Unseeing Space Imagery
Lecture with Joël Vacheron | On The Wolf’s Trail | 21 April 6PM
Lecture in English
Free entry
‘On the Wolf’s Trail’ Research program curated and mentored by Margarida Mendes.
© Bertrand Rey
From the earliest analog photographs produced in the deserts of New Mexico to contemporary exoplanet modeling, the material exploration of space has generated an extraordinary diversity of images. Drawing on approaches informed by visual studies and decolonial thought, Joël Vacheron’s presentation aims to demonstrate why the images produced within the framework of space expansionism entail the deployment of programs — political, aesthetic, economic, and algorithmic — designed to universalize a vision of the world and the universe framed through references to the expansion of European colonial powers.
The lecture by Joël Vacheron will be followed by a conversation with Margarida Mendes, curator of ‘On The Wolf´s Trail’ Research Program at Hangar (2023-26).
Joël Vacheron is a sociologist and writer based in Lisbon. He is a senior lecturer and research fellow at the ECAL (Universtiy of art and Design Lausanne / HES-SO) in Lausanne where he teaches visual anthropology and media studies. He is co-founder of the Centre Culturel Afropea and the author of ‘Cosmovisions: Une Étude Visuelle de l’exploration Spatiale’ (Métis Presses, 2025).
On the Wolf’s Trail – Research Lab, Hangar Lisbon (2023-26) is a programme of sensory practices and lectures focused on decolonial ecology and restorative justice that explores pedagogical formats to debate forms of collective repair, restoration, resilience, and healing. Over four years, these themes are to be explored through situated methods, outdoor workshops, somatic exercises, and critical seminars.
The sessions, led by practitioners from the fields of art, environmental humanities, and post-colonial studies, embrace topics such as mutualism and reciprocity, working towards the repair of ancestral wounds.