The Latent Image

18th/19th/20th April, 2018

University of Edinburgh

Keynotes: Karen Barad, (science), Jan Willem Tulp, (data visualization), Edward Colless (art theory)

We would like to invite you all to join us for the  fifth International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture hosted by the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and will take place on April 18th/19th/20th 2018 in collaboration with the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh College of Art and the Centre for Design Informatics. Over two stimulating days, acclaimed professionals including curators, historians, creative arts practitioners, critics and theorists explore transdisciplinary imaging.

The theme of the conference focuses on a fluidity between the seen and unseen. Understood as patterns that simultaneously freeze and transcend fleeting realities, images are bound by the paradox of being of a moment that has passed. As cultural theories seek to overcome the stable, spatial realities that image-based forms of comprehension have projected, and new technologies reshape how information is read and encoded, the latent image opens up a vital critical strand of enquiry. Originally designating the invisible atomic changes occurring in the photographic process prior to development, the latent image refers to the underlying translation and reconstitution of information that underpins all analogue and digital imaging as it negotiates with a transient reality. The liminal space between the seen and unseen being an ongoing locus of a ‘becoming’. A catalyst for debates about sonic images, invisible networks and relationships between intuition and intelligibility, this conference will raise quantitative and qualitative questions important to any discipline predicated on image production.

  •      What are the problematics of the seen? How do we measure or represent the seen? Is there a measure for the unseen?
  •      How can we make the role of intuition intelligible in the contemporary image?
  •      Do stealth technologies/distributed data/networks transcend the image?
  •      How do we represent the language of the world?
  •      Do the technologies of science help define or elide the unseen?

The aim of the conference is to bring together artists, theorists, scholars, scientists, historians and curators. Papers that respond to the above provocation are invited from areas related to: Media Arts, Painting, Drawing, Curating, Installation, Film, Video, Photography, Data Visualization, Real-time Imaging, Design, Intelligent Systems and Image Science.

The conference will take place across two locations at the University of Edinburgh: The Talbot Rice Gallery, and the  Informatics Forum. During the conference the Talbot Rice Gallery will create a special event drawing upon the concurrent Rachel Maclean exhibition, curating a series of performances and talks that restage the story of Pinocchio. Beginning with the perfect analogy for the latent image – the piece of pine wood that yelps to identify the image of the boy within – the event will consider images in relation to morality, phantom limbs, capitalism and deceit.

Visit website https://transimage2018.wordpress.com/

Co-Chairs: Chris Speed & Paul Thomas