Visual Studies X Open Eye Roundtable:

Forging connections between researchers, creative practitioners, and communities

5pm – 7pm 14 July 2022

In early 2022, Visual Studies journal embarked on a project which sought to broaden and diversify our audiences and impact. This issue marks our first partnership with a gallery. In collaboration with the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, United Kingdom, we worked with a group of researchers to develop both a gallery-based installation and an academic article or visual essay about this work.

This initiative formed part of the Open Eye Gallery’s Climate LOOK Lab 2022. From January to March 2022, the gallery was transformed into a constantly changing space for researchers, community groups and artists to use to engage visitors from diverse backgrounds in imagining how we can change our visual narratives on climate change.

This Roundtable marks the launch of Visual Studies 37(3) which represents the outcome of our partnership with the Open Eye Gallery. The discussion will reflect on the promise of collaborations between conventional academic journals and arts and cultural institutions, in forging new links between researchers, creative practitioners, and communities.

Participants include Open Eye Director Sarah Fisher, Open Eye curator Mariama Attah, researchers Andy Broadey and David Kendall, and Visual Studies Co-Editors Gary Bratchford and Susan Hansen.

The project was later spotlighted at the NCACE event, How can the Knowledge Exchange Concordat Support Excellent Cultural Knowledge Exchange hosted by Greg Wade at Universities UK,