Madness and Montage

We are thrilled to confirm that W J T Mitchell (Chicago) will be presenting this year's Berthoud Lecture, hosted by the Department of English and Related Literature. 

One of the central "image operations" in the practice of forensics, criminology, surveillance and targeting operations, and art history, is the Billderatlas, the structured array of images that allows a comprehensive overview of a situation. Typically, the "situation room," the cinematic editing room and the evidence wall, deploy the same technique of assemblage and montage. Yet there is a thin line between the rational use of this technique and certain forms of madness, a line that is defined as the realm of "conjectural knowledge" (to echo Carlo Ginzburg's phrase). This lecture explores that intermediate zone of knowledge with examples from spy thrillers, science fiction, and art historical practices inspired by the iconology of Aby Warburg.

Read about W J T Mitchell.