Following the first successful Virtual Photography Symposium held at the University of Westminster, London in 2022, the University of Westminster are delighted to announce the call for contributions to a new International Conference Photography in Virtual Culture in May 2024.
The conference is organised in collaboration with The Photographers’ Gallery who will co-host the event. The aim is to develop a communal space for discussion, forming critiques, thinking and making what can be called ‘virtual photography’.
The last decade has seen a clear shift in the operational frameworks for the production, dissemination and consumption of photographs in contemporary computerised societies. The representational function of the medium is progressively converted to algorithmic and generative processes through computerized connectivity and control. Recent developments of AI systems and expanded reality technologies have exponentially changed the possibilities for image making and the ways in which photographic images might be created and used within, and beyond, virtual space.
While this might be exciting times for creators, thinkers and developers, it is also a pivotal moment in the history of the photographic medium, with debates about its materiality, social function and essence taking place.
We invite proposals presenting the following subjects:
- AI, Generative and Synthetic Images
- Digital Communities and Critical practices
- Datasets and Ethics
- Computation and Virtual Space
- Theories of Virtuality
- Digital Labour and Environments
- Sexuality and Vision
- Games and Narratives
- Photography Education
- Virtual Image Systems
Closing date for proposals: 18 September 2023
Find out more about the open call, the conference, and how to submit proposals at Unthinking Photography
Conference Convenors
Dr. Paula Gortázar, Lecturer in Photography, University of Westminster Prof. David Bate, Professor of Photography, University of Westminster.
In partnership with Digital Programme at The Photographers’ Gallery.
