Image and Thought Network

About
image and thought

This network ran from 2019 to 2022.

 

Images are often considered as playing an auxiliary role in the process of thinking, having an explicative rather than a heuristic function. The Image and Thought Network set out to challenge this conceptualisation and its related hierarchy of value, not only to unsettle such presuppositions but also to explore the porous boundaries between image and thought. The aim of the network was to consider the relationship between image and thought across disciplines, time frames and cultural traditions; in particular the project crosses philosophy, art and art history, literature and literary criticism, and theology and religion studies.

 

Contacts for the network were:

Prof Simon Gilson (Medieval and Modern Languages, Magdalen College) 

Prof Hanneke Grootenboer (History of Art, St Peter’s College)

Katie Javanaud (DPhil candidate in Theology, Keble College) 

Alesia Preite (DPhil candidate in Philosophy, St John’s College) 

Dr Emilia Terracciano (TORCH/Ruskin School of Art AW Mellon Fellow and Wadham Bowra Fellow in the Humanities) 

Valentina Tibaldo (DPhil candidate in Medieval and Modern Languages, St Hugh’s College) 

Emails for any queries could be sent to iat@torch.ox.ac.uk.

 

People

Convenors:

Simon Gilson

Hanneke Grootenboer

Alesia Priete

Valentina Tibaldo

Events
Past Events

Image and Thought Network

image and thought
 
Islamic Art and Thought (November 2019) 
Workshop to explore the relationship between image and thought in the Islamic tradition.  
Francesca Leoni, curator of Islamic art of the Ashmolean and Umberto Bongianino, Departmental Lecturer in Islamic Art and Architecture, gave presentations on relevant objects of the Ashmolean collection which were shown to the attendees.  
The artist Sama Mara presented traditional Islamic geometry from a practical point of view. She will also present her latest work,  "A Hidden Order", a cross-media project in which geometric space is explored through musical composition. 
 
'SUD' by Chantal Akerman Screening (November 2019) 
Screening of the documentary 'SUD' by Chantal Akerman. 
Prof. Nikolaj Lübecker (St. John's College, MML): Introduction and moderated discussion. 
 
All That Perishes at the Edge of Land: a film by Hira Nabi (December 2019) 
Screening:  All That Perishes at the Edge of Land is filmed at the Gadani ship-breaking yard in Baluchistan, where condemned vessels are beached and taken apart by men. 
Hira Nabi is a Lahore-based writer/director and cinematographer.  
This film considers the following themes: 
  • destruction of marine ecologies 
  • exploitative labour practices affecting migrant labourers 
  • networks of industries aggregating wealth 
  • the disposal of waste in the Global South. 
The Image of the Muslim Woman: a Discussion on Feminism and Islamophobia (February 2020) 
Islamophobia as Racism: A Critical Phenomenology of a Muslim Woman’s Racialization (Alia Al-Saji, McGill University) + Q&A 
Islamic Feminism in a Time of Islamophobia (Amina Yaqin, SOAS) + Q&A 
Roundtable discussion 
 
Relooking at Plato on Images (February 2020) 
Programme: 
"Likeness" in Plato's Sophist and Parmenides (Prof. Noburu Notomi, University of Tokyo) + Q&A  
Rethinking the status of images in Plato: a heterodox perspective (Prof. Stephen Halliwell, University of St. Andrew's) + Q&A 
Roundtable discussion 
 
Federica Chiocchetti: A Love Affair Between Photographs and Words (March 2021) 
Robert Lumley (UCL) led the discussion. 
In this talk Federica Chiocchetti looked at theoretical and artistic practices of nineteenth century and contemporary authors, from William Henry Fox Talbot to Sophie Calle, that subverted traditional hierarchies in the relationship of word and image.  
Robert Lumley is Emeritus Professor in the School of European Languages, Cultures, and Society at UCL.  
 
Indulgence and Restraint: Images of Desire at Bolsover and Chatsworth (June 2021) 
Speaker: Angie Hobbs, Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University of Sheffield. 
The talk explored some of the philosophical themes in the magnificent collection of masterwork drawings at Chatsworth House and the intriguing wall decorations in the Little Castle at Bolsover. 
 
Being in Debt Workshop (September 2022) 
Debt is an economic concept that has shaped everything, from religious beliefs and moral values to political ideologies. In recent years, it has been considered by scholars (Graeber 2011, Lazzarato 2011, Stimilli, 2015) as a prominent category through which to analyse the relationship between global governance and individual lives.  
The workshop included 20 minutes papers or 10-minute presentations for a roundtable discussion on: 
Speakers: 
Elettra Stimilli (Rome), The Power of Debt 
Postcolonial Perspectives on Debt, roundtable discussion with Meera Sabaratnam (Soas), Stefano Bellin (Warwick) and Sabrina Keller (Kassel) 
Gendered Debt 
Alessandra Gissi (Naples), Productive and Reproductive. The 'Essential Function' of Women as Debt 
Amali Wedagedara (Hawaii), Debt and Resistance. A Study on Agrarian Women’s Protests in Sri Lanka 
Institutional Debt 
Ngina Chiteji (NYU), The State as an Instrument of Indebtedness 
Mia Gray (Cambridge), The Multi-Scalar State, Institutional Practices, and Debt 
Theory of Debt 
Roundtable discussion with Jean-François Bissonnette (Montréal), Alexandros Raptis (Thessaloniki) and Camilla De Simone (Chieti-Pescara) 
 
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