EEGA Science Lounge “Visualising War: Shifts in Proximity, Technology and Care”

Guests: Monica Rüthers (Universität Hamburg), Bohdan Shumylovych (Ukrainian Catholic University, Center for Urban History) and Petra Bopp (independent art historian)

Moderated by Mela Žuljević (Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography)

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the most visually documented conflicts in the history of war globally. Different actors and parties produce, publish and appropriate various kinds of images and visual representations on daily basis: social media photos and videos, crowdsourced maps of conflict sites, journalist reports, drone and satellite images, etc. With this event, we would like to discuss the following topics and questions:

Visual analysis: What is the role of visual material in documenting the war, as well as in influencing its public perception and political decision-making? How do visual analysis and visual history help us understand this? What does it mean to do visual history of war and how do we make sense of it as it is being made? What concepts, methods, approaches are relevant?

Science and Accountability: In addition, how can scientific approaches support public history and accountability? What responsibilities do scientists have in public discussions and uses of visual documentation, especially as evidence and testimonies in media, legal and archival contexts? What does the historical perspective reveal about the changing relevance of visualisations and visual expertise in the context of crimes against humanity and post-truth politics?

Intersections of the private and public: How have the relations of private and public ways of seeing transformed over time and reflected in the use of visual media? What effects do bottom-up participation and direct experience in image production have on the meaning and symbolic appropriations of visual representations? What kinds of images are produced through private archives and mediation of real-time, direct or mental experience of war? How do they challenge official narratives and what are their epistemological and cultural legacies?

Ethics and Emotions: What ethical concerns arise in collecting, analysing and publishing sensitive visual documentation? How do we, as researchers, deal with shocking images and the issue of desensitisation in an ethical and responsible way? How have curatorial and archival practices, as well as strategies of visibility and augmentation, evolved to address this?

The event will be conducted in English (with German subtitles).

This event is a cooperation between the ScienceCampus Eastern Europe – Global Area and KonKoop