Prestigious lecture explores the impact of visual communication on contemporary society
Wednesday, 03 February 2010
Leading visual practitioner and internationally respected academic Professor Mario Minichiello will next week present the first art and design-led lecture to Birmingham’s Lunar Society, an influential group of thinkers mainly made up of scientists, medical practitioners and academics. The session will be chaired by Marc Reeves, former editor of The Birmingham Post, and himself a Lunarman.
The original lunar members are credited by many as the founders of the industrial revolution. In what promises to be a highly provocative and controversial event Professor Minichiello will reflect on the effects of industrialisation and the ways in which ‘life style advertising’ and ‘brand thinking’ has fuelled consumerism, social exploitation, lead to global conflicts and impacted on our climate.
Professor Minchiello will explore how this impact has been made worse by the ‘developed worlds’ over-consumption of goods and resources. He shows how this increasing hunger to consume has been fuelled by the creative persuasive techniques of the advertising industry. Professor Minichiello will argue that adverting methods have become so successful that they have been adopted by governments all over the world to influence people’s thinking and actions. This includes the interpretation of global disasters in ways that make wars and the negative effect of consumerism on the environment palatable to an increasingly nervous audience.
“This approach attempts to appease people who are anxious about the world, in which they now live, threatened by global issues such as the environment and terrorism,” says Professor Minichiello, who draws on his own work for BBC’s Newsnight and The Guardian.
Minichiello added: “The world is changing - we now communicate increasingly through image and pictures. The use of mass media to influence our thinking and to create a sense of acceptance for even challenging issues is now a well-understood and practiced art form.
“I will aim to explore how visual communication both reflects and exploits anxieties about interweaving world events such as wars and terrorism in order to reassure us that consumer values should preside over our notions of consumer and society. I will also question how these techniques may be used to change our behaviour to deliver a more sustainable future.”
The lecture will also host an exhibition of Professor Minichiello’s reportage drawing work conducted for BBC’s Newsnight, The Guardian newspaper and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Professor Minichiello’s illustrated lecture, entitled ‘The Future World’ will take place on Wednesday 10th February 2010 in the Emma Jessie Phipps Building, BIAD, Gosta Green campus starting at 7.15pm.
Lunar Society members and non-members are invited to attend. Tickets cost £12 for Lunar Society members (booking through the Lunar Society website); or £15 for non-members (please email info@lunarsociety.org.uk to request a ticket). To join the debate, visit the blog-site http://blogs.test.bcu.ac.uk/lunarlecture