Recent debates in image theory and the historiography of art history point to a growing
awareness of the disciplinary, epistemological, and institutional forces that shape the
study of the visual. Art History, considered the founding discipline of image study, is
thought to have been challenged and expanded by Visual Studies in the Anglophone
cultural sphere and by Bildwissenschaft in the German-speaking world. Theoretical
discussion has focused on the nature of these new directions, and more specifically their
departure from art history. Anglophone Visual Studies are thought to constitute a decisive
break from traditional Art History, while German Bildwissenschaft is thought to
represent an autonomous or competing response. As hierarchies and narratives of
disciplinary supersession or canonicity are being created, all three discourses continue to
co-exist, however, as an integral part of the image theory continuum.
This one-day international conference proposes a reevaluation of the above dominant
narrative, through the acknowledgement of the current synchronicity of these discourses.
Rather than focusing on rupture, replacement, or competition, it identifies a need to
explore their conceptual entanglements, methodological affinities, and shared inter- and
transdisciplinary horizons. It seeks to situate these fields within broader histories of
institutional formation, new research practices, academic knowledge production, and the
evolving status of the image.
We invite contributions that investigate the historical continuities, theoretical
intersections, and institutional convergences across Art History, Visual Studies, and
Bildwissenschaft. We welcome theoretical, historiographic, or case-based studies, as well
as papers that combine visual analysis with philosophical or methodological reflection.
Historical scope is deliberately open, with an emphasis on the ongoing evolution and
present conditions of the fields in question.
Indicative topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
– Iconic, pictorial, and sensory turns: methodological reconsiderations and historiographic
critiques
– Histories of interdisciplinarity in Art History: transdisciplinary knowledge formations;
relationships to anthropology, philosophy, psychology, classics, media studies, or science
studies
– Visual Studies and Bildwissenschaft as institutional narratives: dialogue, conflict, and
syncretism; disciplinary self-fashioning; the authority of academic canons
– Synergies or commoning: between sponsored mega-projects and collective creation in
Art History
– The globalization of visual theory: Anglophone dominance, German traditions, and
emerging perspectives outside Euro-American frameworks
– Rethinking the autonomy of disciplines: hybrid methodologies, institutional crossovers,
translation, and shared epistemic tools
– Re-evaluation of the legacy of key thinkers, including Warburg, Panofsky, Riegl,
Wickhoff, Wölfflin, Mitchell, Boehm, Belting, and others to examine how their
approaches continue to inform contemporary scholarship
Selected papers will be published in an edited volume which aims to illuminate how the
study of the image—far from being fragmented or superseded—remains anchored in a
dynamic and enduring inter- and transdisciplinarity. Through comparative, critical, and
synthetic perspectives, it seeks to question the assumption of discontinuity between Art
History, Visual Studies, and Bildwissenschaft, and to offer new insights into the
institutional tenacity and adaptive coherence of image-oriented scholarship today.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit an abstract of 300 words and a 2-page CV to by May 11,
2026. The conference language is English.
Conference date: November 14, 2026
Venue: Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece, 6-8 Xenias
Street, 11528 Athens, Greece
Scientific and Organizing Committee
Angeliki Pollali, Professor, Deree–The American College of Greece
Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Associate Professor, University of Thessaly
Lia Yoka, Associate Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Organized by
Frances Rich School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Deree–The American
College of Greece
Visual Culture and Curating Lab, University of Thessaly
Semiotics Laboratory-SemioLab, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
https://vcclab.cult.uth.gr/en/inquiries-into-the-image-art-history-visual-studies-bildwissenschaft/