Call for Papers /// The Visual Culture of Algeria Through Exchange, Circulation, and Global Networks, University of California, Los Angeles, and online, April 29, 2026

The Visual Culture of Algeria Through Exchange, Circulation, and Global Networks

University of California, Los Angeles, and online

April 29, 2026

This one-day hybrid colloquium will bring together early-career scholars working on the visual culture of Algeria from the Ottoman period to the present. It focuses on the movement of artists, artworks, materials, and ideas acrosslocal, regional, and global networks, situating Algerian visual culture asa site of innovation, negotiation, and exchange. Rather than treat the French invasion of Algiers in 1830 as a definitive point of rupture, the colloquium invites contributions that emphasize continuities and transformations in artistic production over time, cutting across conventional precolonial/colonial/postcolonial divisions.

A central aim of the colloquium is to rethink dominant narratives of Algerian (and broader Maghribi) modernism. The growing interest in Algerian modern art and architecture often remains limited by national or colonial temporal frameworks. While colonial histories remain central to understanding nineteenth- and twentieth-century Algeria, recent scholarship reminds us that colonialism alone cannot account for the complexity of North African cultural production. Here, we will investigate the circulations and exchanges that have shaped artistic practice and visual culture across beylical, colonial, post-independence, and contemporary periods, while also attending to practices and media that have been marginalized in standard accounts of modernism.

We encourage papers that propose new ways of writing Algerian art history and visual culture—for example, moving beyond rupture-based temporal models, colonial or nationalist canons, and conventional medium-bound studies. We are especially interested in work that treats circulation (of objects, materials, techniques, or ideas) and networks (institutional or independent, regional or transnational) as methodological tools for rethinking periodization, media hierarchies, and artistic agency.

The colloquium is committed to fostering dialogue among graduate students and early-career scholars based in Algeria, the United States, and other parts of the MENA region. The event will be held in a hybrid format (in person and via Zoom) to accommodate participants facing visa constraints, travel funding limitations, or other access needs. We invite papers addressing a wide range of visual-material practice, periods, and methodological approaches that examine questions of exchange, circulation, and networks. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Transregional circulation of artists, artworks, or materials

• Networks of artistic education and training (e.g. academies, workshops, or organizations)

• The impact of beylical, colonial, and national transitions on visual and material cultures

• Alternative histories of media, such as painting, print, or photography, and practices such as miniature painting, calligraphy, or architecture

• Trans-Saharan, Maghrib–Mashreq, Mediterranean, or Global South exchanges

• Algeria’s role in Third Worldist, socialist, or non-aligned cultural networks and solidarity movements

• Non-French orientalisms and alternative imperial or post-imperial visual regimes

• Forms of “popular” art

• Diasporic artistic production

• Local or alternative archival practices

The colloquium will take place in English.

Submission details

Please submit an abstract in English of no more than 300 words, a one-line biographical statement, and a CV via the submission link by February 27, 2026. Applicants will be notified within one week of the deadline. The colloquium will take place on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Travel support

To support in-person participation, limited travel reimbursement is available for up to three (3) international presenters traveling from overseas and one (1) domestic presenter. Travel support is contingent on the presenter securing a visa in time to travel (where applicable) and on the availability of funds. Presenters who are unable to attend in person due to visa or travel constraints will be fully accommodated as remote participants via Zoom. To be considered for travel support, please indicate your need in the submission form.

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