Researchers and practitioners from across disciplines are invited to submit abstracts for presentations and posters to be delivered at the Visualisation in Archaeology International Conference at the University of Southampton on the 18th to 19th of April 2011. The 2011 Conference marks the culmination of the three-year VIA project which has sought to explore the philosophical and historical dimensions--and future prospects--of the visualisation of archaeological knowledge.

Proposals are sought for the following sessions:

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 28 February 2011

Submissions received after these dates will not be accepted.

Engaging with the Virtual World? Approaches to Using Computer Games to Represent Heritage

Chairs: Keith Challis & Matthew Smith

Contemporary first person computer games represent the height of technical sophistication in simulation and visualisation using consumer grade computing hardware. Game technology has been adopted for archaeological visualisation, at least in part in recognition of the technical prowess and possibilities of game engines, and highly popular recent game titles (for example the Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed) have distinctive historical settings and represent historic landscapes with startling fidelity and deliberate accuracy.

This session proposes to extend the consideration of the co-option of game technology for archaeological visualisation a stage further, by challenging the narrative framework within which archaeological reconstruction occurs and suggesting that the adoption of the ludic elements of games, and sophistication and genre breaking views of some recent games, particularly from avant guard games houses, may have much to offer archaeological visualisation. Papers are solicited considering all aspects of the adoption of game technology for visualisation including approaches to the narrative of place in game worlds and the appropriateness of play in representing the past.

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Keith Challis, k.challis@bham.ac.uk and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

Images in Action: Visualisations as Tools and Arguments in Archaeological Research

Chair: Simon James

Archaeology is an intensely visual as well as verbally discursive process. At all stages of their life-cycle, archaeological visualisations are integral to the conduct of archaeological research. Yet, while in recent decades a great deal of attention has been given to the dynamics of textual discourse in archaeology, relatively little has been given to the visual dimension, its modes, pitfalls, and unrealised potential. This is curious in increasingly image-immersed societies. The session 'Images in Action' examines this gap.

The simplest site-plan or artefact photo is a visual argument; expressing observation of material reality, judgement and experience, it is itself an interpretation. Images are also actively involved in creation of archaeological knowledge and understanding during and after excavation, from beer-mat sketches during pub discussions to creation of publication drawings or elaborate VRs. Published images have secondary use as arguments in wider archaeological discourse, and can become literally iconic.

But how are visualisations actually used in research? How might they be used? One important factor is that, while archaeologists are expected to be able to write to publication standard, except for site photos they are not expected to create their own visuals. It is routine to 'subcontract' image-making to separate professionals. Current UK graduates may receive no formal training in drawing or photography, let alone computer graphics. They usually even have to teach themselves how to interpret, critique and employ existing images. This was not always so. While drawing and photography were established as specialist crafts early in the history of archaeology, until the 1980s British undergraduates routinely received basic training in both, and some archaeologists (e.g. Piggott, Wheeler) were influential draughtsmen in their own right. In a world of proliferating imaging technologies, specialist know-how is more indispensable to archaeology than ever, but has the 'visual deskilling' of researchers left them ill-equipped to use visual media, or to work most effectively with illustrators and IT experts? If so, what is to be done?

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Simon James, stj3@leicester.ac.uk and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

Old Flames: The Visualisation of Light and Colour in Archaeological (Re)Construction

Chairs: Gareth Beale, Nessa Leibhammer, Constantinos Papadopoulos

An increasing awareness of the interpretive role played by archaeological visualisation, and of the inherent subjectivities involved in envisioning the past, has led to a growth in critical thought around the archaeological image. In spite of this, comparatively little attention has been paid to the representation of light or colour as important elements within these images. This session engages the use of light and colour in the human past and as expressive phenomena within constructed images of that past.

Light has been included, excluded, manipulated and directed in relation to a range of human activities. In the absence of natural light, fires, hearths, lamps and later electric power, each give light - casting their own particular kind of radiance, each with their own possibilities and scope.

Light and colour are also potent and evocative tools available to the creator of an image. The representation (or apparent omission) and manipulation of light and colour in the archaeological image allow the creator to, amongst other things, imply mood, suggest environment and allude to a moment in time or the ‘timeless’ moment. Colour and light provide the artist with an expressive element that is at once separate from, but intrinsic to, the representation of space and form.

The purpose of this session is to examine the ways that light and colour have been included and visualised in archaeological reconstruction, illustration such as digital modelling, line drawing and artistic representation. The way in which the consideration of light and colour have the capacity to enhance our understanding of datasets, to amplify the emotional and cognitive impact of images and help towards a more compelling interpretative process are an important part of this discussion. 

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Kostantinos Papadopoulos, cp5v07@soton.ac.uk and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

Outlining the Past - Archaeology and the Fine Arts

Chair: Sam Smiles

This session will focus on the interplay between archaeology and the fine arts. It includes visual artists’ engagement with archaeology (its methods, its discoveries and the publications and/or museum displays that made its work accessible) as well as archaeologists’ use of creative artists’ discourses and practices when interpreting the past.

Many artists professionally situated outside the archaeological sphere have worked with archaeological discoveries and/or incorporated elements of archaeological research in their own practices, including the historicist artist’s use of archaeological data to produce a convincing simulacrum of the past; the response by modern artists to prehistoric and non-classical cultures; and contemporary practitioners’ deployment of techniques associated with archaeology as a means of working with objects and residues. This session also offers opportunities to examine how archaeologists have responded to developments in the fine arts, in their training, acquaintances, consumption of fine arts and/or employment in their own work of the approaches and methods associated with creative practice.

Specific topics might include:
Archaeologists’ interest in the creative arts; the impact of archaeological discoveries on visual artists; the museological implications of specific archaeological collections; professional collaborations between artists and archaeologists; creative artists’ promotion of archaeology as a discipline; institutional relationships between archaeology and the creative arts; archaeological contributions to the evolution of taste.

Proposals for papers on these or on closely-related topics are welcomed.

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Sam Smiles, S.Smiles@plymouth.ac.uk and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

Plurality of Media: Different Visual Techniques and their Functions

Chair: Stefanie Klamm

Different visual techniques in various forms have characterised archaeological work right from the beginning: drawing, photography (after its invention), casts, and models were and still are applied to visualise archaeological finds, the process of excavating and excavation results. Moreover, these techniques are often combined in the process of archaeological work, they serve various purposes, are subject to an active design process and are mingled in many hybrid forms: They transcend the goal of imitation by far, they establish objects of scientific archaeology in multi-level steps through complex processes and are valued as working materials for archaeologists, where they also serve experimental purposes. In contemporary practice this idea is even enhanced since with the application of digital techniques ever more media hybrids are created, including for instance digital processing of drawings and photographs into 3D models; information deriving from graphic and photographic sources is mingled more than ever.

This session will focus on the consequences of this ‘concert’ of media for the formation of knowledge in the archaeological discipline. It will deal not only with relations between the diverse visual representations, but will also allocate towards their materiality and blendings between them. Different representational techniques often convey specific aspects of the object under consideration and construction; for instance, line drawings are often used to evoke common iconographic references, while photographs are relied upon to offer exact and “naturalistic” representations of surface features and particularities. Moreover, within visual representations specific styles can be analysed, e.g. archaeological and architectural drawings, which depend on different and changing professional training, involving different actors and their cooperation, e.g. scholars, draftsmen, photographers, sculptors, graphic designers and software engineers.

The session aims to examine how the use and interplay of different media is part of a transformation of archaeological knowledge, from the excavation to divers types of publication, presentation and exhibition. It is supposed to draw on case studies in different fields of archaeological research that will highlight the interplay of drawing, photography, casts, models, analogue and digital, welcoming explorations of different national traditions and temporal foci.

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Stefanie Klamm, klamm@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

Antiquaries and Artists: Recording Britain's Past Before 1820

Chair: Bernard Nurse

The value of accurate drawings for preserving the memory of historic remains as well as interpreting them has been recognized from the 17th century onwards. An increasing number of technically competent draughtsmen applied themselves to this work especially from the end of the 18th century. The session will explore different aspects of the visual records produced by antiquaries and the artists they employed. Their images reveal much that has been lost since; but how far can we rely on their representations?

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Bernard Nurse, bernardnurse@btinternet.com and/or to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

General Sessions

Contributors from across disciplines are invited to propose abstracts for 5-15 minute presentations that build on the general themes exposed in our recent workshops and in our online research showcase. These include, but are not limited to:

- visual codes/languages of communication
- ethics and responsibility in visual practice
- audience reception of the visual
- non-specialist visual modes of engagement
- visual economies
- histories of visualisation
- visual literacy/competencies

We encourage innovative formats of delivery that push the boundaries on typical conference proceedings.

Please submit proposed abstracts by 28 February 2011 to Sara Perry, s.e.perry@soton.ac.uk.

For further info and contacts, visit
http://www.viarch.org.uk/index-conference.asp

We are keen to see participation from professional visualisers,
practitioners, commercial industry, students and scholars across the
sciences, humanities and social sciences.

PLEASE NOTE: The event will be live-streamed and contributions should be
adaptable for publication. 

Call For Poster Presentations

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 28 February 2011

Researchers and practitioners from across disciplines are invited to submit abstracts for posters to be presented at the Visualisation in Archaeology International Conference at the University of Southampton on the 18th to 19th of April 2011. The 2011 Conference marks the culmination of the three-year VIA project which has sought to explore the philosophical and historical dimensions--and future prospects--of the visualisation of archaeological knowledge. 

Contributors from across disciplines are invited to propose abstracts for posters that build on the general themes exposed in our recent workshops and in our online research showcase. 

These include, but are not limited to:

• visualisation as research
• visual codes/languages of communication
• ethics and responsibility in visual practice
• audience reception of the visual
• non-specialist visual modes of engagement
• visual economies
• histories of visualisation
• visual literacy/competencies 

We encourage innovative formats of delivery that push the boundaries on typical conference poster sessions. 

Please submit proposed abstracts of 300 words (maximum) by 28 February 2011 to Sara Perry, S.E.Perry@soton.ac.uk. 

2011 VIA Conference - Fees

Regular Rate

• 2 days - £75 (waged) / £30 (unwaged)
• 1 day - £50 (waged) / £25 (unwaged) 

Speakers' Rate

• 2 days - £40 (waged) / £20 (unwaged)
• 1 day - £30 (waged) / £15 (unwaged) 

Fees include:

Lunch, coffee & snacks, conference package, & wine reception on the evening of Monday, 18 April.

Cancellations and Refund Policy for Registration

tbc