Mastodawn

Roger Canals: Visual Trust Across Society, Science, and Religion

ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe, Wednesday, March 18 at 06:00 PM GMT+1

[ ↓↓ Englsih version below ↓↓]

Was veranlasst Menschen dazu, bestimmten Bildern mehr zu vertrauen als anderen – oder ihnen zu misstrauen? Wie verändern sich visuelle Zuverlässigkeit und Täuschung im Zeitalter der Künstlichen Intelligenz? Welche Formen visueller Bewertung lassen sich in Wissenschaft, Religion, Künstlicher Intelligenz und Dokumentarfotografie beobachten?

Der Vortrag von Roger Canals gibt Einblick in einen experimentellen und vergleichenden Forschungsansatz und stellt die zentralen Leitlinien sowie erste Ergebnisse des vom Europäischen Forschungsrat geförderten Projekts »Visual Trust. Reliability, Accountability and Forgery in Scientific, Religious and Social Images« (2021–2027) vor.

Das interdisziplinäre Projekt untersucht mit visuellen, kollaborativen und experimentellen Methoden, wie Menschen aus unterschiedlichen soziokulturellen Kontexten Bildern begegnen, Vertrauen oder Misstrauen entwickeln und wie Bilder soziale Beziehungen, Deutungen und Verantwortlichkeiten strukturieren.

Zusammengeführt wird ein breites Spektrum visueller Materialien, darunter fotojournalistische Aufnahmen, digitale Fälschungen, religiöse Ikonen, KI-generierte Bilder, astronomische Aufnahmen sowie medizinische Bildgebung.

Der Vortrag wird durch die Präsentation ausgewählter visueller Projektergebnisse ergänzt, darunter Filme und visuelle Essays.

Zur Person

Roger Canals (*1980, Barcelona) ist Anthropologe, Filmemacher und ordentlicher Professor für Sozialanthropologie an der Universität Barcelona. Er ist Hauptforscher (Principal Investigator) des ERC-Consolidator-Projekts »Visual Trust. Reliability, Accountability and Forgery in Scientific, Religious and Social Images« (2021–2027).

Er ist Autor zahlreicher wissenschaftlicher Artikel und mehrerer Bücher, darunter »The Image that Never Ends. A Journey through Visual Anthropology« (Berghahn Books, 2025). Als Filmemacher realisierte er international ausgezeichnete Arbeiten, darunter »The Many Faces of a Venezuelan Goddess« (2007), »A Goddess in Motion« (2016), »Chasing Shadows« (2019) und »The Color of Spirits« (2024).

2016 erhielt er das Fejos-Stipendium für ethnografischen Film der Wenner-Gren Foundation (New York). Zudem war er Gastprofessor unter anderem an der University of Toronto, der École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) sowie am Institute of Caribbean Studies (Puerto Rico).

Er kuratierte außerdem mehrere Ausstellungen zu Dokumentarfotografie, ethnografischem Kino und afroamerikanischer Kultur.

/-/-/

What leads people to trust certain images more than others – or to distrust them?
How do visual reliability and deception change in the age of artificial intelligence?
What forms of visual evaluation can be observed in science, religion, artificial intelligence, and documentary photography?

The lecture by Roger Canals offers insight into an experimental and comparative research approach and presents the key guidelines as well as initial findings of the European Research Council–funded project Visual Trust. Reliability, Accountability and Forgery in Scientific, Religious and Social Images (2021–2027).

Using visual, collaborative, and experimental methods, this interdisciplinary project examines how people from different sociocultural contexts engage with images, develop trust or mistrust, and how images structure social relationships, interpretations, and responsibilities.

The project brings together a wide range of visual materials, including photojournalistic images, digital forgeries, religious icons, AI-generated images, astronomical imagery, and medical imaging.

The lecture is complemented by the presentation of selected visual outcomes of the project, including films and visual essays.

About the Speaker

Roger Canals (*1980, Barcelona) is an anthropologist, filmmaker, and full professor of social anthropology at the University of Barcelona. He is the Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator project Visual Trust. Reliability, Accountability and Forgery in Scientific, Religious and Social Images (2021–2027).

He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and several books, including The Image that Never Ends. A Journey through Visual Anthropology (Berghahn Books, 2025). As a filmmaker, he has produced internationally award-winning works, including The Many Faces of a Venezuelan Goddess (2007), A Goddess in Motion (2016), Chasing Shadows (2019), and The Color of Spirits (2024).

In 2016, he received the Fejos Fellowship for Ethnographic Film from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (New York). He has also served as a visiting professor at institutions including the University of Toronto, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), and the Institute of Caribbean Studies (Puerto Rico).
In addition, he has curated several exhibitions on documentary photography, ethnographic cinema, and Afro-American culture.

https://keepkarlsruheboring.org/event/roger-canals-visual-trust-across-society-science-and-religion

amandineturrihoelken Feb 12

Fin de l'installation de l'exposition de ZONE 54 à L'institut Culturel Franco Allemand de Tubingen.
Tout sort d'une pochette. Quelques contrecollages DIY, de la recup', beaucoup de schotch.
Hâte d'être au vernissage ce soir !
#diy #exposition #AnthropologieVisuelle #documentary #exhibition #photography #visualanthropology #artexhibition #art

Protyus A. Gendher Feb 5

Root work in motion — watching coherence generate itself across languages and images. A field revealing its own architecture, one pattern at a time. #VisualAnthropology #Episkevology #FractalGrowth #RFT

http://survivorliteracy.com/2026/02/04/visual-episkevology-root-work-when-we-allow-our-natural-anchorsa-visual-episkevology-post/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Visual Episkevology – Root Work: When We Allow Our Natural AnchorsA Visual Episkevology Post

The author describes a transformative experience observing a generative system respond to Relational Frame Theory (RFT) across languages, revealing coherence rather than chaos. This event exemplifi…

Survivor Literacy

Paolo Chirco Feb 1

Frammenti del Museo Pitrè: Tra Penitenza e Miracolo. Riordinando l'archivio fotografico spuntano le dia di un corso con Giorgio Lotti. Una delle diapositive ritrae una composizione apparentemente pacifica: un crocifisso, una santa dal volto levato al cielo, alcuni oggetti votivi. Ma c'è qualcosa di disturbante in quella scena. Quegli strumenti appesi alla parete – corde, cilici, discipline – non sono semplici reperti: sono testimoni di una fede che passava attraverso il dolore autoinferto. E quella santa che guarda altrove... sta contemplando il divino o sta volutamente distogliendo lo sguardo da pratiche che nemmeno lei approverebbe?
Approfondimento qui: https://paolochirco.altervista.org/fotografia-giorgio-lotti-museo-pitre-palermo/

#MuseoPitrè #Palermo #Sicilia #ReligiositàPopolare #FotografiaDocumentaria #StrumentiDiPenitenza #ExVoto #FedePopolareItaliana #FotografiaInBiancoNero #AnthropologiaVisiva #Crocifisso #Cilicio #Disciplina #MortificazioneDellaCarne #DevozioneSiciliana #ArteReligiosaPopolare #TradizioneCattolica #OggettiVotivi #MuseoEtnografico #PatrimonioCulturaleSiciliano #Diapositive #FotografiaMuseale #DocumentaryPhotography #VisualAnthropology #ItalianHeritage #CulturaMateriale #StoriaDellaReligiosità #AntichePraticheReligiose #SacroProFano #OggettiSacri #ReliquieReligiose

amandineturrihoelken Jan 5

[ARCHIVES 2021] English
3/3 : Today
For six months, Nabila Halim and I went out to meet the residents of the town of Longwy.
During our meetings, they told us stories, asked questions, and shared their experiences of their relationships with others.
This work is conceived as an echo chamber, a more or less realistic and sensitive reflection of the residents of this very special town: a cross-border land, a land of immigration, a land of hope and abandonment.
From their words, we drew seven major themes: arrival in Longwy, racism, the Algerian War, factory closures, memories, home, and finally, the relationship with the Other today. This last theme emerged from our encounters, but also from those made by the students at Vauban College when they set out to find residents, criss-crossing their town and conducting short interviews with passers-by.
More info: the previous feed shows the daily journal of this residency. A lot of work was also done and documented via stories (see featured story): encounters, preparation of the exhibition, etc.
#longwyvivra #journaldeterrain #artresidency #womenartist #womenphotographer #photographer #anthropologist #exhibition #today #workers #testimony #visualanthropology

amandineturrihoelken Jan 5

[ARCHIVES 2021] English
2/3 : Today
For six months, Nabila Halim and I went out to meet the residents of the town of Longwy.
During our meetings, they told us stories, asked questions, and shared their experiences of their relationships with others.
This work is conceived as an echo chamber, a more or less realistic and sensitive reflection of the residents of this very special town: a cross-border land, a land of immigration, a land of hope and abandonment.
From their words, we drew seven major themes: arrival in Longwy, racism, the Algerian War, factory closures, memories, home, and finally, the relationship with the Other today. This last theme emerged from our encounters, but also from those made by the students at Vauban College when they set out to find residents, criss-crossing their town and conducting short interviews with passers-by.
More info: the previous feed shows the daily journal of this residency. A lot of work was also done and documented via stories (see featured story): encounters, preparation of the exhibition, etc.
#longwyvivra #journaldeterrain #visualanthropology #socialsciences #temoignage #story #art #anthropology #exhibition #photography

Prism & Pen Jan 1

I. OPENING

The title words stopped me mid-page.
Not my words, yet they feel mine.

They carry something else too —
a feeling called compersion.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/thank-you-for-taking-such-good-care-of-my-johnny-2ab41139b56c?sk=bf8ed31eaa31a63378118109d302a8af

#LGBTQ #QueerHistory #Photography #VisualAnthropology

amandineturrihoelken Dec 20

[ARCHIVES 2021]
2/2 Home
For six months, Nabila Halim and I went out to meet the residents of the town of Longwy.
During our meetings, they told us stories, asked questions, and shared their experiences of their relationships with others.
This work is conceived as an echo chamber, a more or less realistic and sensitive reflection of the residents of this very special town: a cross-border land, a land of immigration, a land of hope and abandonment.
From their words, we drew seven major themes: arrival in Longwy, racism, the Algerian War, factory closures, memories, home, and finally, the relationship with the Other today. This last theme emerged from our encounters, but also from those made by the students at Vauban College when they set out to find residents, criss-crossing their town and conducting short interviews with passers-by.
More info: the previous feed shows the daily journal of this residency. A lot of work was also done and documented via stories (see featured story): encounters, preparation of the exhibition, etc.

#longwyvivra #journaldeterrain #home #documentary #colorphotography #photographer #socialsciences #Visualanthropology

amandineturrihoelken Dec 18

[ARCHIVES 2021] English
2/2 : Leave?
~~~🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧~~~
For six months, Nabila Halim and I went out to meet the residents of the town of Longwy.
During our meetings, they told us stories, asked questions, and shared their experiences of their relationships with others.
This work is conceived as an echo chamber, a more or less realistic and sensitive reflection of the residents of this very special town: a cross-border land, a land of immigration, a land of hope and abandonment.
From their words, we drew seven major themes: arrival in Longwy, racism, the Algerian War, factory closures, memories, home, and finally, the relationship with the Other today. This last theme emerged from our encounters, but also from those made by the students at Vauban College when they set out to find residents, criss-crossing their town and conducting short interviews with passers-by.
More info: the previous feed shows the daily journal of this residency. A lot of work was also done and documented via stories (see featured story): encounters, preparation of the exhibition, etc.
#journaldeterrain #longwyvivra #reportage #photographe #colorphotography #documentaryphotographie #socialscience @art #urbanphotography #storytelling #visualanthropology #artresidency

amandineturrihoelken Dec 11

[ARCHIVES 2021]
2/2 : La fermeture des usines / The closure of factories
For six months, Nabila Halim and I went out to meet the residents of the town of Longwy.
During our meetings, they told us stories, asked questions, and shared their experiences of their relationships with others.
This work is conceived as an echo chamber, a more or less realistic and sensitive reflection of the residents of this very special town: a cross-border land, a land of immigration, a land of hope and abandonment.
From their words, we drew seven major themes: arrival in Longwy, racism, the Algerian War, factory closures, memories, home, and finally, the relationship with the Other today. This last theme emerged from our encounters, but also from those made by the students at Vauban College when they set out to find residents, criss-crossing their town and conducting short interviews with passers-by.
More info: the previous feed shows the daily journal of this residency. A lot of work was also done and documented via stories (see featured story): encounters, preparation of the exhibition, etc.
#longwyvivra #journaldeterrain #factory #immigration #visualanthropology #photographer #socialdocumentary #usine #storytelling #narrativephotography #reportage