BU & THE SOCIAL

The Arts Administration program at Boston University, together with Operational and Curatorial Research (OCR) announces the 4th International Association for Visual Culture Biennial Conference: THE SOCIAL, to be held September 29 – October 1, 2016.

Why ‘THE SOCIAL’? THE SOCIAL is the title given to the 4th International Association for Visual Culture Biennial Conference, and it appropriately encapsulates the goals and overarching themes of the conference. Geared towards an international market, and inviting the submission of works from international artists and scholars as well as encompassing panels of over 100 speakers from across the globe, this year’s Visual Culture conference focuses on everything social–ranging from the exploration the tangled webs of social interactions to contemporary social crises.

The conference’s theme of “tensions between visual images, digital technology, and social constructions that are redefining the cultural context within which we live and from which people are being excluded” provides the foundation of the conference with outlets for innovative and interdisciplinary materials. The conference invites the collaboration and submission of events and papers on post-democracy, post-society, anger, violence, future visions, crisis, zombie democracies, social media, neo-slavery, post-capitalism, post-data, social evolution, revolution, actionism, post-state, interventionism, cannibalizing corporativism, post-colonialism, economic vampirism, neo-serfs, globalized thievery, art activism, red art, insurrectional art and social exploitation. Central to the conference is the confrontation and challenge of traditional assumption in the social sphere, whether through approach or outcome, while embracing issues that inherently contain these elements.

“The conference wishes to challenge and alter traditional academic interpretations and passionately deal with issues and topics that analyze, describe and envision way and means to engage with what is left of the concept of society and societal values in order to create a ‘world picture’ of contemporary times”, wrote THE SOCIAL’s organizer, Lanfranco Aceti.

The conference is sponsored by Boston University, OCR, and the Museum of Contemporary Cuts (MoCC). For more information on the conference and to respond to the call for papers, please visit the conference website at:http://ocradst.org/visualculture2016/

To stay informed on all things related to THE SOCIAL, subscribe to the conference newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/bMkFnL or follow the conference on Facebook at:http://ow.ly/Xvwlq

For more information about the Arts Administration program at Boston University, please visit the program website at: http://www.bu.edu/artsadmin/ 

For more information about the MoCC, please visit the organization website at:http://museumofcontemporarycuts.org/