CFP | GLOBAL NEW VOICES 2025

Visual Culture, Identity and the Construction of Space

Online Conference for PhD students

Conference Date: Thursday, 13 November 2025

Deadline: Sunday, 31 August 2025

Understanding the complex relationship between space and identity has become increasingly urgent in the context of ever widening geopolitical conflict. The ways in which space is built, designed, occupied and experienced profoundly shapes how individuals and communities see themselves, and how they are seen by others. The impact of the expanding digital space on this dynamic requires greater consideration as does its role in erasing marginalised voices.

Recognising space and place as socially and culturally constructed, the conference draws attention to the often-unseen power relations that shape spatial environments. We invite researchers, artists and curators to consider how identity is formed, represented, experienced, and contested through spatial frameworks in visual culture. This conference aims to foster a critical dialogue between national, transnational, postcolonial, and global perspectives, highlighting the fluid process of space making across both physical and virtual worlds.

We welcome contributions that investigate any historical period or geographical region. Proposals may be theoretical or practice-based and participants are encouraged to draw from different disciplines, including, but not limited to, the visual arts, cultural studies, architecture, geography and media studies.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Visual art and the construction of physical and/or virtual spaces
The representation and projection of physical and/or virtual space and the formation, representation, and perception of identity
Identity and spatial politics in visual culture
The relationship between the conceptualisation of space and the social construction of gender relations
Spatial construction and the expression and negotiation of identity
Artistic interventions in urban and rural environments
Mapping and the aesthetics of space
Sensory experience, perception and temporality in relation to space and identity
Digital geographies and identity construction
Cyberspace and identity
Inhabiting digital spaces and their impact on the physical world
Space construction and imaginary futures

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Emilie Sitzia, Special Chair at the University of Amsterdam (Word and Image) and Associate Professor Cultural Education at the University of Maastricht.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This year’s Global New Voices invites proposals from PhD students in any stage of their research, exploring the theme over any historical period or geographic region. We welcome submissions from international scholars and practice-based researchers to open a dynamic discussion about visual art and space-making from an interdisciplinary perspective.

We invite proposals in any of the following three formats:

15-minute paper presentations: Papers focusing on the idea of contested histories through material or visual thinking in a wide variety of contexts.
Pecha Kucha presentations: 20 images with a limited time (20 seconds) commentary on each slide. The aim is a swift, visually-led presentation that is succinct and powerful. Click here to learn more about the Pecha Kucha format.
Curatorial and artist showcase: Artists, curators, and image-makers to share their practice – this consists of approximately 5-10 minutes of viewing the work (shared online) followed by discussion and constructive feedback. We welcome submission from artists and curators working in any medium which contains a strong visual element.

WHEN AND WHERE WILL THIS CONFERENCE TAKE PLACE?

Online, ensuring an international platform for inclusive, enriching, and creative discussion.

This year, the conference will take place on Thursday 13th November, with coffee and lunch breaks for down-time.

HOW TO APPLY AND WHEN IS THE DEADLINE?

Proposals and abstracts of no more than 250 words, along with a 100-word biography, should be sent to globalnewvoices2025@gmail.com by 11:59 pm GMT on Sunday 31st August 2025. Notifications of acceptance and rejection will be sent out by Monday 16 September.

Please let us know in the email subject if you are proposing a paper, a Pecha Kucha, or curatorial and artist showcase.

Please state which country / time zones you will be participating from to facilitate our programming.

Finally, please indicate whether you agree for your session to be recorded. We may be uploading the conference (or as much as is feasible), to the AAH YouTube channel.

For more information, contact the organisers: Isaac Nugent and Man Li at globalnewvoices2025@gmail.com

Photo credit: Collection of Geometric and Perspectival Drawings Executed in Colour, in Farben ausgeführter Zeichnungen, 36 Blätter umfassend (Cod. Guelf. 74.1 Aug. 2°; Heinemann-Nr. 2708) Herzog August Bibliothek.