A joint event organized by the Virtual Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study (VUIAS), the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and the research group “War, Migration, Memory” of Prisma Ukraina, Berlin, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

The event will be held in two stages. On Thursday 26 June, there will be a screening of the film Porcelain War. The next day, we will hold the seminar “Images of Conflict, Images in Conflict: Mimesis, Circulation, and Politics of Visual Mis/representations”

This workshop critically examines cultural visual representations of violence, resistance, and suffering, particularly in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War, while drawing parallels with other global conflicts. It focuses on the mimetic nature of visual representation, exploring how recurring images—ranging from memes and digital art to documentary visuals and immersive technologies like VR—circulate across geographic and cultural zones, shaping collective perceptions, narratives, and symbols of conflict. The event will delve into how these visual media, including AI-generated content and VR experiences, contribute to political communication, mobilization, and the construction of collective identities, reflecting their capacity to propagate, challenge, or reimagine dominant narratives. By comparing visual strategies employed in different conflicts, the workshop aims to uncover shared aesthetic patterns and their impacts on public opinion, activism, and political communication, offering fresh perspectives on the power of cultural representation in contemporary mediated
landscapes.

Location: at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Wallotstrasse 19, 14193 Berlin (details in the schedule file)

Convenor: Alina Mozolevska (VUIAS, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin), Lesia Kulchynska (NIAS/VUIAS, University of Amsterdam), Hanna Starkova (NIAS/VUIAS, Aarhus University, S. Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics), Kateryna Bondar (SCAS/VUIAS, Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University)