Call for Papers

Mediterranean Film Studios

Film studios have been central in the history of audio-visual media production since the early 20th century, from the early glasshouses to the massive studio lots in Hollywood and elsewhere. Studios exude an impression of glamour and mystery, which has turned many of them into tourist attractions. Yet in film studies, the focus of attention has mostly been on the interpretation of films, on the trajectory of directors, producers, stars, or on the study of audiences and exhibition sites.  In those studies where studios feature, they are often amalgamated into the story of production companies, as necessary tools to achieve financial targets, rather than as specific sites worth of study in their own right.

Studios are laboratories of innovation and creativity. They are physical structures that reflect their function, but which also mediate architectural and wider cultural trends. They are work environments structured around specific conventions, rules, policies and collaborative practices, and they can be seen as microcosms of wider social and political developments. It is this multifaceted nature of film studios that has recently begun to be rediscovered by scholars, especially in the work by Brian Jacobson (2015 and 2020) and Street et al. (2026).

While the history of the major Hollywood studios has been relatively well documented, there is, with few exceptions (e.g. García de Dueñas and Gorostiza, 2001, Street 2024), comparatively little work on studios elsewhere. Street et al have mapped the studio histories of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy from the early sound period to the late 1950s, while stressing the interaction and transnational traffic between these countries. Jacobson’s anthology provides a broader range of case studies and periods, but in their distinct focus, they lack wider transnational contexts and interactions.

Recognizing the need to reconsider regional and transnational connections and networks, this CFP builds on these interventions and invites contributions that explore the histories of film studios in the Mediterranean space (Southern Europe, North Africa, the Levant), from the early days of cinema to the present, and their relations with each other. We are particularly interested in the following topics:

  • Histories of individual studios
  • Studios as symbols of national culture
  • Transnational studio relations
  • Studio architecture and design
  • Afterlives of studios as heritage, tourist attractions, or real estate
  • Working practices
  • Technological changes

Bibliography

García de Dueñas, J., & Gorostiza, J. (2001). Los estudios cinematográficos españoles. Academia de las Artes y de las Ciencias Cinematográficas.

Jacobson, B. R. (2015). Studios before the system: Architecture, technology, and the emergence of cinematic space. Columbia University Press.

Jacobson, B. R. (Ed.). (2020). In the studio: Visual creation and its material environments. University of California Press.

Street, S. (2024). Pinewood: Anatomy of a film studio in post-war Britain. Springer.

Street, S., et al. (2026). Film studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy: Architecture, innovation, labour, politics, 1930–60 (forthcoming). Bloomsbury.

Tim Bergfelder is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Southampton (UK). He is co-editor of the journal Screen, and series editor of Berghahn’s Film Europa book series, and of the Palgrave series European Film and Media Studies. He is co-author of the forthcoming book Film Studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Architecture, Innovation, Labour, Politics, 1930–1960; London: BFI/Bloomsbury (2026). Previous publications as author, editor, and co-editor include “EXIL SHANGHAI as Audio-Visual Archive and Cross-Cultural Collage.” In: Angela McRobbie (ed.), Ulrike Ottinger. Film, Art and the Ethnographic Imagination (Bristol: Intellect 2024); The German Cinema Book (second edition, London; BFI 2020); “Popular European Cinema in the 2000s: Cinephilia, Genre and Heritage,” in Mary Harrod, Mariana Liz, and Alissa Timoshkina (eds.), The Europeanness of European Cinema. Identity, Meaning, Globalization, London and New York: I.B. Tauris 2015; Destination London: German-speaking émigrés and British Cinema, 1925–1950 (Oxford and New York: Berghahn 2008); Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination: Set Design in 1930s European Cinema (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2007); International Adventures. Popular German Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s (Oxford and New York: Berghahn 2005).

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6585-6123

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5wyk6m/professor-tim-bergfelder

Jorge Manuel Neves Carrega is a full member of CIAC – Research Centre in Arts and Communication at the University of Algarve, where he has been teaching courses on cinema, arts, and communication since 2012. He currently coordinates the Film Studies Working Group at CIAC and organizes the Mediterranean Cinemas Colloquium. He is also vice-president of AIM – Association of Moving Image Researchers. He is currently investigating the history of film exhibition in the Algarve and coordinates the CURATE project, which studies the poster collection of the Municipal Museum of Faro.

Jorge Carrega is the author of seven books, including “Géneros Populares e Cinema Transnacional na Europa Mediterrânea” (CIAC, 2023), Elvis Presley e a Cultura Popular do séc. XX” (CIAC, 2023), and “Brief Cultural History of Faro” (UFF, 2018). He has published around fifty articles and book chapters in various academic publications.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0797-8891

https://www.cienciavitae.pt//1C18-48AC-ECE7

Deadline for submission of papers: 04-15-2026
Acceptance notification: 06-30-2026
Submission of final version: 09-10-2026
Publication: 09-30-2026

Visual Methods for Exploring Communication through Creative and Multimodal Perspectives

Visual methods offer an alternative way to explore reality from a visually mediated perspective, aiming to transcend the boundaries and disciplinary specificity that often constrain the creative potential of the social sciences. There is a general consensus in understanding visual methods as those that incorporate visual creation into the research process, although their scope goes beyond this. Multimodal media practices, sensory approaches, and participatory or collaborative methods shape this flexible and constantly evolving field, which is characterized by its capacity to make sense of audiovisual representations and creations within the research process itself (Pink, 2009; Bouldoires et al., 2017; Yvart et al., 2023). This movement is notable for its independent, interdisciplinary, and even “un-disciplinary” nature. Bodily and subjective relationships (Ruby, 2000; MacDougall, 1995) that shape the visual experience and construct representation exemplify the multiple ambitions of these methods, which require a deeper reflection on the data they generate – an aspect that is not always sufficiently considered (Buckingham, 2009; Switzer, 2018). Approaches such as those of Cruz, Sumartojo and Pink (2017) and Ibanez-Bueno and Marín (2021) focus on new processes, digital tools, and emerging forms of scientific writing to explore their potential. These proposals allow for the conceptualization of integrated forms of knowledge production and presentation, such as web documentaries, transmedia narratives, or 360º immersive environments, which expand the traditional ways of communicating research outcomes.

Cover Image: "Artificial Life: One Lag at a Time" Installation, by Ary-Yue Huang and Varvara Guljajeva (ARTECH 2023 - Faro)

POSSIBLE TOPICS

We invite the submission of both empirical and theoretical articles that reflect on visual research methods.

  • Visual methodologies and emerging technologies
  • Vision and artificial intelligence in visual research methodologies
  • Intersections between visual methods and research-creation practices
  • Critical studies on interpretative ethics in visual research processes
  • Visual scientific creation and aesthetics: post-documentary, immersive, interactive, or transmedia
  • Cases and digital visual restitutions in research
  • Epistemology and studies on algorithmic visuality
  • Analysis of algorithmic visual policies in the recognition of scopic regimes

KEY DATES

Deadline for submission of proposals: February 27, 2026

Notification of acceptance: April 30, 2026

Submission of final version: May 29, 2026

Publication: July 30, 2026

GUEST EDITORS

Alba Marín Carrillo. Universidad de Extremadura (España)
albamarin@unex.es
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=M-WRiv8AAAAJ&hl=es
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0285-7086

Charles-Alexandre Delestage. Université Bordeaux Montaigne (Francia)
charles-alexandre.delestage@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=UCkwGAUAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7842-049X

Fernando Contreras Medina. Universidad de Sevilla (España)
fmedina@ues.es
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=HtUZNuYAAAAJ&hl=es
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1105-5800

Ricardo Ignacio Prado Hurtado. Universidad Anáhuac (México)
r.prado@anahuac.mx
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=WPoUKnEAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4502-428X

Alba Marín. Assistant Professor at the University of Extremadura (Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising). She has been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Seville (NextGenerationEU) and held a teaching and research position (ATER – equivalent to a junior lecturer) in the Department of Communication Hypermédia at Université Savoie Mont Blanc. She holds an international PhD in Communication from Université Grenoble Alpes / USMB and the University of Seville. Maître de Conférences in Information and Communication Sciences (section 71) and member of the research groups SEJ003: AR-CO (Communication Area) and HUM868: Visual Studies, Art, and Cultural Heritage. Her work explores the social significance of the image, media activism, and social documentary within the framework of Visual Studies and Visual Methods.

Charles Alexandre Delestage. Associate Professor in Information and Communication Sciences in the Métiers du Multimédia et de l’Internet (MMI) department and member of the MICA research laboratory at Université Bordeaux Montaigne (France). He holds a PhD in Information and Communication from Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France. He teaches audiovisual communication and immersive media production. His work focuses on the use of visual methods to subjectively collect data on individual emotional experience (development of Spot Your Mood) and on the reception of immersive technologies in culture.

Fernando Contreras Medina. Full Professor in the Department of Journalism I at the University of Seville, where he teaches Cyberculture, Design, and Visual Studies. He is the author of El cibermundo. Dialéctica del discurso informático (1998), one of the first narrative studies on video games in Spain. His most recent publications include Estudios Visuales en Brasil (2022), El arte en la cibercultura. Introducción a una estética comunicacional (2018), and La desobediencia visual. Estética de los movimientos sociales del siglo XXI (2021).

Ricardo Ignacio Prado Hurtado. Professor and researcher, as well as graduate program coordinator at the Center for Research in Applied Communication (CICA) at Universidad Anáhuac México. Executive Director of Mostrotown Publicidad. He holds a PhD in Communication Research from Universidad Anáhuac México and a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences from Université Savoie Mont Blanc, where he also serves as an associate researcher at the LLSETI laboratory. His work focuses on Emerging Research Methods (ERM), advertising and countermarketing studies, as well as food studies and communication for nutritional health.

References

Bouldoires, A., Reix, F. y Meyer, M. (2017). Méthodes visuelles : définition et enjeux. Revue Française des Méthodes Visuelles, no 1 (juillet). https://rfmv.fr/numeros/1/introduction/.

Ibanez-Bueno, J., y Marín, A. (2021). Images interactives et nouvelles écritures. Un mouvement émergent pour de nouvelles écritures interactives. Revue française des méthodes visuelles, (5). https://doi.org/10.4000/12mp0

Buckingham, D. (2009). `Creative’ Visual Methods in Media Research: Possibilities, Problems and Proposals. Media, Culture & Society, 31(4): 633-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443709335280.

Contreras, F.R. y Marín, A. (2022). Estudios Visuales en Brasil. Tirant lo Blanc.

Cruz, E. G., Sumartojo, S. y Pink, S. (2017). Refiguring Techniques in Digital Visual Research. Springer.

McDougall, D. (1995). Beyond observational cinema. In P. Hockings (ed.), Principles of Visual Anthropology. Mouton de Gruyter.

Pauwels, L. (2010). Taking the visual turn in research and scholarly communication key issues in developing a more visually literate (social) science. Visual Sociology, 15(1): 7-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725860008583812.

Pink, S. (2009). Doing Sensory Ethnography. Sage.

Ruby, J (2000). Picturing culture: explorations of film and anthropology. The University of Chicago Press.

Switzer, S. (2018). «That’s in an Image?: Towards a Critical and Interdisciplinary Reading of Participatory Visual Methods». En Moshoula Capous-Desyllas y Karen Morgaine (Eds.), Creating Social Change Through Creativity, pp. 189-207. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52129-9_11.

Yvart, W., Delestage, C.A. y Lamboux-Durand, A. (2023). Les contours des méthodes visuelles. In III Conference on Visual and Multimodal Methods, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Espagne.

Digital Artivism – Intersections of Art, Activism, and Social Transformation

In an era defined by digital saturation, ubiquitous connectivity, algorithmic control, and global information flows, Digital Artivism has emerged as a powerful mode of creative resistance. It operates at the intersection of artistic innovation and political intervention, using digital tools, platforms, and aesthetics to question dominant narratives, expose injustices, and mobilize communities toward social transformation. The rapid expansion of social media and digital sharing has reshaped the terrain of activism. From the immediacy of viral memes that satirize political leaders to the proliferation of subvertising—the appropriation and alteration of corporate advertising to reveal underlying exploitative ideologies—Digital Artivism thrives on remix, visibility, and disruption. Activists have created GIF campaigns, interactive web art, AI-generated counter-narratives, and augmented reality interventions that critically engage with public space, class and identity politics, climate urgency, and surveillance culture. More radical – and often illegal – forms, such as hacktivism, challenge institutions through direct digital action, ranging from website defacements and data leaks to tactical disruptions of state and corporate infrastructures. Projects like Anonymous' online operations, the hijinks of The Yes Men, or the politically charged artistic hacks of collectives like !Mediengruppe Bitnik exemplify how digital tools can be weaponised aesthetically and politically to demand transparency and accountability. Digital Artivism also appears in generative art practices that use algorithmic systems to critique bias in data, in net art collectives that design platforms for anonymous protest, or in extended reality (XR) performances that reimagine histories and possible futures of resistance. What unites these varied forms is their ability to provoke critical reflection while engaging publics through visual culture, digital literacy, and networked participation. As such, Digital Artivism is not only a method of intervention but also a medium of storytelling, community-building, and imagining alternatives.

We invite contributions that engage with the theoretical, historical, methodological, and practical dimensions of Digital Artivism, particularly those that examine its transformative potential in today’s media-saturated societies. We welcome diverse formats of previously unpublished materials, including research articles, practice-based reflections, case studies, and interdisciplinary analyses. Submissions should offer original insights into the transformative potential of digital creative practices at the intersection of art and activism. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

1. Histories and Genealogies of Digital Artivism

We encourage contributions that contextualise the origins, trajectories, and evolutions of Digital Artivism within broader narratives of political resistance, artistic innovation, and technological development.

2. Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

Contributions in this category may engage with conceptual debates surrounding Digital Artivism, including practices of appropriation, remix culture, subvertising, culture jamming, hacktivism, tactical media, and other forms of hybrid activist-artistic intervention.

3. Critical Pedagogies and Inclusive Digital Art Forms

This theme focuses on the intersection between artivist practices and critical pedagogy. We seek analyses of how relational aesthetics, socially transformative artistic approaches, and interventional digital art practices operate within educational settings to promote critical thinking and social awareness.

4. Digital Artivism and Community Co-construction

We invite explorations of how Digital Artivism contributes to the (co)(re)construction of community and minority identities, particularly in response to systemic social, political, or cultural marginalization. Emphasis should be placed on practices that foreground human rights, collective agency, and cultural resilience.

5. Digital Artivism and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Calling for reflections on the role of Digital Artivism in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially concerning environmental justice, climate action, and the advocacy of sustainable ecosystems through creative practice.

6. Methodologies of Practice and Participation

We encourage submissions that examine methodological frameworks within Digital Artivism, particularly those that activate participatory and co-creative processes. Case studies and practice-led research exploring how artivist strategies foster civic engagement are welcome.

7. Between Political Art and Activist Art

We seek critical reflections on the conceptual and practical distinctions between political art and activist art, considering their respective goals, audiences, modes of intervention, and sociopolitical impact.

Important dates:

Deadline for submissions: 2025-09-30
Notification of acceptance: 2025-11-15
Final version submission: 2025-12-31
Publication: 2026-02-01

Editors:  Isabel Cristina Carvalho (CIAC, Universidade Aberta), Marc Garrett (Furtherfield, Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication) and Pedro Alves da Veiga (CIAC, Universidade Aberta).

Isabel Carvalho is an artist and researcher with a background in Architecture and a PhD in Digital Media Art (2016), focusing on locative media and urban flows. She was a postdoctoral researcher in Computer Animation at Bournemouth University (2018–2019). Currently, she is a researcher at CIAC, Aberta University, where she studies community and collaborative mapping processes, and the interaction between people, spaces and technology, focusing on the interplay between real and virtual in hybrid urban experiences through locative media art.

Marc Garrett is an artist, writer, activist, and curator. He co-founded the Internet arts collective Furtherfield with Ruth Catlow in 1996, and has co-directed its Gallery and Lab in Finsbury Park, London, since 2004. He has co-curated numerous media art exhibitions and publications, including Artists Re: Thinking the Blockchain (2017) and Frankenstein Reanimated (2022). His biopolitical biography Feral Class will be published in summer 2025, followed by 30 Years of Furtherfield (autumn 2025), co-edited with Regine DeBatty and Martin Zellinger.

Pedro Alves da Veiga is currently a Professor and the Sub-Director of the PhD program in Digital Media Art at Aberta University in Portugal. His research bridges the fields of art, science, technology, and society, focusing on the impact of attention and experience economies on new media art ecosystems, new media curatorship, and arts-based and practice-based research methodologies. As an artivist, Veiga explores generative art, interactive systems, creative programming, assemblage, and digital audiovisuals.

Call for papers (permanently)

  • Varia (different articles from the dossier);
  • Reviews and Interviews;
  • Art Chronicle.