COLLECTIVE IMAGINING was the inaugural symposium of the VISIBLE JUSTICE research collective and took place on Saturday, 27 October 2018 at London College of Communication. This day-long series of talks and presentations looked at how cultural practices and the visual arts can create meaningful interventions into existing legal and political frameworks.

Increasingly, artists are pairing with activists, journalists, lawyers and NGOs to examine the practical and ethical implications of their work and to test new forms of interdisciplinary cooperation. The symposium drew together paired speakers to discuss their creative collaborations, addressing concepts of justice, advocacy and efficacy in response to the urgent needs of the current political climate.

KEYNOTES:

Ellen Mara De Wachter (curator and author of Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration)

Fred Ritchin (writer and Dean Emeritus of the School at the International Center of Photography)

PAIRED SPEAKERS:

David Birkin (artist) in conversation with Maya Foa (director of human rights organisation Reprieve)

Helene Kazan (artist) in conversation with Yoriko Otomo (legal scholar and editor of Gender, War & Technology)

David Blandy (artist) in conversation with Alison Drake (teacher and community organiser)

Edmund Clark (artist) in conversation with Jinnie Jefferies (head of psychodrama at HM Prison Grendon)

SPECIAL ADDRESS:

Sofia Karim (architect and campaigner for the release of photojournalist, educator and activist Shahidul Alam) and Salil Tripathi (author and chair of the Writers in Prison Committee at PEN International)

MODERATOR:

Max Houghton (writer, curator and course leader of MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at LCC)