[Commlist] cfp: Displaced Images, Iconographic Survivals: Cinema and the Public Sphere

CFP

Displaced Images, Iconographic Survivals: Cinema and the Public Sphere

L'Atalante. Revista de Estudios Cinematográficas 
<https://www.revistaatalante.com/index.php/atalante/announcement/view/119>

Acceptance of submissions: April 1st to April 30th 2025

Date of publication: January 2026

Coordinators: Glòria Salvadó, Iván Pintor, Teresa Sorolla y Jordi Montañana

Images representing events, upheavals or significant acts in the public 
sphere are often articulated through visual forms that have been 
developed by cinema. Media representations of the effects of and 
responses to tragedies such as the floods that ravaged Valencia in 
October in 2024, the Los Angeles fires in 2025, the Hamas attack on 
Israeli territory in October 2023, or the assassination of the head of 
Russia’s Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Defence Forces, Igor Kirillov, 
in December 2024, often seem to draw on the legacy of the disaster film 
genre, the imaginary of the Cold War spy film, or the contemporary 
thriller. It is a plausible hypothesis in relation to the impact of 
events (Boucheron, 2024) that there is a specific set of iconographic 
frameworks for representing both ordinary and extraordinary occurrences 
in the public sphere that appeal to the spectator’s prior knowledge of 
certain visual imaginaries and mise-en-scène models.

In recent years, the visual construction of the public sphere has 
undergone a radical transformation, with the emergence of processes of 
acceleration and upheaval and the disruption of traditional forms of 
representation (Salvia, 2022), resulting in the appearance of some 
unexpected new visual codes. This transformation has taken place in 
relation to four basic categories: technology and war; health and the 
climate emergency; the rearticulation of gender identities; and 
migration and racial conflicts.

The aim of this monographic issue of /L’Atalante/ is to explore the 
context of interaction between images of the public sphere and cinema, 
conceiving of the latter as a medium that both reflects and promotes the 
creation of iconographic codes for the visual representation of reality. 
Iconography and iconology have traditionally been concerned with tracing 
survivals (/Nachleben/) of gestures, figures and forms of representation 
from the art of classical antiquity through to contemporary painting and 
sculpture. By studying visual motifs, various authors (Balló 2000; 
Bergala, Balló 2016; Balló, Salvadó 2023) have analysed the iconographic 
patterns of cultural representation that have been conveyed and 
reinterpreted over the course of history in different media, with a 
consideration of the centrality of cinema: the woman in the window, the 
cowboy disappearing on the horizon, the ecstatic dance in the rain and 
the Pietà are all powerful images that have played a vital role in film 
history as sites of affective engagement.

  Throughout the history of visual arts, motifs have been subject to 
constant circulation and reinterpretation, a process Erwin Panofsky 
(1982) identified as /pseudomorphosis/—the adaptation of established 
visual patterns to new social contexts and expressive needs. The 
pressing need to undertake a similar inquiry into contemporary visual 
culture—examining how gestures, disruptions, and contextual shifts link 
visual forms to political and social affects—forms the basis of this 
call for papers. Specifically, we invite contributions that adopt a 
comparative iconographic approach to investigate topics, methodologies, 
and research trajectories that engage with the following themes:

  * Iconographies of political affects in cinema
  * Representations of the rearticulation of gender identities in cinema
    and in the public sphere
  * Forms of representation of the climate emergency in the dialogue
    between cinema and the public sphere
  * Visual and technological codes of war, AI, video surveillance and
    biopolitics in cinema
  * Cinema and iconologies of power
  * Iconographies of resistance and civil protest
  * Postcolonialism, migratory and racial conflicts in cinema
  * Forensic aesthetics, desktop documentary

*Publication Guidelines*

  * Only original and unpublished manuscripts, in either Spanish or
    English, will be considered. Submissions must have a length between
    5,000 and 7,000 words.
  * The Editorial Board will prioritize submissions that present
    innovative and unique topics, particularly those addressing subjects
    not previously explored in the journal.
  * Submitted manuscripts will undergo an initial review by the
    Editorial Board to assess their alignment with the journal’s focus
    on film analysis studies and the objectives of the issue. Selected
    manuscripts will then proceed to a double-blind peer review process.
  * Authors of manuscripts that are accepted and successfully pass the
    peer review process will be responsible for covering the costs
    associated with the translation or proofreading of their work, to be
    carried out by the journal's designated translator.
  * Please note that /L’Atalante/ does not offer financial compensation
    for published contributions.
  *
    *No payment from the authors* will be required.
  * For detailed information regarding publication guidelines and the
    submission process, please refer to the journal's website.
    <https://revistaatalante.com/index.php/atalante/about/submissions>

REFERENCES

Azoulay, Ariella. (2008). /The Civil Contract of Photography/. New York: 
Zone Books.

Boucheron, Patrick (2024), /Fechas que hicieron historia. Diez formas de 
crear un acontecimiento/, Barcelona: Anagrama.

Salvia, Mattia (2022). /Interregno. Iconografie del XXI secolo/. Rome: Nero.

Balló, Jordi (2000). /Imágenes del silencio/. Barcelona: Anagrama.

Balló, Jordi, Bergala, Alain (Eds.) (2016). /Motivos visuales del cine./ 
Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg.

Balló, Jordi, Salvadó, Alan (2023). /El poder en escena. Motivos 
visuales en la esfera pública/. Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg.

Farocki, Harun (2013). /Desconfiar de las imágenes/. Buenos Aires: Caja 
Negra.

Ginzburg, Carlo (2015). /Paura, reverenza, terrore. Cinque saggi di 
iconografia politica/. Milan: Adelphi.

Mondzain, Marie-José (1996). /Image, icône, économie: les sources 
byzantines de l’imaginaire contemporain/. Paris: Seuil.

Panofsky, Erwin (1982). /Estudios sobre iconología/. Madrid: Alianza.

Steyerl, Hito (2014). /Los condenados de la pantalla/. Buenos Aires: 
Caja Negra.

Warburg, Aby (2010). /Atlas Mnemosyne/. Madrid: Akal.

For any inquiries related to this special issue, please contact us via 
email at: *(mumovep /at/ upf.edu) <mailto:(mumovep /at/ upf.edu)>*


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------