Symposium “Image perception and visual literacy from looking to seeing” | FORTHEM

In March 2025, 45 students from eight countries (Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania, and France) took part in a symposium on the visual dimension of contemporary culture.

Held in Le Creusot (France) from the 10th to the 14th, and co-organized by the University of Latvia and the University Bourgogne Europe, this event was one of the collective mobilities offered by the FORTHEM Alliance in 2025.

This was the first phase of a project led by the Art & Aesthetics in Contemporary Society Lab. This project aims to better understand the paradoxes of the image culture.

Hosted at the Hub&Go Technopole, participants attended more than twenty conferences and workshops exploring the theme of image from various perspectives. An exhibition featuring local artists, a guided tour of the IMVIA Artificial Vision Laboratory, demonstrations of virtual reality tools, and numerous convivial moments enriched the week’s program.

The project aims to develop an interdisciplinary and creative platform to discuss the visual dimension of contemporary culture in various aspects. The dominance of the image in contemporary culture strives to change our perception of the world – it can be observed in many forms – be it visual communication, plastic and performing arts, virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and other fields of endeavour. This relatively new situation invites to re-consider traditional notions of image, entertainment, communication, art, education and European culture in general.