transnational perspectives

Our modern culture of images represents an increasingly important mechanism in the discourse on migration. Individuals who are represented in the media and are thus made visible provide information about the subject status they can assume in a particular social context. The Zurich Academy of Art and Design is responsible for the part of the TRANSIT MIGRATION project that examines the visual culture and experience of migrants, focusing on the ways in which migrants have been portrayed in the media since 1989. Which images of migrants and refugees, of migration or even remigration have made their way into the public consciousness? How are these related to the national or EU border regimes, and how are they portrayed? Are there local variations in these visual discourses?

In collaboration with other research institutes in the Mediterranean region, the Zurich Academy of Art and Design will raise questions on current tendencies in the visualization of migration-related processes.