Materiality of the Unseen in the Long Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century has often been called the “frenzy of the visible” as new theories, technologies, and artistic practices attempted to visualize the previously unseen. Motivated by a greater interest in invisible, hidden, and out-of-reach phenomena such as the climate, the non-visual senses, areas of the globe or cosmos that were generally untraversable, or health-related subjects, artists and makers experimented with ways of visualising such topics for both specialist and general audiences. While photo-histories have played a large role in cementing the “frenzy” narrative this panel seeks to look beyond telling narratives of augmented sight solely limited through photography. Instead, we ask: what was considered unseen, and how was it made material? If something is materialized, is it necessarily made visible?

By focusing on materiality, this panel investigates the limitations and possibilities available in the nineteenth century to the sense of touch in addition to sight. “To make material” in addition to “to make visible” means to center other encounters with objects, concepts and phenomena of the period, including surfacing ethical implications. In other words, what were the ethical considerations of making previously obscured phenomena tangible and touchable? Possible papers may include: relationships with social stigmas or conventions of revealing something unseen; transmission or circulation of images of the invisible; processes or materiality of visualization of invisible phenomena; the balance between aesthetics and social function; or the reification of social concepts through material means. This panel is interested in proposals that span geographies and media throughout the long nineteenth century.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Jennifer Marine, University of Virginia, jam4kg@virginia.edu

Rosalind Hayes, Durham University, rosalind.hayes0@gmail.com