CVCPS FALL 2025 PROGRAMMING
9/11 
9/25 
10/16 
10/27 
11/13 
Performing Populisms and Fascinating Fascisms
This coming year we will grapple with fascisms old and new, comparing and contrasting them to the explosion of global populisms of recent years. Far from equating these two phenomena, we seek to explore their textured and historically-specific approaches to modern political and social formations that invest in “the masses” and their attendant configurations (the crowd, the popular, the mob, the collective). Fascisms and populisms depend on visual cultures and performances for their power: from charismatic icons that crystalize ideology to the sounds, choreographies, and framing of crowds as spectacle. Our invited speakers include scholars and artists who approach fascisms and/or populisms globally, in both historical and contemporary iterations.
Questions we will explore include: What kinds of artistic analyses can best capture modern and contemporary political formations? Who speaks for the many, and how is this speech shaped by visual cultures and performance? What roles do voice, rhythm, music, and noise play in constructing these political collectives? What is the role of new media platforms and/or conglomerates in fomenting and sustaining fascist or populist collectives, and how do they compare to earlier media ecologies (as in the emergence of the press, film, radio)? How do emotions undergird and produce fascism and/or populism, or shape forms of living alongside or under them? How might the current upsurge in populisms and fascisms globally indicate unmet social needs, utopian promises of collectivity, or fantasies of the good life? How might art practice and theory help us explore, challenge, or otherwise rechannel these desires for a democratic understanding of “the people” in all their complexity?
WHO ARE WE?
Founded in 2002, the CVCPS supports curricular innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration from faculty and graduate students in visual cultures and performance studies across an unusually wide range of departments and units on campus. We sponsor a yearlong series of lectures and workshops by renowned artists and scholars focusing on themes of vital interest to our publics, and we invite members of the community and the university to meet visiting speakers, participate in events, exhibits, performances, and workshops. We also organize events and do outreach to disseminate and highlight the dynamic, transdisciplinary work of our faculty affiliates and graduate students. Housed in the College of Letters and Sciences, the Center has a network of affiliates and graduate students that spans dozens of departments, units, and colleges, sustaining a robust intellectual community necessary for advanced research, professional training, and critical engagement in and beyond the classroom. Emphasizing both the global and the local, together we explore how methods, concepts, and practices in the visual arts and performance help us understand our world.
WHY STUDY VISUAL CULTURES?
Visual literacies and performance methods are arguably among the most important skills for students to develop. While the study of visual cultures is an interdisciplinary field in its own right, its rise as a field stems our image-dominated world. A demonstrated capacity to analyze critically and creatively in the realms of visuality and performance affords opportunities for students in a wide range of traditional disciplines from Anthropology to History to English as well as the interdisciplines of Design Studies, African Cultural Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies, and more. As the world continues to become increasingly understood through, the visual and performance (films, television, data visualization, video games, and advertisements, social media) training in interpreting, creating, and evaluating those mediums is increasingly essential.
MINOR & CERTIFICATE
We offer a Doctoral Minor and a Graduate Certificate for masters and professional students. Students enrolled in a terminal M.A. or M.F.A. program are eligible for a Graduate Certificate whereas Ph.D. students are eligible for a Doctoral Minor.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION STATEMENT
The Center for Visual Cultures and Performance Studies seeks to join and shape a community in which individuals of any gender, race, ethnicity, caste, ability, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, cultural upbringing, language variety, and socioeconomic standing may flourish. Our programming reflects this commitment. We welcome diverse perspectives, especially of those who are marginalized or vulnerable members of society, and seek to place international perspectives in dialogue with national ones.
