Projects

Abstract

This project studies the role of European cultural institutions (ECIs) depending on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting national cinemas abroad and developing local film cultures in Chile. It compares the role of the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, the Institut Français, the Centro Cultural de España, and the Goethe Institut in two key historical periods (1955-1973 and 1974-1989) in which these institutions were the main gatekeepers and providers of European cinema in Chile. The action is hosted at the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi) of UAntwerpen under director Prof. Philippe Meers' supervision and at the Centre of Research in the Arts (CoRA) based at Oxford Brookes University under director Prof. Daniela Treveri Gennari's supervision. Through an interdisciplinary approach in the line of New Cinema History, the research analyses the transnational connections embedded in local film cultures and facilitated by cultural diplomacy. It aims to generate new empirical data on this under-researched area of study, from a peripheral and non-Eurocentric standpoint. Its objectives are: To identify European films that circulated in Chile thanks to ECIs, and the social and institutional networks involving this process; To explore the emerging imaginaries of "European", "political" and "quality cinema" attached to this circulation and influencing local film cultures; and to analyse the local reception of these films and ideas. The methodology combines archival and qualitative research, drawing on the researcher's previous experience and her training at both the beneficiary institution and the secondment. The main results include an online open access database, network analysis and a qualitative dataset; the researcher's training in cutting-edge academic skills and digital humanities; valuable inputs that can inform international cultural policies; and new collaboration networks between academic and non-academic international institutions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Peirano Olate María Paz

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Despite the increasing participation of film festivals in production financing, networking, and distribution, limited scholarly attention has been paid to the festival's relationship with the industry structures and the working world of film professionals such as sales agents, film programmers, and distributors involved in the programming and circulation of films. This project addresses this gap by examining the labour practices, processes, and challenges of film professionals behind the circulation of Indian films in international film festival networks, especially in the context of ongoing digital transformations in the film and media industries. This project combines archival, textual analysis, and bottom-up methods such as personal interviews, and participant observation to generate valuable insights into the urban challenges, power play, and negotiation strategies of film professionals at two international film festivals (i.e., Rotterdam, and Berlin) and two regional film festivals (i.e., the London Indian Film Festival and Indian Film Festival The Hague). The urban challenges for film festival professionals include long working hours for low pay, contractual labour, and negotiating the complexities of digital platforms, among other struggles. This project offers an innovative approach to film festival studies by borrowing insights from the interdisciplinary field of Media Industry Studies (MIS), which examines the relationship between the larger industrial structures and the "lived experiences" and labour of its workers. In doing so, this project examines how festival workers navigate precarious working conditions, digital disruptions and contribute to diversity and inclusivity through their programming, practices, and policy work in the post-pandemic European film industry. Additionally, it interrogates how can creative cities reconcile precarious working conditions for creative professionals with continuous digital innovation processes through their policies. This project thus aligns with the YUFE4Postdocs theme of 'Digital Societies' by interrogating how digital transformations affect the professional world of film festival workers for a more inclusive and diverse European film industry culture.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Bhatia Neha

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

What does the way of depicting someone else say, or not say, about the creator, the maker? When the artist swallows his image digs deeper into the seldom explored domain of embodied knowledge within the relationship between the maker and their image of someone else. This area of research is based on the most prominent trend that became apparent in Karel's preceding research project The transparent body (2020-2022). Within a global visual culture, it strikes him how the body in an artistic image is often used by the maker as an information carrier, reduced to one characteristic. As an objectified subject that unambiguously symbolizes or represents an idea of the maker. The way that emerging theater, dance or visual makers - digital natives – depict someone else indicates an apparent inability for makers to allow their own true physicality to exist within their imagery. It seems that they almost ignore or forget their unique physicality as a maker when seeing/capturing someone else. Karel Tuytschaever explores the role that the maker's physicality plays in creating a visual presentation of somebody else. This is actualized by mutually purifying his hybrid, artistic craftsmanship and making his teaching method, as an artist at the Antwerp Schools of Arts, explicitly discipline-wide. As a theater and film maker, he looks for new ways to sincerely capture bodies in a 2D image, using lens-based media and his body, as a maker, as equal instruments. In his teaching method, he links different artistic disciplines to physical awareness and emphasize how the unique physicality of makers in training can be an engine for their vision and skills development. This symbiotic and self-reflective research creates an interesting intermediate field in which a relevant awareness for contemporary artistry arises, whereby the body forms the mediator between the world and an image. His methodology is based on the core values of his practice, and aims to identify crucial elements in an evolution towards a more integral and reciprocal embodied, artistic practice. A practice consisting of the different layers of sensory, embodied knowledge. This is necessary because our urge for identity in a digitized network society threatens to prevent us from productive involvement and empathy with one another. In this way, Karel Tuytschaever hopes to contribute to (the awareness of) a more physical, tactile imagery in the visual and performing arts, and thereby a more layered, multi-sensory viewing experience.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Leemans Annemie

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Through my first-person perspective as a queer experimental filmmaker, this project asks the question of how we, the community of Vietnamese radical audio-visual artists, have been encountering different types of censorships imposed by the Vietnamese government, Vietnamese society and ourselves. I work off the radar in Vietnam, where queer bodies and freedom of expression are practically non-existent. I represent the new voice of queer artists who make limitless aesthetic choices to expose unapologetically explicit bodies of my sex. Not only that, I have expressed critiques on my social system through impersonal aesthetic strategies. I am situated inside a community of contemporary Vietnamese radical audio-visual artists. The loosely-connected community can be divided into three subgroups: indie art-house filmmakers, social activist documentary filmmakers and experimental filmmakers. At present, the last group includes none except myself and very few others. Not only do we produce audio-visual artworks without conforming to the propagandistic ideology of the Vietnamese state singly led by the communist party but we are financially independent from the mainstream commercial filmmaking market as well. I have been coping with three simultaneous layers of censorships. They are the regulative ones from the government, the moral ones in disguise as taken-for-granted assumptions from Vietnamese society, and my self-censorship. In my community, our creating processes, film works, auteurs' voices, practitioners' lives, communal centers, and ecological chains are also intervened, censored, repressed, erased, banned, threatened, punished, shut-down or destroyed by different governmental censoring bodies as a matter of fact. Yet, the situation is no longer a one-way imposition from the censors' octopod arms in the digital age. It has now become an open battlefield for claiming artistic, personal, and national identities from multi-sides, through many push-and-pull factors, in which we - the artists of this research project - are not merely treated as conventional underdogs. This project makes use of queer theories, avant-garde theories, and censorship theories. Meanwhile, it applies methodologies of first-person documentary, found-footage collage, documentary with fictionalized elements, and performance-based video. The objective is to investigate minutely the ongoing encounters between the censored and the censors in Vietnam. It would answer in detail other questions such as how different types of censorships have mechanized inside our past and present audio-visual artworks. In the micro scope, which variants of identities have been born on Vietnamese screen and in its society? In the macro scope, how does this particular situation of film censorship reflect the true system of a turbulent society? Beyond that, how will particular artists such as myself cope with and transcend these censorships while creating new transgressive audio-visual works in different formats inside Vietnamese territory? The project will result in a feature experimental film of at least 75 minutes with four major parts respectively basing on the quartet of above-mentioned methodologies. The entire project is designed from the first-person protagonist who is its own queer auteur. In that way, it digs out novel understandings on perspective theory in audio-visual storytelling. By putting a camera into the hands of the censored, the project re-examines the role of those who have been much neglected throughout international censorship literature and rethinks how cameras can give rise to self-empowerment. By acknowledging the autobiography and gender of the protagonist auteur, the project articulates the avant-garde role of queer artists towards our artistic ecosystems. Politically, its gaze subverts the prejudice of victimizing the queer bodies inside our living societies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Focusing on the world of photo studios in contemporary Balochistan (Pakistan), the present project enters the terrain of the vanishing. With the arrival of digital technology photo studios are disappearing and along with them also their hand painted backdrops, props, costumes and cameras, the long sessions, the chatting and the manuality that make up the social life of these environments. What is not disappearing, however, is the desire to transform life by means of photographs where individuals are allowed to enter a fanasy world. Photographic studios in Balochistan are spaces where dreams are born and lives are shaped. In a studio you can become anything, a freedom fighter, a friend of the prime minister, the boyfriend of a movie star . Photographs are not mere representations, they are tools for performing life, for becoming. The disappearance of the studios carries also a deeper social meaning. Photographic aesthetics are in fact key terrain around which local communities gather. They bring individual fantasies in touch with a sense of belonging to the local community. So what will happen once they disappear? The project builds on my practice as a photographer and documentary filmmaker as well on my own biography as a displaced artist from Quetta, Balochistan, lending my own story and my own self to become the object of the work of local photographers. My exploration of the world of vanishing photographic studios will allow me to further explore the meaning of photographs in a South Asian context. Doing this I will also address matters of race, ethnicity and gender as they meet and merge in the context of the studios. The project will result in a set of different outcomes whose three pillars are: an observational documentary, a web-based archive and an immersive installation. Regarding the latter, my aim is to create a virtual immersive space through which viewers can experience what it means to be photographed in a studio in Balochistan. In an impulse to prevent this world from fading away I plan to use of the same technology blamed for the disappearance of the studios (the digital) for the purpose of its preservation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Photographic self-images have been around since the dawn of photographic technologies. The first self-image was arguably Hippolyte Bayard's Self-portrait of a Drowned Man (1839-1840), in which the artist depicts himself as a corpse. The making of self-images indeed reveals a fundamental aspect of visual practices in Euro-American cultures: the desire to construct identity through a stylized display of the body. Developments in technology – such as highly accessible cameras and online platforms for sharing images – have created an environment more conducive to this desire than in any other time in history. Social media users are expected to choose profile pictures for themselves and the making of 'selfies' is part of the daily life of millions of people. Self-imaging practices are particularly common in fitness communities, members of which are actively engaged in cultivating a fitter and stronger body. Many make Instagram accounts to share their self-images and follow and interact with others who do the same. In several motivational Facebook groups, sharing self-images is a regular practice. The online visual practices within these communities indicate that images are not merely a matter of representation, but that that they are embodied 'actants' and exert powerful effects on viewing bodies. This study hypothesizes that these practices show an intricate interchange between images and viewing bodies, revealing the way in which images can potently structure our lives.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Fellow: Verplanken Vik

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This study commissioned by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) analyses the film exhibition landscape in Flanders and identifies the needs and challenges of the field. The study aims to propose recommendations for fostering a strong exhibition landscape that takes into account the finality and diversity of different exhibitors. In doing so, we focus on the following components: 1. A mapping of broad trends based on available reports on film screening in Europe. 2. An analysis of the players in the broad screening field, focusing on (1) their mission and focus, (2) the choice in programming and (3) the organisational model. The mapping of the screening landscape presents an exhaustive overview of the entire field of cinema operators, with specific attention to the number of screens, frequency of screenings, diversity and volume of titles, focus on local titles, diversity of activities and nature of the organisation, and insight into the attendance figures of the different players. 3. An analysis of the needs and requirements of the different exhibitors. 4. An overview of initiatives (sector and policy) from four other markets (Denmark, French-speaking Belgium, France, the Netherlands) with a view to formulating lessons learned for Flanders. 5. To formulate a series of concrete recommendations for the Flemish Audiovisual Fund, for broader policy and for the sector itself. The study uses four methods: extensive desk research, an online consultation sent to the broad exhibition field, a quantitative analysis of VAF data and expert interviews with commercial exhibitors, cultural exhibitors, festivals and distributors.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

TikTok, one of the world's most popular social media platforms, continues to expand its market and user base in Turkey. While the platform has become a strategic outlet for individuals to gain visibility in Turkey, its content has evoked positive and negative feelings in users and non-users. The latter deliberately refuse to use TikTok because of its alleged association with lower classes and voice precisely the feelings of shame and disgust toward the platform and its users. TikTok users choose the platform over "others" for its capacity to foster intimacy. However, they still have concerns about their use of TikTok, such as worries over privacy and feelings of fatigue and boredom induced by the coronavirus pandemic. Through an analysis of the social media practices of TikTok content producers, audiences, and its cynics, the project aims to address the emotional framework of the social media experiences against the backdrop of an authoritarian Turkey divided along binaries of us and them, western and local, urban and rural, secular and pious, binaries which have also come to shape the country's social media practices. While the polarization of the social media landscape has generated social media fatigue and boredom in individuals, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified such feelings due to the increased use of social media of individuals who oscillate between uncertainty and hope, waiting for the COVID-19 pandemic to end.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Fellow: Sot Irem

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Drawing from digital ethnography and visual anthropology, this research aims to explore how and why TikTok has come to function as an outlet for its users and non-users for establishing emotional engagements not only with the platform's affordances (vertical format, algorithms, and technical features), but also with its visuals. Through an analysis of the social media practices of TikTok content producers, audiences, and its cynics, the research aims to address the emotional framework of the social media experiences against the backdrop of a Turkey divided along binaries of us and them, western and local, urban and rural, secular and pious, binaries which have also come to shape the country's social media practices.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Fellow: Sot Irem

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project is set up as an exploration of self vis-à-vis territories. Adopting an ethnographic approach, the project seeks to explore notions of sacredness and sacred places through a reflexive dialogue between the researcher and the place in which he grew up. The dialogue will be established during and through the creation of a film for which the researcher will go in search of what could be called sacred place(s) in his home environment, while involving his home community as well as an Indigenous peer as road companion. Through the creative process, the researcher and his peers will seek to give shape to a parallel exploration of place that encapsulates both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives of sacredness and sacred places.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Fellow: Dhert David

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Taking dreams seriously, this project aims to articulate alternative ways of 'understanding the world' in conflict-affected environments. Knowledges produced about peace interventions have long been articulated around responses to root causes and symptoms of violence. Increasingly conflict studies acknowledge limitations of peace interventions due to their western-centric logics. Conflict-ridden South Kivu is an emblematic example in which extensive peace interventions had limited success in sustaining peace. Interrogating and nuancing Western articulations, the project will document different ways of experiencing violence and understanding the cosmos (the world). Re-assessing the dreamlife responds to the urgent need to appreciate alternative ways of knowing violence and managing peacebuilding that do not align with dominant peacebuilding approaches. Across time and regions, dreams have been associated with activities such as journeys the mind takes out of the body, communications with the dead, malign desires from a third party, dialogues with the subconscious, and neurological phenomena. The well-known but often neglected fluid, sensorial, bodily, spiritual dimensions of dreams will be mobilized to discuss underlying pluriversalism. Building on feminist and decolonial scholarship, the project is motivated by decolonial aspirations, and is dedicated to theoretical and empirical examinations of pluriversal - rather than universal – cosmovisions of dreams and violence.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Groof Matthias
• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert
• Fellow: Jamar Astrid

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)
• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research explores the discourse of choice and control associated with video on demand (VoD) platforms and the changing modes of film and TV viewership. The on-demand era brings more individualization, customization and audience fragmentation. The "choice fatigue" among the audience intensifies as the number of VoD platforms and quality content they offer increases. The research engages in an analysis of different models of choice and control offered by different VoD platforms that function in Turkey, two global (Netflix and MUBI) and one local (BluTV), in relation to each other. In order to specify the conflicts and tensions between the industry and audience, this research incorporates the audience perspective into the picture, and compares it with the official accounts, promises and offerings of these platforms. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted online during the Covid-19 pandemic (a period, as most of the interviewees confirm, of increased VOD consumption) with audience/users of Netflix, MUBI and BluTV, this study explore how new forms of film & TV viewership emerge together with the changing viewing habits, with their continuities and deviations from the traditional modes of media spectatorship.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Ildir Asli

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The global objective of this proposal is to promote civil society dialogue through the establishment of cooperation between institutions in Turkey and the EU, by focusing on the sector of cinema and film-making as cultural heritage values in the Çukurova Region and the city of Adana in particular. The specific objective of this proposal is to promote cross-border dialogues and networking between CSOs and other stakeholders in Turkey and the EU, by raising awareness, sharing experience/knowledge and cultural/creative production in the field of history of cinema. The main partner is Flying Balloon Children and Youth Association and we work with the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Çukurova University. The project entails 1. field activities: Identification of cinema theatres and other cinema and film-making related places in the Çukurova Region recording, itinerary development for city cinema tours, etc.2 digitalisation activities: Building an interactive web tool for mapping of cinema spaces; digital library of Cine-House collection 3. Artistic content development activities: Film/Documentary making, compilation of film musics of the region and 4. Awareness-raising and knowledge transfer activities on cinema heritage: Seminars on cultural heritage and cinema history of the region (mainly young people), organisation of city cinema tours, training of young people as city cinema tour guides, study visits to the EU, film screening, film musics performance, etc. 5. Travel of young students to Belgium for a short training.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Over the last decades a major upswing of diaspora cinema in Europe took place. In Flanders, this flux of diaspora filmmaking is specifically relevant as cross-cultural identities have assumed a prominent role in contemporary cinematic narratives. Diaspora cinema is considered to be one of those symbolic sites of struggles within a multicultural society that can help in the deconstruction of Eurocentric and hegemonic modes of thought, eliciting a transnational, intercultural shift. While diaspora cinema studies usually depart from a textual or reception perspective, the media industry and policy contexts in which these diaspora discourses are produced and distributed remain understudied. This project is specifically interested in the complex relationship between Flemish film policy and the question of diasporic, intercultural diversity. This research project scrutinizes the political, industrial and socio-cultural dynamics of diaspora film productions in Flanders. Therefore, this project will (1) map Flemish film policy's institutional frameworks and discourses with regard to diaspora cultures and cinema (2002-2021); (2) critically investigate policy practices on Flemish diaspora film production and distribution; and (3) analyse cinematic representations of diaspora cultures. The main host institution for Alexander De Man's FWO PhD Fellowship is Ghent University (supervisor: Daniel Biltereyst), the University of Antwerp is the partner institution (supervisor: Gertjan Willems).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Willems Gertjan

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research aims to explore the relationship between new screen production and exhibition spaces and urban transformation in Istanbul. In the last two decades Istanbul, like many other metropolitan cities, witnessed a dramatic urban transformation. The reconstruction projects created new screen production sites by transforming post-industrial areas such as old ports and docks, abandoned factories into creative locales as well as new exhibition sites such as multiplexes, luxury city club movie theaters, hotel and museum screening halls which are adapted to the neoliberal urbanite consumption trends. This research will focus on both physical and representational spaces in the city and in audiovisual fiction to provide a comprehensive understanding on the relation between media production, consumption and urban studies. The overall research uses a multimethod approach, combining relevant approaches for each individual case study (e.g. content and visual analysis for cases on screen representation; media-ethnography and institutional discourse analysis for cases on production and exhibition spaces).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Kayhan Müldür Sezen

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aims to create new memory devices, based upon two existing devices used by different Luba groups living in the DRC: - kasala is a ceremonial poem, sung or recited by Luba in the provinces Kasai Occidental and Kasai Oriental and Sankara, that serves as a public and solemn way to pay homage to and laud the actions and accomplishments of kings, chiefs, lineage heads and other types of public figures; -lukasa is a memory board used and 'read' in a ritual performance by Mbudye, an association of men, responsible for the transmission of historical knowledge at the court of Luba kings, situated in the former province of Katanga. These two different Luba groups were divided during the colonial era by boundaries between the former provinces of Kasai and Katanga. Descendants of Luba groups from Kasai who live in Katanga are now often considered 'foreigners' by those who claim to be the 'original' inhabitants of Katanga. The art works to be created are meant to bring these groups back together through a narrative that is part personal, part historical, par fictitious.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Mijn project gaat over oude mensen in Delhi. Ik ga en langere abstract later toevoegen. Conducting ethnographic fieldwork in India in the framework of my new project on the aesthetics of dying. Focussing on hospices, hospitals, crematoria, funerary services, temples, homes for the elderly and the widows etc. as well as on digital/virtual environments (hence exploring online negotiations with death in social media, etc) this research explores the various ways in which aesthetic practices (such as image-making, music/singing, poetry, etc.) are engaged with, by subjects in different settings, for mediating, accompanying and coping with the experience of death and grief. Building upon consolidated anthropological research methods (participant observation, interviews, filming, sound recording, photography) and emerging digital techniques and technologies (smartphone storytelling applications, wearable cameras, techniques for "nethnography") the project approaches the visual field as its privileged entry point into this terrain. Fieldwork will be conducted mainly in Delhi, but partly also in Mumbai, Goa and Ladakh. 2.Collaborating as visiting professor and on the basis of my ongoing research in India, with the school of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai, India) and the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna3.Starting to write-up the volume "An Introduction to Visual Culture in the Social Sciences" (London: Bloomsbury). Offering an introduction to the field of visual culture for students and researchers in the social sciences, this book will benefit from the insights gathered during fieldwork.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Core topic at the centre of the research I plan to conduct during my sabbatical is, as mentioned, the connection between dying, loss and aesthetics. My entry into this terrain is from the vantage point of images and visual culture. Indeed, aware of the multisensory character of perception, of the ekphrastic qualities of the field of vision (that is, of the capacity of words and sounds to translate into images, Ingold 2010) and of the embodied nature of images (Belting 2011) my research will inevitably expand into a broader terrain of aesthetics and sensory practices. Such broadening also responds to the diversity in practices that may be found between different communities (see Hindu vs. Buddhist or Muslim environments) as well as to the changing role of images in the digital realm. As I have recently suggested (Favero 2018a), "present images", i.e. the images that circulate in today's digital habitats, stress a desire to abandon the duty of 'representing' the world out there, embracing instead a new role as multimodal, multisensory and multi-perspectival producers of relations, of material, spatial and temporal engagements with the world that surrounds them. A matter of "presence", they signal a passage away from simplistic notions of the image as a "transparent window on the world" (Mitchell 1984: 504) marking an entry into the terrain of performativity and transformation. More than ever we live our lives today in regimes of "visual co-presence" (Ito 2005) and images concur in the crafting of our lives.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project focuses on the impact of tourism on contemporary fiction and non-fiction in the Hispanic world. While both Spain and Latin America can boast a long tradition of travel writing, tourism's more recent impact on their cultures has gone largely unnoticed. This is due to persisting prejudices concerning tourism as an inferior, more mass-consumerist practice than travelling, as well as to a predominantly sociological approach in tourism studies. The project remedies this gap by focusing on tourist imaginaries of both fictional and non-fictional nature in literature and film, but also provides an interdisciplinary take on this cultural production by collaborating with a cultural anthropologist specialized in tourism. While the Leuven applicants will concentrate on literary and cinematographic renderings of tourism, the co-applicant in Antwerp will provide insight into how real tourists negotiate their relationship to the tourist industry, with special attention to the digital dimension of tourist experiences. In their research hypothesis, the applicants contest the idea that "travel writing is dead", claiming instead that it has been transformed under the effect of the recent expansion of tourism and digitalization of contemporary society. The project will focus on three keyresearch sites for this topic: Spain, Cuba, and the Southern Cone.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project focuses on the development of tools and practices that relate to cultural heritage, ICT and sustainable local development from the logic of public spaces, places and memory, valuing the main results of the first stage in different contexts and institutions, in order to contribute to its integrated management. The development of heritage information systems and methodologies for intervention in heritage buildings are some of the tools that integrate the project within the wider societal context.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Co-promoter: Marquez-Barja Johann
• Co-promoter: van Zimmeren Esther

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project investigates the varieties and dimensions of borders in selected border spaces by documenting the visual and multimodal manifestations of a diversity of borders (geopolitical and non-geopolitical), and through researching their impact on peoples' lives. It advocates and constructs an innovative mixed methodology for studying different aspects of semiotically-charged border spaces which allows to focus on both visual manifestations of various dimensions of borders and on people's actions and reactions towards those materialized expressions. Five distinct border(land) cases will make up the empirical part of this project. These research sites are carefully chosen to question and challenge existing types and typologies of borders and borderlands. The selected five distinct types of 'border' sites within the European realm, each are characterized by different forms of borderland continuation, different levels of border openness, and different dimensions of borders. The part of the field research focused on geopolitical borderlands (borders between nations) will test some of the existing typologies, and will seek to develop more refined alternatives. The fieldwork on dynamic non-geopolitical border sites (e.g. borders within cities) will seek to adapt and expand those border and borderland typologies for broader use and at the same time critically examine the viability and affordances of such a venture.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project explores inclusive planning and design, specifically related to the needs that disabled citizens have as users and creators of urban spaces. It questions how to plan, design and govern cities as growingly complex systems to ensure justice, equality, inclusion and sustainable growth. Particularly we try to understand how cities can enhance collaboration between public space users and public space agents through the use of participatory and collaborative digital tools in a most holistic way. Hence, we aim at reaching beyond the quantitative research and big data that mainly offer insights into what is happening. We rather focus on qualitative ways of understanding the how-s, and the why-s. For this purpose we design an exploratory model of four dimensions: a) human, b) special, c) technological, and d) relational level. This 4-dimensional model serves as a framework for conducting qualitative research within the urban practice by first defining specific societal challenges and questions that we aim to explore, and second by exploring them through a combination of methodological approaches. Based on the experimentation with diverse technologies, tools and techniques, conducted within four case studies in Maribor and Ljubljana, both Slovenia, we propose a combined methodological approach (CMA). The CMA is grounded on slow, small and deep-data oriented ethnography, complemented with behavioural mapping and post-occupancy evaluation, and as such offers a wide array of complementary and overlapping techniques and tools. It aims supporting stakeholders in gaining in-depth understanding of the people, space, technology and the relations between the three in order to be able to make informative decisions and appropriate responsive measures.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Located at the heart of Western Europe and together serving as the direct predecessor of the European Union, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (the Benelux) are closely connected historically, politically and culturally. Nevertheless, they differ greatly in terms of national identity, making the countries particularly interesting to compare. This research project aims to make such a comparison by examining the role of the media in the contemporary construction of national and transnational identities. More specifically, the project focuses on how films and film policies in Belgium (Flanders and the French Community), the Netherlands and Luxembourg relate to (trans)national identities. The time frame of the project starts in 2009, when the Euro crisis began, and runs until 2018. The study relies on quantitative and qualitative research methods, making use of digital tools and involving analysis of films, policy documents, film (policy) production and circulation data, press documents and expert interviews. The project provides an innovative contribution to the international academic agenda due to its comparative and small media industries approach and its focus on the contemporary relationship between media and (trans)national identity in Western Europe. FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow with Ghent University as host institution (supervisor Daniel Biltereyst) and the University of Antwerp as partner institution (supervisor Philippe Meers).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Vande Winkel Roel
• Fellow: Willems Gertjan

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

With the support of Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund this Chair was founded to stimulate the film education and research at the University of Antwerp, within the context of research group Visual Studies and Mediaculture and the master Film Studies and Visual Culture of the department Communication Sciences (Faculty Political and Social Sciences).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

1. Completing the second version of the successful and influential 'SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods', now as the lead editor (co-editor is Dawn Mannay). 2. Various Visual Data Production Field Trips (performing systematic recording, repeat photography, respondent-generated image production, visual ethnography) in urban environments in North America (New York, Las Vegas, Chicago), Asia (Japan, China, India) and Europe (EU member states) as part of a number of ongoing and new research projects (on globalization, border experiences, mediated cities, EU culture). 3. Make a start with a new - long overdue - monograph about 'Visual Methods' as commissioned and contracted by Oxford University Press in its 'Understanding Qualitative Research Series' (series editor: Patricia Leavy). 4. Finish articles and book chapters on: 'visual political communication' (Palgrave),' health related visual research' (TBD), 'scientific visualization' (Springer), 'street photography' (VS) , 'globalization', 'border studies', … 5. Further develop two new research lines: 'Visual Border Studies' and the 'Visual Culture of the EU'. 6. Continue my active involvement with international scientific organizations (IVSA, ISA, ICA,…) and scientific A1 journals 7. Ongoing supervision of approx. 10 PhD projects in various stages of completion. 8. Find some time to finally catch up with some core readings in the field of visual research, visual culture, science and technology and urban studies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Social issues in a context that is conventionally been addressed as "developing" have been constant topics in both historical and contemporary documentary photography. Despite the diversity of topics covered though, the images themselves often stem from a generic, visually exotic and/or sensational template that does not take into account the visual culture, i.e. the understanding of the meaning of images and photographs, of the people photographed. The latter are consequently reduced to mere objects in one-sided reproductions of the same scenes. Additionally, the images mostly appear via exhibitions, magazines and websites that will very likely never reach the people portrayed, unless in the unlikely case that the photographer takes the initiative to again get in touch with them. The goal of this project is to visually describe socio-economically disadvantaged communities through personal stories of their members that together counter perceptions of the community as a monolithic group of homogeneous 'victims'. For this purpose, we develop a community-driven, photographic production and distribution cycle operating in the hybrid space of the virtual and material world. The objectives of the project are 1. To develop a participatory, ethnography-driven photographic approach in which personal stories within a socio-economically disadvantaged community are captured through digital images. 2. To investigate the impact of bouncing the digital images back to the community in a materialized form. 3. To explore the potential of an online platform to reach people within and outside the community, inform their perceptions of the community and generate social interactions. Specifically, audio-visual diptychs will be created to present, on the one hand, the daily life of the participants and, on the other hand, the personal story that they will tell starting from a self-chosen object and that will be audio-recorded. The diptychs will then be shared through a material track (by transforming prints of the images into street art) and a virtual track (by publishing them on Facebook). The case study of this research will focus on the waste-pickers community in Mumbai (India) in collaboration with Stree Mukti Sanghatana. The potential applicability of the methodology in different settings and different communities will be part of the evaluation of this research. The results of this project will be presented through an academic publication, a Facebook page and two exhibitions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project investigates how female characters were represented in films of the Yugoslav New Cinema and the Black Wave Cinema (1961-1972), in terms of the narrative, and the visual style. A main focus hereby is how in many of these films women are suffering from various kinds of violence. The Yugoslav New Cinema movement occurred in the former Socialist Federal Republic Yugoslavia, as part of world-spread New Wave movements, such as the French Nouvelle Vague. Black Wave Cinema then is a subdivision of the Yugoslav New Film, characterized by grim endings and a harsh critique towards the Communist regime. We approach the films of these movements from a gender and media studies perspective, with inspiration from feminist film theories and representation theories. The study also takes into account the sociopolitical context, namely the official gender equality policy of the Yugoslav state and its practices in society. This framework leads us to reformulate the overarching problem of the representation of female characters in New Yugoslav Cinema and Black Wave Cinema into two hypotheses and a research question: 1. If female characters are passionate, independent and progressive, they will eventually be punished cinematically for those transgressions by the remnants of the patriarchate within the course of the narration. (RH1) 2. The figure of the raped woman in the films is an allegory of a raped nation. (RH2) 3. Are the films under research confirming the binary stereotypes of female characters - either virgin or whore- or do they subvert these stereotypes? (RQ3) This set of hypotheses and research questions is operationalized in a quantitative content analysis (of 143 films WP1) and an in-depth qualitative content and visual analysis (of a smaller sample of 10 films WP2). Firstly (WP1), a database of films is constructed (WP1.1) and a first quantitative analysis (WP1.2) is executed to investigate basic content information: main parameters of female characters, numbers and types of violence against women, etc. Secondly, a qualitative analysis (WP2) is undertaken on a sample selected from the database. The qualitative content analysis (WP2.1) examines how women are violated: by rape, murder, beating or victimization; and whether and how they are stereotyped. The visual style analysis (WP2.2) looks into the same films analyzing filmic parameters such as camera movement and position, editing, light, music, composition and color and how these function within the narrative content.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Vukovic Vesi

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Questioning the deterministic and Western-centric assumptions that underline the idea of "the digital" as a monolith capable of engendering similar reactions across the globe, the present project aims to offer an ethnographically driven, in-depth analysis of the spread of digital media from a transnational perspective. Focussing on two urban locations representing different types of fringes of the global spread of digital media (the cities of Havana, Cuba and New Delhi, India), this study will approach the topic from the particular vantage point of visual culture. The attention to digital visualities, i.e. to instances of production and consumption of images in a digital landscape, constitutes a concrete opportunity for studying what we could call paraphrasing Manovich (2009) practices of everyday digital life. The attention to concrete mundane engagements with digital image technologies will allow us to generate new insights into the multiple faces of the digital turn. Regarding the sites for the research both Cuba and India host a very rich visual culture, while offering also examples of different trajectories of digital development. While India constitutes a territory where digital technologies are scarce resources but at the same time also symbols for a rich and powerful future, Cuba is just presently witnessing to the public arrival of digital connectivity; it is facing its own digital turn. This is a unique moment in history for studying these contexts.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project studies the role of media and ICTs in the lives of refugees. These technologies, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops have become key resources for refugees. So far little systematic research has been done on this topic. Refugees are usually studied in terms of discourse and representation, i.e. as "passive", "voiceless" objects of study. This study, however, will take on an original, on-the-ground, perspective, looking at different stages of the refugee trajectory. Combining different methods (expert interviews, document analysis, personal surveys, observations and in-depth interviews), the study looks at media and communication infrastructures that are provided to refugees, as well as their actual needs, uses and experiences. Attention is also paid to structural constraints, governance issues, and the tension between human rights and securitization. This is connected to broader theoretical debates on cosmopolitanism and identity. Two cases will be studied: adult refugees in a refugee camp in Sanliurfa (South Eastern Turkey) and adult refugees in Brussels (Belgium), each representing different populations and distinct national political contexts, as well as different communication infrastructures. Because of its potential to contribute to the living situations of refugees, the project is supported by crucial partners: the local Sanliurfa camp, UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Fedasil, and Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Smets Kevin

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This scientific research community (WOG) aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines and institutions to invite them to compare and discuss the methodological grounds and contents of their research on aspects of our culture of spectacles (TV, Film Theatre,…). This may lead to a state of the art of this broad and multidimensional field but also to the formulation of new inter- trans- or multidisciplinary research questions and hypotheses.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project aims to produce an in-depth, multilayered analysis of the contemporary urban experience addressed in particular from the point of view of the cultural changes that have been made possible through the greater involvement contemporary cities have with mediatized flows of information and communication. More concretely this project will seek to produce a better understanding of the ways in which multiple intersections between direct and mediated experiences of the city (enacted via media representations, screens in public places, image sharing, augmented reality and geomedia, etc.) influence social actors' uses and experiences of the urban space.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc
• Co-promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

With the support of Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund this Chair was founded to stimulate the film education and research at the University of Antwerp, within the context of research group Visual Studies and Mediaculture and the master Film Studies and Visual Culture of the department Communication Sciences (Faculty Political and Social Sciences).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc
• Co-promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project focuses on the relationship between national identity and contemporary film policy in Flanders. The aim of the project is 1) to investigate the (regional, national and supranational) government film policy framework and to analyse the role of film policy in 2) the production context of films; 3) the promotion, distribution and exhibition of films; and 4) the sort of films and the representations that are produced. Throughout the analyses, the complex relationships with Flemish identity take a central place. At the same time, several other contemporary film policy issues (e.g. transnational dimensions and digital challenges) are taken into account and the Flemish situation is put into a comparative and European perspective. The relations between film, policy and national identity will be explored through multi-methodological quantitative and qualitative research, involving policy documents analysis, analysis of film (policy) production and circulation data, expert interviews and textual film analysis. Apart from its relevance for recent Flemish and Belgian film historiography, the project provides an innovative contribution to the international academic agenda by focusing on the largely neglected field of film policy studies (particularly within the broader framework of the established field of media policy). Moreover, the project contributes to a better understanding of the contemporary relationship between media and national identity in Western Europe.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Willems Gertjan

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Cinema 3C : approaching cinema culture from comparative, conceptual and convergence perspectives. Cinema 3C consists of 3 research strands: with a focus on reflection and analysis of ongoing (comparative) research and international publications. 1. Comparative perspectives: cross-national and -continental comparisons of cinema cultures in Belgium, Spain, Mexico and Colombia. 2. Conceptual perspectives: from the concept of 'audience' to 'spectator' and back. 3. Convergence perspectives: film audiences in the era of digital convergence.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The present project aims to offer an ethnography-based analysis of the dialectic between ICT "mediated" ("virtual") and "unmediated" (direct, bodily, "real") experiences of the urban space in the context of tourist practices. Research will be conducted in Antwerp, Naples and Helsinki hence offering an innovative transnational European perspective on the subject.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The central aim of the project is to explain the diverging cinema cultures in the Low Countries, by a long-term comparative analysis of cinema cultures in the port cities Antwerp and Rotterdam, seen in relation to the formation of social identities, particularly in the context of (de)pillarization.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Fellow: Van Oort Thunnis

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Favero Paolo S H

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This study deals with the links between migration, (fiction) media and ethno-political conflicts. Many migrants in Europe are actively involved in conflicts in their "homelands", but we know little about the way they relate to it in their production of fiction (e.g. films). This project lays the basis to fill this gap by (1) collecting a database of relevant productions and (2) conducting a content analysis of a selection of productions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Smets Kevin

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This is a fundamental research project financed by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). The project was subsidized after selection by the FWO-expert panel. The objective of the FWO's Research projects is to advance fundamental scientific research.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Digital images filter today most of our experiences of ourselves and of the world surrounding us. We consume them daily through our computers and mobile phones and, given in particular the spread of latest-generation mobile phones, we also constantly produce them. It is estimated that every day 6.7 billion people view the world through their own lens. Despite their ubiquitous character digital images are, however, conventionally approached as a matter of entertainment detached from the material and social conditions of our lives. Questioning such stances, this study looks at digital imaging as an instrument of empowerment and social intervention. Focusing on a number of image-based projects in Belgium, India and South Africa that aim to combat social marginalization, the study explores the manifold ways in which digital images can actually bring about change. To what extent can they help bringing visibility to marginalized groups or groups at risk of social exclusion? The innovative aspect of this study is that it addresses questions of digital empowerment though a specific attention to images, a language with enormous potential to favour communication across boundaries. The study will also give birth to an integrated methodological model for the study of digital imaging at global level in which participant-observation, interviews, audio-visual recordings and online ethnography will be integrated into a coherent whole.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Favero Paolo S H
• Co-promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The main objective of the research project is to analyze Belgian cinema – particularly those films dealing with our former colonies and intercultural films – through the postcolonial lens, and so (1) to dialogically contribute to both cinema studies and postcolonial studies and (2) to contribute to the historiography of Belgian cinema.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Pauwels Luc
• Fellow: De Groof Matthias

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The general objective is to conduct a comparative study on the role of popular fiction – narrowed down here to popular fiction that is primarily produced for television – in the negotiation of pan-Kurdish identity against the background of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. Looking at popular fiction in a cohesive way, the project includes sub-studies (cf. research packages) on the production, content and reception of Kurdish fiction.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Vande Winkel Roel
• Fellow: Smets Kevin

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Proposed by the University, the Francqui Foundation each year awards two Francqui Chairs at the UAntwerp. These are intended to enable the invitation of a professor from another Belgian University or from abroad for a series of ten lessons. The Francqui Foundation pays the fee for these ten lessons directly to the holder of a Francqui Chair.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VAF. UA provides VAF research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project focuses upon young people's engagement with digital screen culture in Flanders. Although the audience, and young people in particular, is often explicitly (or implicitly) present in discourses of the film industry and policy makers, large scale up-to-date surveys of audiences are lacking. Therefore, we propose a study on young film audiences, as a major shift in media and film culture has become manifest: young people are digital natives, born into a digital media environment, living in a fast developing world of downloads and streaming video.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project proposes to interrogate the visual dimensions of globalization and acculturation processes (and their opposite forces) as expressed in material culture elements of a varied nature, as well as through visible and recordable aspects of human behavior in urban public spaces. It aims to enrich and complement the more abstract discourse of globalization and transnationalism with empirically grounded insights regarding concrete expressions and enactments of cultural encounters in urban hotspots.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This is an artistic photographic research project on the relationship of visual arts with heritage, propaganda and censorship in Iran. The study follows two tracks: 1. the Taziyeh, a cultural expression in Iran incorporated as a propaganda instrument by the regime and 2. the censorship of the baha'ism and the demise of the associated heritage. The photographic study analyzes the possibilities for critical representation within visual arts of both tracks.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Pas Johan

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

With the support of Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund this Chair was founded to stimulate the film education and research at the University of Antwerp, within the context of research group Visual Studies and Mediaculture and the master Film Studies and Visual Culture of the department Communication Sciences (Faculty Political and Social Sciences).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

There is a clear need for a high level specialized media and film education in Palestine. Currently many of the film makers in Palestine had their training abroad. In the very sensitive political situation it is important that Palestinians produce their own documentaries and fiction, creating their own voice and representation. The main objectives of the project are twofold and complementary: 1. The enhancement of the existing programmes in media 2. The feasibility study for and the establishment of a new minor in film making within the media studies bachelors.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project is a practice-based research on the use of context in the presentation of abstract work. The focus lies on the question how the mental context and the use of different narratives can influence the experience of the spectator towards the abstract (and empty) painting. Artistically this is an attempt to give social relevance to abstract paintings - and at the same time it is a research on the level of 'autonomy' of abstract work. Toon Leën is a painter and video-artist and combines these two media for this research.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the Flemish Public Service. UA provides the Flemish Public Service research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project proposes a multimethodological investigation into the post-war evolution of film exhibition and reception in the city of Antwerp (1945-2010) with a focus on the Rex-group. A systematic analysis of the development of Antwerp's cinema landscape and a large-scale reception study of press and audience discourses allow to link institutional history to the moviegoing experience.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project investigates the film culture(s) of diaspora in Belgium. A case study analyses and compares the film cultures of Indian, North African, Turkish and Jewish minorities living in the city of Antwerp. The structural analysis of film distribution and exploitation is combined with a reception analysis. Special attention is given to the contributions of such film cultures to the construction of cultural identities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Vande Winkel Roel

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The PhD project investigates the self-image of West- and Central Africa as it has been presented in the post-colonial narrative films from 1963 until 2007. It compares these representations with European cinematic representations from the same period. The comparison allows for a cultural-philosophical critique on Eurocentric representations of 'the Other' starting from postcolonial film-studies, post-structural anthropology and deconstruction philosophy.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Oger Erik

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project investigates the film culture(s) of diaspora in Belgium. A case study analyses and compares the film cultures of Indian, North African, Turkish and Jewish minorities living in the city of Antwerp. The structural analysis of film distribution and exploitation is combined with a reception analysis. Special attention is given to the contributions of such film cultures to the construction of cultural identities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Vande Winkel Roel

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

André Vandenbunder (1918-2002) was professor of semiotics at the former UIA and lecturer in film analysis and semiotics at the Filmmuseum Brussels. The goal of this project is twofold: 1. the electronic and annotated contextualised print publication of the works of Vandenbunder on film semiotics and analysis. 2. The scientific and social contextualisation of his work in the Flemish/Belgian and international setting.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The explorative project wants to lay the foundations for a study of the self-image of West- and Central Africa as it has been presented in the post-colonial narrative films from 1963 until 2007. It compares these representations with European cinematic representations from the same period. The comparison allows for a cultural-philosophical critique on Eurocentric representations of 'the Other' starting from postcolonial filmstudies, post-structural anthropology and deconstruction philosophy.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project aims to develop a more culturally adapted multimodal analysis of web sites as one of the more hybrid formats and faces of the internet. Such a tool will allow social and cultural scientists to further decode and explore the internet as a rich cultural data source and it also will allow them to become more culturally savy and expressive when using the web as a medium for science communications.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The central aim of this project is: to draw a blueprint of the animation film sector in Flanders. This aim is achieved trough the following research questions: Is there such a thing as a Flemish animated film sector and can it be defined? What is the profile of the professionals in animation? What is the profile of the companies and their activities in animation? What are the opinions of the different actors within the sector on their proper sector? What is the relation between education and profession? How does the government deal with animation? What are the crucial data of the subsidized animation production? How can the Flemish animation be situated within the European context? Part one is a database, with an inventory of the actors in animation. Part two is a survey among professionals, companies and students. Part three consists of interviews with main players in the field. The figures / data are the foruth part: subsidy files from the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds and the Administration Media (budget, percentage of subsidies etc), figures on the European animation industry (figures from Cartoon Forum en Cartoon Movie, Eurimages and European Audiovisual Observatory). The literature survey gathers insights from existing research and theoretical frameworks. The project formulates explicit policy options to strengthen the animation in Flanders.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The central aim of the project is: A diachronical analysis of the social role of screen culture in Flanders (1895-2004) as a result of the tensions between commercial and ideological forces (in particular 'pillarisation') and the actual consumption, through a study of cinemas and film consumption in interaction with modernity public space and urbanisation. This central aim is realised in three research parts: PART 1 This part consists of an extended inventory of existing and historical cinemas in Flanders (1895-2004) with attention for the geographical distribution and the relations between the commercial and the 'pillarised' circuit. PART 2 Analysis of the interaction between ideology (in particular 'pillarisation'), economics and screen culture through diachronical research on cinemas, film exhibition and programming in metropolitan (Antwerp and Ghent), provincial (Deinze, Lier) and rural context (Geel, location to be determined). P ART 3 Analysis of the interaction between ideology, economics and film consumption through historical audience research on the role of cinemas and film consumption (cinema, video, DVD, television, internet) in the experience of leisure culture in Antwerp, Ghent, Deinze, Lier, Geel and a location to be determined.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meers Philippe
• Co-promoter: Beyen Marnix

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aims to continue and further develop the current 'Film and Image Culture in Antwerp and Flanders' project (PA-UA 2003-2005) which was set up to stimulate academic education and research in this domain and to invigorate ways of cooperation among different scientific, cultural and artistic institutions in the area. The core activity comprises conducting and further developing the highly successful Master Program in Film Studies and Image Culture, which is to date a unique offering in Flanders. Also further effort will be put in the cultivation of different research lines that will explore the visual both in fundamental and more applied ways. Scientific and cultural events (conferences, exhibitions, workshops and festivals) will be developed to further connect to various specialised and lay audiences.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc
• Co-promoter: Meers Philippe

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aims to offer an encompassing and up to date theoretical and methodological framework for the use of visuals in social and cultural scientific research. It will be accomplished by performing a taxonomic study of current and potential research approaches as well as by developing an integrated model for deciding how and when to apply certain techniques. The project will take into account current evolutions in theory and visual production techniques as well as build upon the rich but highly dispersed traditions of visual social science.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Pauwels Luc

Research team(s)

• Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)

Project type(s)

• Research Project