2005 Press Releases
International Conference on Visual Literacy at University College Cork (UCC)
We live in an image-saturated world, but there is no consensus about the place of the visual in university education. What should count as visual literacy, or visual competence? This is the first international conference on the subject. Organised by UCC's History of Art Department this unique conference which will take place on 14-15 April will bring together major theorists (WJT Mitchell, Barbara Stafford, Jonathan Crary) and a range of innovative scholars.
The first day of the conference is dedicated to comparing the places of visuality and literacy in the educational systems of different countries. The second day has speakers from various fields, including Law and Medicine, talking about how images are used in their discipline.
The conference will be accompanied by an unusual exhibition, "Visual Practices across the University", an exhibition curated by Professor James Elkins and displaying visual work that is done in 26 departments throughout UCC with each display describing in detail the languages used in each department to discuss and produce images.
Professor James Elkins, UCC and the School of the Art Institute, Chicago will start the proceedings on Thursday with a talk entitled "On the Concepts of Visual Literacy, and its Limitations". The session topic "Are some cultures more visual than others?" will follow with speakers addressing visuality in Slovenia, China, Russia, Poland, Japan, and Ireland. Friday's session will open with WJT Mitchell from the University of Chicago who will speak on "Visual Literacy" followed by the session topic "What can visual studies contribute to the university curriculum?" with speakers from the Universities of Nottingham, Western Sydney and Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden. Jonathan Crary from the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University will close the proceedings.
The Conference takes place on 14-15 April, Boole III Lecture Theatres. Enquiries: Veronica Fraser, Tel. 021 4902124; website http://imagehistory.org
045MMcS
« Back to 2005 Press Releases