – and will be assessed by the conference selection panel accordingly. We invite five forms of submission:

1. Papers (15-minute presentations)
Individual papers that present research, theoretical arguments, or methodological reflections relevant to the conference theme. Each paper will be allocated 15 minutes for presentation, followed by discussion.

2. Workshops
Workshops offering interactive, participatory sessions that engage attendees in hands-on activities, collaborative analysis, or skill-sharing. Proposals should outline objectives, format, and minimum and maximum participant numbers. Workshops may be between 60 and 120 minutes.

3. Posters
Posters for display and informal discussion are particularly suited to emerging research, pilot studies, or student projects. Posters must be in English and must be portrait format of A2 (59.4 x 42cm).

4. Exhibition Installations
Exhibition installations that engage audiences directly with visual, auditory, and embodied data, in experiential ways. Exhibition proposals will be assessed by the IVSA Exhibition team who may contact submitters to further clarify intentions and space requirements.

5. Films
Films that explore aspects of visual sociology, from visual dimensions and documentation of social life to the way people perform creative visualisation processes. Filmmakers must demonstrate clear theoretical underpinnings and context to their filmic work. All submissions for the Film Festival must be made through the IVSA Film Festival page on FilmFreeway, where full details and submission guidelines can be found: https://filmfreeway.com/ivsafilmfestival

Submission Guidelines

Submissions must be made online at the links below, and require: your name, country, institutional affiliation, email, submission type, title, a 225-word abstract, and spatial requirements for workshops and exhibition installations
Conference submissions and delivery must be predominantly in English
Film Festival submissions must be made on FilmFreeway via the link below

Submissions for papers, posters, workshops and the exhibition must be made using the online submission form, film submissions must be made though our FilmFreeway page.

Submission Online Form Film Festival Submission

Attendance, Travel and Accommodation

Participation in the IVSA conference generally requires membership. A travel bursary for conference attendance can be applied for through the IVSA. We strongly advise early provisional booking of accommodation, and have negotiated preferential rates at a range of hotels: Book Provisional Accommodation Here.