Call for Papers: Symposium „Film Posters – Images of Power?“ on 23 and 24 February 2024

15.12.2023
Kunstbibliothek

On the occasion of the exhibition “The Big Screen”, the Berlin Kunstbibliothek organizes the symposium „Film Posters – Images of Power?“. It takes place on 23 and 24 February 2024 in the lecture hall at Kulturforum. Talks will be held in German or English language, admission is free and open to the public. Proposals are accepted until 21 January 2024.

Film poster imagery often reveals elements that need to be questioned, such as stereotypes, ideologies, and power dynamics. Films and the posters used to advertise them are a mass media with a social dimension. By reflecting dominant views, they might also visually reinforce prejudices and biased ways of thinking – whether as subtext or outright propaganda. The symposium will closely examine this aspect of film advertising.

With 300 posters from twelve decades, the exhibition “The Big Screen” celebrates the unique design for communicating films, whether arthouse highlights or blockbusters. But what lies behind the images exhibited here as examples of good design? What roles and values are conveyed in the posters and the films they promote? The two-day symposium „Film Posters – Images of Power?“ explores these questions in twenty talks of 20mins each. Experts from art history, cultural studies, film studies, graphic design, and other fields will critically survey the film poster from a contemporary perspective. In addition to pictorial analyses (for instance in reference to gender or historical representation), talks also address the conditions under which designs were and are created.

Call for Papers: You are cordially invited to present a twenty-minute talk (accompanied by visuals) at the symposium. For more information please download the information file (PDF German/English, 703 KB). Proposals must be submitted using the form provided in the application package (ZIP, 9,9 MB).

• Closing date for entries is 21 January 2024, 9 pm
• Selection and announcement of the presentations by 26 January 2024
• Send the finished presentation files by 21 February 2024, 5 pm

The symposium Film Posters – Images of Power? is organized by the Graphic Design Collection of the Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.