Visual commitments: design, art, me
Nina Wakeford
Embedded within the accusations of
The Sociological Imagination, and its manifesto-like appendix, was Mills’ argument for ‘passionate’ engagement with the world. He despaired of researchers who attempted to hide behind neutrality, and made clear his distaste for a jargon of social science which merely demonstrated “the mannerism of the non-committed”. His stance on methodology was that “crash” courses would never yield innovation, and that one must be prepared to follow every possible track in order to make even the most modest methodological and theoretical advancement. In this talk I will describe how a sociologist might re-imagine visual representations. I will use two examples of my current work – the study of experience models in design and the creation of performative/live art interventions. In recognition of one possible legacy of
The Sociological Imagination, I will argue that the passion for liveness can remake our current understanding of the relationship between sociology and visual representation.