Project description DEENESFRITPL Images as mediums for (mis)information In the age of (mis)information, trust is a big issue. Despite all the uncertainty, we still trust some images as mediums for knowing and communicating. The ERC-funded VISUALTRUST project will explore how visual trust is formed, conveyed, and assessed. This multi-disciplinary, comparative, and innovative study will develop a general theory of (mis)trust in images in today’s world. It will investigate the relationships established by people from different socio-cultural backgrounds with social images (documentary and photojournalism, as well as websites of ‘real’ and ‘fake’ news) and religious images and scientific images. Fieldwork will be carried out in different contexts (internet, worship centres, museums) in Europe, India, and the Caribbean. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Our present is immersed in a crisis of trust. This crisis is most evident in the domain of images, which are not perceived as visual evidence anymore. Faketuality, post-truth and misinformation are concepts used to refer to the alleged loss of objective patterns for assessing the truthfulness, accountability and reliability of the information we receive about the world. However, trust is not a matter of all or nothing: it is a contextual relationship, an issue of “ordinary ethics” whose study requires empirical data. Indeed, we must recognise that, despite living in times of (visual) uncertainty, we all still trust some images as mediums for knowing and communicating. But on what basis? VISUAL TRUST is a multi-disciplinary, comparative and innovative project aimed at developing a general theory of (mis)trust in images in the contemporary world. This project will develop an experimental investigation, both on-line and off-line, on how visual trust is crafted, conveyed and assessed. It will analyse the relationships established by individuals from different socio-cultural milieu with: (1) “social images” (documentary and photojournalism; websites of “real” and “fake” news); (2) “religious images” (Hinduism; Afro-American religions); (3) “scientific images” (outer space; inner human body). The project will focus on (a) image-making laboratories, (b) contexts of image circulation and reception and (c) patterns of iconic verification (the models employed to assess the reliability of images). Fieldwork will be carried out in different contexts (internet, worship centres, museums) in Europe, India and the Caribbean, in the vein of symmetrical anthropology. The research will be based on visual methods of which the PI has extensive experience (photo-elicitation, photography, cinema). This project will also lead to a plurality of outcomes (articles, books, films), thus contributing to current efforts towards a multi-modal and public anthropology. Fields of science social sciencessociologyanthropologynatural sciencescomputer and information sciences Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA Net EU contribution € 1 605 250,00 Address Gran via de les corts catalanes 585 08007 Barcelona Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA Spain Net EU contribution € 1 605 250,00 Address Gran via de les corts catalanes 585 08007 Barcelona See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
