ECAH2026 - Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts

5 days ago
2 min read

The 14th European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH2026) is taking place at SOAS and UCL, in London. We are pleased to share that our founding director, Carolina Lio Rodrigues, will be presenting and chairing the session “Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts”.

ECAH2026 is an international interdisciplinary conference organised by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR). The conference brings together scholars, researchers and practitioners working across the arts and humanities, creating a forum for exchange, dialogue and the sharing of research across disciplines, institutions and geographies. The 2026 edition is held in partnership with University College London, Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Sussex.

On 12 July at UCL, Carolina will chair the session “Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts”, which brings together four presentations exploring how artistic and visual practices engage with trauma, political iconography, public space, identity, power and social transformation.

The session will consider the role of art not only as a form of representation, but also as a space through which social, political and collective conditions can be examined, negotiated and reimagined. Across the presentations, the panel will move between different geographical and political contexts, from wartime Ukraine to Iran, Delhi and the international field of socially engaged curatorial practice.

The session will include four presentations followed by a Q&A:

Dr Irina Valentin will present on the transformative role of art in the context of wartime trauma in Ukraine, considering how artistic processes can support forms of emotional and nervous system transformation.
Reza Tavakoliabandansari will discuss the intersection of visual culture and power in Iran, focusing on political iconography, state murals and the relationship between cultural continuity and visual authoritarianism.
Prof. Ronie Parciack will examine how street art in Delhi responded to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, addressing the relationship between public space, threatened corporeality and political expression.
Carolina Lio Rodrigues will reflect on curating as a relational and durational practice. Drawing from the experience of the Visible Project, her presentation will consider how socially engaged art can operate beyond the limits of the exhibition format, functioning instead as a form of social, political and community infrastructure.