Migration is one of the most crucial processes in Europe, both in terms of causes, courses and consequences for individuals, groups and countries. The continent is currently being reconsidered: In the context of war-related plights, the 2015 "migration crisis", as a result of Brexit and most recently in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The panel combines analytical interest in both subject areas - migration and aesthetics - and by applying an interdisciplinary approach (migration and border regime research, media communication, visual and affect studies) it asks about the status, the function and the mediality of aesthetic practices and processes of aestheticizing migration in the contemporary European context. The panel understands migration in the scope of tension between (new) social normality, cultural-political "state of exception" and as a field of conflict. Central to these definitions, processes, mechanisms and policies is the understanding of migration as a perspective (Mecheril), (border) transitions and change of perspective(s) associated with the question of what, when, how, for what purpose and by whom is being defined as migration.
We welcome contributions that present fresh empirical material, reflections on methodological, theoretical as well as analytical approaches and considerations on various migration motivations, e.g. economic reasons, marriage, education, asylum, remigration, violent conflicts or discrimination. The panel focuses on visual, verbal and performative images of migration (e.g. in exhibitions, at demonstrations, in social media networks, or in films and music videos), aesthetic image worlds, counter-images and their circulation in offline and online spaces. It invites papers devoted to the intersection of migration processes, aesthetic practices, visual culture and their manifestations in the public forum (Kalven), taking into account phenomena in the field of aesthetics (Rancière) and emotions as cultural practices (Scheer).
