Visuality and Extraction: Imagining Non-Extractive Futures

Visuality and Extraction:

Imagining Non-Extractive Futures

Symposium Dates:  15th-16th June 2026
Location:  Hotel Indigo, 9 New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HL

Join interdisciplinary researchers, artists and practitioners for this 2-day event, addressing the multifaceted dimensions of extraction as it manifests through our past and present culture and visual media, and how we can move towards a more sustainable, non-extractive future.  Colleagues interested in exploring new interdisciplinary or collaborative approaches are particularly encouraged to attend.

***This event is in development, and is part of an evolving interdisciplinary research incubator and ongoing conversation addressing the visualities of extraction, and exploring non-extractive practices, hosted by Durham CVAC.***

• To join this ongoing conversation, please contact the CVAC directors: Prof Jonathan Long (j.j.long@durham.ac.uk) and Dr Ladan Cockshut (t.l.cockshut@durham.ac.uk) 

This event theme emerged from discussions at our 2025 symposium,  Visuality and Extraction: Materiality, Interpretation, Power, which explored how the processes and concepts of extraction are embedded within our visual and material culture, from our relations with deep geology, through landscapes and processes, to the mining of ideas and meaning, and how, in turn, this shapes how we engage with our tools, narratives, and histories. 

Sign up to the CVAC mailing list via our secure form, for email updates on all our events and opportunities!