Pause. Fervour. Reflections on a Pandemic.
This freely available collection co-edited by ReMAP member Marq Smith with colleagues was launched on 20th September 2021 as the first of a series of events celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Journal of Visual Culture, which Marq co-edits. See below for following events.
The image shown on this page shows an artwork by one of the contributors, Oreet Ashery, a visual artist working across established arts institutions and grassroots social contexts.
The collection was co-produced with the Harun Farocki Institut, Berlin. The call for contributions from the Institute began as follows:
‘The SARS-Cov-2 crisis is, will be, and will have been so many things – a disastrous event of unknown scale, an individual and collective tragedy, a historical turning point, a huge biopolitical experiment, and so much more.
At the same time, attempts to act responsibly, caringly, solidarily in the face of this global catastrophe are overwhelming. The planetary dimension of the crisis seems to put everything into question, likewise affecting the knowledge production, visual practice, critical theory, political organizing, scholarly enterprises, research communities to which we are committed (and which are experiencing existential and epistemological shockwave after shockwave on a daily basis).’
It goes on to describe the contributions in this way:
‘Equal part powerful and moving, angry and heartbreaking, righteous and desperate, hopeless and demanding of a better future, together this polyphony posits if not an actual antidote then certainly abundant curative reflections to the disease and ways we might navigate this ongoing crisis.’
Following events in the celebration of the Journal’s 20th anniversary are:
20th October 2021 (6pm-8pm, UK time): on The Palestine Portfolio (an event to celebrate August’s themed section in solidarity with Palestine/Palestinians, out next week). Chaired by Professor Stephen Sheehi (Sultan Qoboos Professor of Middle East Studies; Faculty Director, Decolonizing Humanities Project; Wiliam & Mary College, Williamsburg, VA, USA).
20th November 2021 (6pm-8pm, UK time): on Trans Visual Culture, with contributions from Cyle Metzger [Stanford] and Kirsten Ringelberg [Elon] (guest editors of a recent themed issue of JVC, along with contributors to that issue, chaired by Jill H. Casid [Wisconsin-Madison].
20th December 2021 (6pm-8pm, UK time): on ‘testimony as environment’, a forthcoming themed issue, guest edited by Eray Cayli (LSE). Contributors to be confirmed.
20th January 2022 (6pm-8pm, UK time, tbc): Journal of Visual Culture, the next 20 years!
20th February 2022: on ‘reparations’, a forthcoming themed issue, guest edited by Adrienne Huard [OCAD, Canada] and Gabrielle Moser. [York, Canada] Contributors to be confirmed.