[Commlist] Documentaries and Radical Media Ecologies in the XXI Century – Visible Evidence seminar

Visible Evidence XXIX – University of Udine (Italy), September 6-9, 2023
SEMINAR – CALL FOR SPEAKERS
Documentaries and Radical Media Ecologies in the XXI Century
Seminar leader: Diego Cavallotti, University of Cagliari

This seminar aims to map the interrelationships between documentaries 
and the contemporary practices of contention of social activists. 
Throughout the world, in fact, we can observe an always tighter 
connection between media production/consumption and activism: from this 
point of view, documentaries developed within radical ecologies can 
represent the activists’ perspective on the current global crises, from 
climate change to the consequences of the Arab Springs, from the war in 
Ukraine to the Aids crisis in Sub Saharan Africa. Thus, the main goal of 
the seminar is to reconstruct the multiple genealogies of the 
relationships between activism and documentary production in the 
contemporary media landscape, also focusing on how documentaries are 
distributed – from official distribution circuits (film theatres, OTTs, 
etc.) to radical networks. More specifically, our purpose is to shed 
light on the radical ecologies that these multiple genealogies entail, 
giving rise to complex media environments, in which, for instance, 
digital platforms (mainstream and alternative/radical) play now a 
crucial role.
The rationale behind this proposal refers to the necessity to map an 
ever-growing phenomenon, which, since the widespread diffusion of video 
consumer technologies, has become increasingly relevant in recent years. 
Activist documentaries constitute an important part of contemporary 
media production and consumption, especially when it comes to 
highlighting the connections between audiovisual products and politics: 
they range from inquiries on specific topics to Artivism (Art + 
Activism), engaging in dialogue with multiple forms of expression. From 
our point of view, then, it is important to focus on their differences 
and similarities in order to outline a map of their genealogies, which 
is not based only on their contents, but also on their aesthetic and 
formal features. In other words, the rationale behind this proposal is 
to enrich a field of research that needs to be consolidated, calling for 
participants who will analyze specific documentaries and their modes of 
production and consumption. In this way, we aim to reconstruct – or, at 
least, start to reconstruct – the genealogies of contemporary activist 
documentaries and, more broadly, their radical media ecologies.
Those interested in participating in this seminar as speakers should 
send their proposals (inclusive of a title, a 100-word abstract, and a 
150-word bio from which it is clear their affiliation, if any) to 
seminar leader Diego Cavallotti at (diego.cavallotti /at/ unica.it) no later 
than February 10th, 2023, using as subject line "VisEv Documentary and 
Radical Media Ecologies seminar".








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