The conference aims to explore the contemporary relationship between education and visual communication in contexts that emphasize intercultural strategies and promote active citizenship. The use of diversified languages and media allows to broaden interdisciplinary channels and modes of dialogue, provided that there is an effective accessibility (physical and cultural) to the different fashions of visual-artistic communication.

The guidelines developed by the Faro Convention (2005) on cultural heritage can be a starting point to rethink and conceptualize the relationship with visual communication, in a participatory and intercultural way. Going beyond the European borders indicated by the Faro Convention we intend to “recognise that rights relating to cultural heritage are inherent in the right to participate in cultural life, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; recognise individual and collective responsibility towards cultural heritage; emphasise that the conservation of cultural heritage and its sustainable use have human development and quality of life as their goal; take the necessary steps to apply the provisions of this Convention concerning: the role of cultural heritage in the construction of a peaceful and democratic society, and in the processes of sustainable development and the promotion of cultural diversity; greater synergy of competencies among all the public, institutional and private actors concerned” (Article 1).

The conference will stress on the importance of visual languages as strategies for producing new messages and narratives that might favor the interaction both of different identities and of tangible and un-tangible heritages. Finally, through the reconstruction of theoretical frameworks, we will investigate good practices and experiences apt to favor a larger participation and intercultural dialogue in the social fabric. In this respect, the Faro Convention Action Plan argues that when heritage is considered as a source and resource, everyone’s opinion, interests and aspirations do matter (Council of Europe, 2018). In this regards, it’s really important to: “encourage reflection on the ethics and methods of presentation of the cultural heritage, as well as respect for diversity of interpretations; establish processes for conciliation to deal equitably with situations where contradictory values are placed on the same cultural heritage by different communities; develop knowledge of cultural heritage as a resource to facilitate peaceful co-existence by promoting trust and mutual understanding with a view to resolution and prevention of conflicts; integrate these approaches into all aspects of lifelong education and training” (Article 7, Faro Convention).

The aims of the conference are:

• to reflect from the educational perspective upon visual communication, art and cultural heritage as transcultural dimensions;
• to investigate on how to promote processes of social participation in order to create spaces of interpretation, fruition and artistic production;
• to explore how to design intercultural strategies for interaction through different languages;
• to highlight the connection between visual language and storytelling (from memory to future projects);
• to understand the relation between education and visual communication from the
  perspective of Life Long Learning;
• to examine the link among education, memory and visual communication from the historical perspective.

We like to encourage scholars from various disciplines – Art, Humanities, Social Sciences – to participate in the conference reflecting on the above issues so to create a platform for sharing ideas and praxis on visual communication and urban public space (aiming both at theoretical reflection and at social innovation).
The last session of the Conference will host a round table with the attendees to discuss key points concerning education methodologies on art knowledge/production and visual languages.

We invite submissions of:

• abstracts for theoretical presentations (max 300 words)
• abstracts for presentation of didactic tools and/or best practice (max 300 words)
• abstracts for presentation of artistic tools and/or best practice (max 300 words)
• proposal for artistic workshops (max 300 words)
• proposal for poster presentation (max 300 words)

Deadline for submission of abstracts and/or proposals –August 20th, 2019
Final decisions on admission – September 10th, 2019
Abstracts and proposals shall be submitted in English to:
Prof. Rosita Deluigi: rosita.deluigi@ticass.eu
The official language of the conference is English and the appointed time for presentations is 20 minutes.
The conference is connected with the TICASS Conference “Educational Aspects of Technologies of Imaging in the Perspective of Visual Literacy” to be held in Ústí nad Labem (CZ), at the Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně, on May 2020.