Call For Papers

Call for proposals 2025: text, video, performance, installations and other multimodal forms of research. 

The International Association for Research with Visual and Multimodal Methods, VisualModi, invites abstracts for its 2025 conference, which will take place in Tenerife (Spain) from 19 to 21 November at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of La Laguna. The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2025 at 23h59 UTC. 

The congresses of the VisualModi association cover a wide variety of topics defined by our 4 Working Groups and the Exhibition Space 5, which together address research with the application of visual and multimodal methods, as well as theoretical studies on this methodological set and the epistemology of visuality. The congress is committed to alternative scientific writing and the communication of research through audiovisual and interactive content. Therefore, proposals in textual, visual, audiovisual, interactive and other multimodal forms of research presentation are welcome. We welcome all papers that comply with the general themes of the conference, the composition and lines of which can be consulted at the end of the text:

-        WG1. Technological innovation and visual methodologies

-        WG2. Participatory and expository visual methods

-        WG3. Epistemology and visuality studies

-        WG4. Urban space, territories and mobile methods

-        WG5. Exhibition space

As in previous editions, a specific theme is also proposed with the aim of generating and studying new perspectives for visual methods and the image in its different sessions. In this way, we open the congress to new researchers who want to participate and learn about the scientific activities of the association. The theme of this 5th edition, ‘Visual Methods and Artificial Intelligence: the challenges of Surveillance Capitalism’, offers an opportunity to explore traditional, contemporary and future challenges in the global field of visual methodologies for social research. All proposals can belong to one or more of the WG1-5 without addressing the central thematics.

Specific theme: Visual Methods and Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Surveillance Capitalism

Research methods using visual and multimodal tools are based on the generation of traces - situated or not - and on the visual, audiovisual and transmedia creation resulting from data processing. The elaboration of these visual productions with techniques such as drawing, videography or graphic design, derive from a defined protocol designed to respond to the hypotheses and questions posed by the researchers. This production is mediated by tools of various kinds, the use of which can be understood as a form of bricolage (according to Lévi-Strauss' concept). Although the use of open source tools makes it possible to adapt them to different research purposes, many of the available options are currently proprietary, which creates a number of problems. Firstly, the functions they offer may limit researchers, restricting their ability to innovate methodologies or imposing restrictions that affect the appropriateness of the methods to their initial objectives. Secondly, the use of these platforms for data collection raises ethical issues related to the handling and ownership of data generated through these media.

In an era defined by the crisis of privacy, sociologist Shoshana Zuboff in 2013 coined the term surveillance capitalism to refer to the commodification of personal information that large technology corporations harvest from social networks to turn it into a commodity to be traded. The conference theme highlights the critical intersection of the benefits of artificial intelligent vision and its intervention in the social order to address the pressing challenges of predicting human behaviour and manipulating it through the collection and analysis of images.

The theme ‘Visual Methods and Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Surveillance Capitalism’, highlights the need to recognise the importance of the exploitation of personal data that does not always conform to fair ethics. The oceanic visual production on the Internet and the detailed collection of images about personal routines, particularities and behaviours undermine privacy. Technological corporations, like state security systems themselves, acquire in-depth knowledge of intimate aspects of people's lives, without their knowledge or explicit consent. This smart technology can influence people's decisions and behaviours through targeted propaganda, personalised recommendations and other mechanisms of persuasion. This can lead to a society where individual actions are shaped by global consumer trends or hegemonic ideologies without the possibility of dissent. Mass surveillance and manipulation of visual information can affect democratic processes. The accumulation of large amounts of personal images entails security risks. Image leaks, cyber-attacks and the misuse of visual information by third parties are constant concerns in a world where the visual is an invaluable resource.

To address these challenges, it is essential to push for greater transparency and regulation in the collection and use of visual data, images, personal representations, protect the privacy rights of individuals and promote a public debate on the ethical limits of surveillance capitalism. This is the only way to balance technological progress with the protection of fundamental values such as privacy, freedom and fairness.

We invite all scholars to bring their unique contributions that address these crucial issues about the future of our societies and their research through the image or visual methods perspective. The creation and analysis of images can contribute to a better understanding of these dynamics and propose strategies to mitigate their risks. Transparency, regulation of the use of visual data and protection of privacy rights require a broad and informed public debate.

Below, you can consult the guidelines for the summaries and proposals of each working group for additional information on their topics.

Guidelines for abstracts and key dates

Abstracts should be submitted exclusively through the congress platform https://vm25.sciencesconf.org/, from 15 February to 30 April 2025 at 23:59 UTC. For other key dates, see https://visualmodi.hypotheses.org/ . 

Abstracts should be submitted for a thematic cluster and be between 300 and 500 words in length, with submissions preferably in French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and English. 

Each person is expected to submit only one abstract for oral communications, either individually or as part of a group of authors. The same abstract, or a version with minor variations in title or content, should not be submitted to more than one Section or to Section 5. Such submissions will be considered a violation of the conference guidelines and will be rejected. It is possible to make a propostion for the WG 5 Exhibition and for oral communications with the same principles stated in this paragraph.

Sections and Exhibition/Exhibition Space 5 may have specific guidelines, so please refer to the specific group information or contact the coordinators if you need further information.

Evaluation criteria

Abstracts submitted will be evaluated on the basis of:

-        The readability, clarity and accessibility of the text.

-        The originality, uniqueness and significance of the research presented.

-        Theoretical contribution or novelty in basic or fundamental research.

-        Relevance to the section or Area 5 and current trends or controversies in the field.

-        Innovation and advancement of scientific knowledge that provides the basis on which new theories and technologies can be developed.

-        Applied research that provides practical solutions to specific problems.

Acceptance of proposals may also be conditional on criteria of diversity and balance of programmes. Additional criteria may be used by Space 5.

Statement on the use of artificial intelligence tools

Visual Modi does not support or allow the use of generative AI tools to produce abstracts for presentation at our conferences. We value originality, integrity and transparency in scholarly work, and believe that contributions from human authors are the best source of rigorous and innovative research in visual methodologies in social research. If an author chooses to use a generative AI tool to prepare an abstract, they should include a clear statement in their submission indicating the use of such a tool. This statement should specify: (a) the AI tool used; (b) how it was used in the preparation of the abstract, and; (c) the reason for its use. Failure to mention the use of Generative AI according to these guidelines may influence the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.

Publication of video proceedings

The Canal-U channel of Visual Modi, an international association for visual and multimodal research (https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/visualmodi), will be responsible for the audiovisual publications of the symposium:

• The symposium will be filmed and the audiovisual recordings of the papers will be published as the symposium's audiovisual proceedings, subject to the following conditions
  • on the one hand, the speakers' agreement to broadcast their visual and audio images, and
  • the possibility of free distribution of the (audio)visual media broadcast by the speakers.
• Visual Modi's Canal-U channel will also publish the illustrative videograms and audiograms of the published proceedings in printable format (via a clickable link on the electronic version).

Congress Host

University of La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)

The University of La Laguna is the oldest centre of higher education in the Canary Islands, with more than two hundred years of history. The decree for its foundation dates back to 11 March 1792, signed by King Charles IV. Since that date, it has gone through several names and stages, until it obtained its current name in 1913.

Two hundred years after its foundation, the University of La Laguna continues to be a point of reference in the Canary Islands community which, with the Atlantic as a bridge, reaches out to the world. Currently, this public institution is made up of more than 25,000 people, including students, teaching staff and administration and services personnel.

Its catalogue of degrees includes 46 Bachelor's Degrees, 38 Official Master's Degrees, 21 Doctorate programmes and 15 UB-specific degrees. In addition, a total of 21,678 students are enrolled. The ULL is undergoing a process of internal renovation in which new information technologies and telematic education, centralised in its Virtual Teaching Unit, will be promoted. The strategic tricontinental position of the Canary Islands means that its universities must adopt a position of reference and leadership in the Atlantic region they occupy.

COMPOSITION OF THEMATIC GROUPS AND COORDINATION

WG 1. Technical innovation and visual methodologies

Coordination: Jacques Ibanez Bueno (Université Savoie Mont Blanc) / Charles-Alexandre Delestage (Université Bordeaux Montaigne)

Since the first researchers used image and sound in scientific processes, methods have adapted to technological changes, just as artists have done in their field. This thematic roundtable contributes to making visible innovative works that use digital tools beyond photography and film. Main themes:

-        Immersive video and sound

-        Virtual reality

-        Multimodal digital devices

-        Photographic production

-        Photo and video projection

-        Design of software to recall or visualise data

-        Alternative’ use of existing technologies

WG 2. Participatory and expository visual methods

Coordination: Alain Lamboux-Durand (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur) / Willy Yvart (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur).

This session proposes a holistic vision of research that uses collaboration, participation and visual representation as fundamental pillars of understanding. Using methodologies that combine creation, documentation and mediation, the aim is to examine how images and multimodal media contribute to the analysis and dissemination of knowledge and the engagement of audiences.
These approaches allow us to explore the richness and diversity of cultural or personal experience, and to emphasize the importance of giving a voice to the subjects who experience the world. Researchers and study participants contribute to the co-construction of knowledge through the visual methods they use.
This working group is also interested in the essentially technical barriers that researchers may encounter. It is open to contributions relating to the dissemination of visual methods in the scientific world, through proposals for the simplification of devices.
Main themes

• - Participatory visual and multimodal creation
  • Interactive maps and diagrams
  • Collaborative films and documentaries
  • Web documentaries and transmedia formats
  • Augmented or virtual reality projects
  • Interactive installations
• - Recording and use of audiovisual traces
  • Testimonials
  • (Audio)visual anthropology
  • experiments
  • scientific publications
  • scientific dissemination
• - Visual and multimodal elicitation - elicitation through the use of drawings, graphics, photos and videos
• - Creation and exploitation of visual and multimodal collections for research purposes
  • Photo and video techniques for science
  • Multimodal data design and information visualization
  • Specification of methodological frameworks for making films and sound recordings
• - ...

WG 3. Epistemology and studies on visualization

Coordination: Fernando Contreras (fmedina@us.es), University of Seville / Alba Marín (albamarin@unex.es), University of Extremadura.

This group of works focuses on studies on the knowledge of visuality in artistic and cultural creations. Research on the generation of knowledge through visual perception, visual experience in the understanding of the world and interpretations of visual information is welcome. Although the central theme of 2025 is ‘Artificial Visual Intelligence: The Challenges of Surveillance Capitalism’, proposals related to the main themes of this cluster are welcome:

-        Theories of Visual Knowledge;

-        Approaches to scopic regimes.

-        Genealogy of the Image   

-        The visual construction of the social vs. the social construction of the visual.

-        Studies on the gaze, the seen, the seen, the hidden, the invisible, the visual forbidden. 

-        Generation of Knowledge through Visual Perception and Sensibility.

-        Studies on visual subjectivity

-        Rationalism and irrationalism of aesthetic impact. 

-        Linguistic turn vs. visual turn

-        Models of Spiritual Rationality vs. Visual Thinking

-        Mimesis, virtuality and visual experiences

-        Interpretations of social reality through visual information

-        Symbolism, meaning, identity, visual semiotics

-        Anthropological theories and models of visuality

-        Politics of visual culture

-        Dissidence, Artivism, Disobedience Culture of Visual Politics

-        The Political Construction of the Visual: Scopic Regimes

-        Visual Perception of Gender

-        Power, Hegemony, Imperialism, Visual Colonialism 

-        Anachronism, Visual Autonomy and Resilience of Visuality

-        Fragmentation of aesthetics

-        Surfaces, Landscapes, Spatialities, Mirages, Scenarios, Visual Fields

-        Market and consumption of visual trends 

-        Phenomenology of visuality: idolatry, iconoclasm, visual vandalism, iconodulia

-        Fetishism, totemism and scopic rituals

-        Aesthetics of social movements 

-        Imaginaries, archetypes, stereotypes, visual prototypes.

-        Memory, visual oblivion, fiction and the disappeared.

-        Heritage, conservation and the gaze through history.

-        Psychological effects of visuality: Visual tactility.

-        The surplus value of the image: mediation, representation, presentation and simulacra.

-        The visual ‘I’: reflections, intimacy, intimacy, extimacy, self-portraits, selfies

WG 4. Urban space, territories and mobile methods

Coordination: Laura Martinez ou Sophie Mariani Rousset

The aim of this round table is to discuss how visual methods can be effective and fertile in the study of urban space and territory, particularly through the possibility of combining them with mobile devices as research tools. The papers presented at this round table will try to show a state of the art of the different variants of these methods and their contributions in various disciplines.

-        Urban Artivisms

-        Visual narratives of the ‘smart city’.

-        Gender, security and urban mobility

-        Subversive cartographies

-        Territorial Strategies, Mapping Devices and Applications

-        Urban fragments and hybrid spaces

-        Territory and corporeality

-        Urban configurations and transitions

-        Counter-advertising, disruptive visual modalities in urban space

-        Anti-extractivism and digital resistance in territories

-        Image manipulation and impact on the representation of territory

-        Surveillance in the city and public space(s): imaginaries and data

-        (Audio)visual re-appropriations in/of the city

-        Hegemonic urban representations and practices    

WG 5. Exhibition / Performances / Other research activities

Coordination: Jacques Ibanez Bueno (Université Savoir Mont Blanc) & Universidad La Laguna