This conference aims to bridge the gap between contemporary digital archival practices and academic theory regarding the image of and the image in the archive. It is only through studying the historicity of visual practices and the historical imagination that we can understand the potential of new technologies. Until now, it is only the history of science that has investigated the role of the image as an epistemic tool. Given the growing role of visual material in both researching and presenting historical data, and leading on from recent research endeavors in arts, media, film and literary studies to explore changes in the notion of the archive in the digital era, we invite dialogue between theorists and practitioners on the following questions:
- What are the images and concepts that frame our understanding of both traditional and digital archives today?
- What new approaches are developed when working with visual imagery in the archives?
- How do visual representations of historical data shape users’ expectations and influence the identity of archival institutions?
- How might scholars influence the forms that knowledge takes in digital environments?
Prospective participants are invited to envisage their intervention at one of the proposed panels:
1. The evolution of historical/scientific imagination and archival practices
2. Audio-visual collections and new archival epistemes in the digital era
3. Digital humanities potential in archival practices
4. Performing the archive
5. Displaying evidence
Scholars and specialists in the fields of history, archival science, media studies, film studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and other related areas of the humanities are invited to apply and to explore the new challenges in conceptualizing, exhibiting, and working in the archives. Organized on the premises of an archival laboratory, the event seeks to establish a new scholarly network of archival and research institutions, to examine the nature and function of the archives both in historical and contemporary contexts.
Please email an abstract of no more than 500 words and a short CV to visualizing.archives@gmail.com by December 10, 2013 [deadline extended]. The conference will take place on March 7-8, 2014 at OSA Archivum.
Partial travel grants can be provided to the participants from the region on a competitive basis. Please submit a brief justification for your travel grant request along with the conference abstract.
Organizers:
Ioana Macrea-Toma, OSA
Oksana Sarkisova, OSA