UPDATED INFORMATION
“Cultures of Surveillance: An Interdisciplinary Conference”
at University College London (UCL)
Thursday 29 September, Friday 30 September, and Saturday 1 October 2011
in The Film Studies Space: The Centre for the Cultural History of the Moving Image
De Young Lecture Theatre and Anatomy Theatre
Medical Sciences and Anatomy Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Keynote Lectures by Professor Tom Gunning, University of Chicago (Thursday, 6 p.m.)
and Professor Simon Cole, University of California, Irvine (Friday, 1:30 p.m.)
We are being watched. The amazing part is that we are no longer even surprised by this. The culture of surveillance increasingly surrounds us in Europe where omnipresent CCTV cameras remind us that nothing escapes the invisible gaze of those behind the lens. At UCL, we have long been surveyed by our founder, Jeremy Bentham, who sits in a wooden case in the lobby and peers out with glass eyes and a wax head: his own ‘icon’ body signals that he not only knew what surveillance meant but named it through his invention of the Panopticon. That imaginary device, which Bentham proposed would help ‘reform morals, preserve health, invigorate industry, diffuse instruction, and lighten public burdens,’ continues to be a resonant touchstone for questions about the way governments and private agencies keep watch over our interests--and theirs. This conference, held where Bentham goes on watching both literally and metaphorically, proposes to explore, broadly, the interdisciplinary frameworks for understanding modern surveillance and, particularly, how surveillance practices intersect with visual technologies and histories of culture.
For a provisional programme, conference registration details, and information for delegates, see www.autopsiesgroup.com
Registration is now open: http://www.autopsiesgroup.com/registration.html
THE CONFERENCE IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC
The provisional programme is online here: http://www.autopsiesgroup.com/events.html
For further information, write deadobjects@gmail.com
The conference is sponsored by
UCL Graduate School, UCL FIGS, UCL SELCS, and UCL Research Challenges
Follow us on Twitter at @cultofsurv
and on Facebook (Cultures of Surveillance) at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cultures-of-Surveillance/167999413265074
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