Critical Visualities, previously Visual Culture Workshop (VCW), at the University of Michigan is a Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop composed of faculty and graduate students with an academic interest in visual and material culture, including (but not limited to) photography, performance, painting, comics, digital media, print technologies, film, architecture, and curatorial modes. Participants’ interests have spanned a wide variety of historical contexts and disciplinary fields, and their home departments, programs, and schools have included American Culture, Anthropology, CAAS, English, History, History of Art, Judaic Studies, Museum Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Screen Arts and Cultures, Sociology, Women’s Studies, the School of Art & Design, and the School of Information. Since its founding in 2006, the VCW, now Critical Visualities, has aimed to bring together such divergent fields to explore the place of images and visuality in each, and to raise questions about shared models and methods across disciplines. The group plans academic events throughout the academic year such as guest lectures, panels, workshops of writing-in-progress, and exhibition trips. The annual Critical Visualities conference launched in 2017.
Critical Visualities 