Word Acts: Text in Visual Art at the Intersection of Histories and Geographies

Text has become a familiar presence in contemporary art, in various media and forms, yet its function often goes under-discussed. Historical frameworks, including modern and pre-modern art, offer important references, and can help to understand the complexity of how language is used, also in current artistic practice.

This session begins with a simple question: what do we still not know, or not yet ask, about the role of text in visual art? Text is not simply something to be read or interpreted, but something that shapes how the work unfolds and how viewers engage with it. Language can be central to the work, even when it is unreadable.

This session invites papers on the under-recognised or under-theorised uses of text in the histories of visual art. It is open but not limited to (1) Text as image, code, score, or embodied gesture; (2) Language as spatial material in contemporary and historic sites;
(3) Legacies and re-workings of historical text-based art; (4) Multilingualism and the use of different writing systems—alphabetic, ideographic, or hybrid; (5) Voice, silence, or the refusal of language in text-based art.

The session encourages contributions on diversified historic periods and geographies, and on their intersections. It aims to open up new conversations about what remains materially, methodologically, and critically underexplored in the use of the written word in historic and contemporary art.

The format includes four 20-minute papers followed by a facilitated panel with a guest scholar and/or artist.

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

Dr Lulu Ao, Loughborough University, luluao1009@gmail.com

Giovanna Guzzi-Rossetti, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University, giovannarossetti0109@gmail.com