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Topic · Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Visual Culture and Art Theory

Visual Culture and Art Theory is a research topic within Visual Arts and Performing Arts. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the interdisciplinary study of visual representation and communication, encompassing topics such as visual culture, intermediality, ekphrasis, iconic turn, media studies, sensory studies, cultural studies, art history, semiotics, and photography.

  • Visual Culture
  • Intermediality
  • Ekphrasis
  • Iconic Turn
  • Media Studies
  • Sensory Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Art History
  • Semiotics
  • Photography
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Visual Culture and Art Theory

Which countries lead Visual Culture and Art Theory research?

By volume, the United States and Türkiye publish the most (426 and 246 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 426 works
  2. 2 Türkiye 246 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 208 works
  4. 4 Russia 163 works
  5. 5 Germany 162 works
  6. 6 France 156 works
  7. 7 Brazil 147 works
  8. 8 Spain 121 works
  9. 9 China 120 works
  10. 10 Italy 112 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 22.9%Türkiye: 13.2%United Kingdom: 11.2%Russia: 8.8%6 others listed: 43.9%23%largest
United States426 · 22.9%Türkiye246 · 13.2%United Kingdom208 · 11.2%Russia163 · 8.8%6 others listed818 · 43.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Visual Culture and Art Theory research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Visual Culture and Art Theory research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Film Independent.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 28 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 19 works
  3. 3 Film IndependentUnited States 15 works
  4. 4 Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar ÜniversitesiTürkiye 12 works
  5. 5 Stockholm UniversitySweden 12 works
  6. 6 St Petersburg UniversityRussia 11 works
  7. 7 Hacettepe UniversityTürkiye 11 works
  8. 8 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 11 works
  9. 9 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 10 works
  10. 10 Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli UniversityTürkiye 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Visual Culture and Art Theory?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Visual Culture and Art Theory include George Davey Smith, Pierre Bourdıeu and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations
  5. 5 Bruno Latour France 129k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Visual Culture and Art Theory?

The most cited paper in Visual Culture and Art Theory is "On Face-Work" (Erving Goffman, 1955), with 2,865 citations. Next come "Designerly ways of knowing" (1,498) and "Art and Agency An Anthropological Theory" (1,119).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 On Face-Work Erving Goffman · Psychiatry Aug 1955 2,865
2 Designerly ways of knowing Nigel Cross · Design Studies Open access Oct 1982 1,498
3 Art and Agency An Anthropological Theory Stephanie Takaragawa · Visual Anthropology Review Sep 1998 1,119
4 The Image of Objectivity Lorraine Daston, Peter Galison · Representations 1992 1,075
5 Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics Claire Bishop · October Oct 2004 990
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Visual Culture and Art Theory research done?

The largest centres of Visual Culture and Art Theory research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Istanbul (Türkiye), Paris (France) and London (United Kingdom).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 69 works
  2. 2 IstanbulTürkiye 61 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 58 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 45 works
  5. 5 AnkaraTürkiye 39 works
  6. 6 Saint PetersburgRussia 35 works
  7. 7 São PauloBrazil 30 works
  8. 8 MadridSpain 30 works
  9. 9 KyivUkraine 30 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 27 works
See Visual Culture and Art Theory on the map

Where is the best place to study Visual Culture and Art Theory?

Among universities, judged by research, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, Stockholm University and Hacettepe University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 11.57%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Sapienza University …Mimar Sinan Güzel Sa…Stockholm UniversityHacettepe University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar ÜniversitesiTürkiye 88.420.6%121.1×12 +352.7%
2Stockholm UniversitySweden 87.813.8%13.8×12 +76.1%
3Hacettepe UniversityTürkiye 60.56.7%8.8×11 +205.7%
4Sapienza University of RomeItaly 55.723.7%2.7×8 +16.6%
5St Petersburg UniversityRussia 52.12.6%9.5×11 +22.5%
6Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 52.015.2%4.6×10 -16.5%
7Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli UniversityTürkiye 51.58.4%27.8×10 +466.7%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 50.82.8%3.1×11 -14.6%
9Universidad de SevillaSpain 48.27.3%6.3×9 +208.2%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 47.014.6%2.6×8 -34.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Visual Culture and Art Theory, country by country

Is Visual Culture and Art Theory research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Visual Culture and Art Theory as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Visual Culture and Art Theory0.0088% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Visual Culture and Art Theory over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Visual Culture and Art Theory9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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