The
Visual Culture Research Unit imparts extensive theoretical and
methodological competencies at the intersection of contemporary art,
architecture and theory. At the centre of our work is an in-depth
exploration of the variety of forms and practices through which culture
is produced, negotiated and put to use along historical, political,
social and economic processes.
Our
examination of the different manifestations of these processes spans
from the analysis of the political dimension of spatial production and
pictorial representation through to the investigation of visual
constructions of social phenomena. The lived and shared practice of
culture forms the starting point of these explorations.
With
its perspective based on real everyday experiences, the Visual Culture
Research Unit opens up a repertoire of approaches, methods and tools to
address the major challenges of the present in their historical
contingency and malleability:
- increasing influence of digital technologies
- different forms of global migration
- growing social and economic inequity
- increasing informalisation and precarisation of work
- neoliberalisation of the city and its institutions
- new modes of political and social governance
- global impact of environmental degradation and climate change
In
all these areas, we provide critical knowledge that brings together
artistic, architectural and planning considerations with a range of
historical, theoretical, experimental and interpretive approaches in
research and literature.
