Selling pictures. Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020

This project will place the current discussions concerning AI-generated images in a historical context, comparing it to two previous technological breakthroughs that have affected the use of pictures for commercial purposes. 

Anna Näslund

I am professor of Art History at Stockholm University and researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies. My research focuses on visual culture, picture theory and digitization.  The project Selling Pic traces the genealogy of contemporary AI-generated image hype over 200 years of promoting technologies for the production, reproduction, and circulation of pictures on a mass scale. It aims to understand the historical role of pictures not merely as commodities but as agents of commerce. The project focuses on emerging picture techniques in the 1820s, 1920s, and 2020s, examining iconographic and discursive patterns in pictures of mass reproduction (metapictures) and comparing vernacular picture theories—expressed in advertising copy and trade journalism—with canonical picture theories. Rooted in historical material practices, the project seeks to clarify and expand our understanding of how and why pictures play a central role in the work of selling in modern and contemporary societies.

Bayesian Phylogenetic Modeling of Cultural Evolution under the Influence of Selection Human Nature, 27(2), 173-200. DOI 10.1007/s12110-015-9244-5 Abstract We present formal evolutionary models for the oristratification appear to play a more important role in the cross-cultural distribution of FGMo. To explain these cases, one must consider cultural evolutionary explanations in conjunction with behavioral ecological ones.We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for policies designed to end the practice of FGMo.

How we process personal data  The General Data Protection Regulation, a new important regulation for the protection of personal data, came into force in May 2018. It entails improved rights for you to d

This paper studies the composition of the workforce at the plant level in relation to the productivity performance of the plants, with data covering Swedish mining and manufacturing industries 1985-19

Venue: Institutet för framtidsstudier, Holländargatan 13 in Stockholm, and online Research seminar with Sarah Birch, Professor of Political Science atKing's College London. You can join in person or onlin

Wicked problem governance

By investigating the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change on the interaction between science, policy and the public, this project aims to solve how public governance can better deal with severe crises in the future.

Avner de-Shalit, Professor of Political Science and Max Kampelman Chair of democracy and human rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Abstract All over the world immigrants move to cities, rather

Maria Ojala is Associate Professor (docent) in psychology at Örebro University. Her research interest mainly concerns how young people think, feel, act, cope, learn and communicate about climate chang