On Wednesday 10 July, Professor in Media History Frank Kessler will bid farewell to Utrecht University with his final lecture ‘Concerning Images’. “Images concern us and therefore are matters of concern.” The lecture will be in English.

Digitalization and AI

In his valedictory lecture, prof. Kessler will address the consequences of digitalization and computer or AI generated imagery for our relationship with visual information. Can we still have trust in images when only specialists are capable to see if an image has been digitally manipulated or created?

Kessler will look at these recent developments from a historical perspective. As what role has trust or distrust in images played before? What debates has this triggered? What effects have been ascribed to images? And how have they been used or misused?

About

Frank Kessler has mainly taught in the RMA Media Arts Performance and in the BA Media and Culture. His research activities concern mainly the field of early cinema and visual media in the 19th and early 20th century. Among other administrative functions, he has acted as director of the Research Institute for History and Culture and later the Research Insititute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON).

Prof. Kessler’s lecture can be viewed online through this live stream on 10 July from 16:15 until 18:00 hrs.