Visual methods in mediated environments: connecting diverse worlds 

Victoria University of Wellington in conjunction with

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

2 - 6 September 2013 

Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

The Wellington committee for the Third International Visual Methods Conference invites abstracts for academic papers/sessions that engage with the opportunity and the challenge of enabling interconnections across diverse disciplines, fields of study and practices. 

Linking the ideas of mediated environments and diverse worlds with visual methods, we aim to give scholars and reflexive practitioners scope to speak from their particular locales and backgrounds, into a different and difference-attuned collegial setting. The diverse worlds we wish conference presenters to bring into clearer focus are those of the ‘straight and narrow’ of Visual Methods but also those of the ‘in-between’. Whether engaged in scholarship or activism, business or policy; whether a member of an Indigenous or settler-society, from the northern or southern hemisphere; positioned within Science or Art, using analogue or digital technologies, designing or ‘appreciating-critically’, whether researching individuals or collectives: we want to hear your ‘take’ on Visual Methods. 

The two prior International Visual Methods Conferences (Leeds ’09, OU Milton Keynes ’11) demonstrated that visual methods/(audio)visual practices are proliferating. Professional associations, academic disciplines, corporations and institutions of vastly different sizes, with either local or global 'reach' are affected by the rise of 'free-to-use' networking possibilities. This is due to the world-wide take up of social media, increasingly accessed via mobile devices, and the relative low cost of other image/sound recording technologies. The ubiquity of camera/video capabilities in mobile devices makes visual ‘documentation’ of events, an any-time, anywhere, activity. As with our previous conference announcement for creative and collaborative proposals for non-paper sessions, this CFP seeks to provoke engagements with the plethora of these (audio)visual methods and their, sometimes unpredictable, effects in specific places (whether physical, virtual or both at the same time).

The conference programme will consist of pre-conference workshop(s) and a postgraduate social event, three days of paper presentations, panel sessions, keynote plenaries, and small group discussions. (Sessions will be organised around 90 minute blocks, with individual paper presentations occupying between 15-20 minutes.) The final day will involve outcomes of various collaborations between visiting delegates and local organisations: a range of exhibitions, screenings, activities and performances around the city. There will be a conference reception and conference dinner. A limited number of full and partial registrations will be available for presenters who would otherwise not be able to attend (full details of registration categories, keynote speakers and travel/accommodation options will be posted on the conference www-site in February).

Abstracts/proposals should address the conference title in 250 words and be submitted as a MS Word file (not in the body of an email). Where a significant portion of the presentation will involve images, choose three (3) representative stills or a video section that has been encoded to no more than 4Mb in total (Quicktime compatible format) and attach that to your abstract’s email. The Conference Committee is open to other abstracts/proposals, that fit within the broad terms of the conference title and orientation (see call for proposals).

In the file attachments, please list your name, institution and/or organisational affiliation (if any); your paper or session title, and media support required. In both your file name and email subject line, please include:

[IVM 3; Paper or Session and Family Name]

Please send to [log in to unmask]  by 28th February 2013.  All proposals will be reviewed by the Conference Committee and responded to by April 2nd.