SYMPOSIUM “IMAGE TESTIMONIES” JUNE 13-15

IMAGE TESTIMONIES – WITNESSING IN TIMES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

International Symposium hosted by the Collaborative Research Center “Affective Societies”
Project B01 “Affective Dynamics of Images in the Era of Social Media”

Free University Berlin, July 13-­15, 2017
Deadline for proposals: January 16, 2017

The conference will be held in English.

Recent political conflicts signal an increased proliferation of image testimonies shared widely via Social Media. Although witnessing with and through images is not a phenomenon of the internet era, image practices and politics in Social Media as much as new technology have enabled individuals to record, upload, and share images directly via mobile devices, which makes nearly everyone a potential witness. In relation to their ability to give and to create evidence, the special efficacy of image testimonies seems to lie in their ability to affect, to move, or to mobilize. Witnessing, especially when unfolding in Social Media, needs to be defined as a collective and relational practice with the effect of forming communities, and provoking further image testimonies. What exactly is being testified by these various forms of witnessing can only be studied from multiple perspectives and necessitates complicating the “truth-claims” that are made.

Conception and Organization: Kerstin Schankweiler, Verena Straub, Tobias Wendl

For further information on the symposium please visit the Affective Societies website.