Images have never before been so omnipresent as they are today. The television, the internet and other media have brought graphics into almost all areas of our lives, whether through society, culture or science, round the clock.

The 20th century was the era of the image. New techniques of picture production, distribution through the mass media and enhanced visibility of hitherto hidden images through advances in science led to a paradigm shift. And what we refer to as the “iconic turn” is an interpretation of this influx of images as a sign of fundamental cultural change.

The increasing importance of the graphical world has been the focus of the public lecture series “The Iconic Turn – new world imagery”, held at the Ludwig Maximillians University (LMU) in Munich, since the summer term of 2002. This event is run jointly by the Academy for the Third Millennium and the Human Sciences Centre of the LMU.

The lecture series focuses on tensions between art and science, culture and technology and history and society, promoting an interdisciplinary debate on the importance of images in today’s world. It does not solely target a scientific audience, rather all parties interested in image production and visualisation.

In parallel to the lecture series, a cross-disciplinary colloquium is held on the topic of the science of imagery. The lectures given in 2002 and 2003 have been published by Dumont as a book, also entitled “The Iconic Turn”.

After four semesters, Christa Maar, President of the Hubert Burda Foundation, is satisfied that, “we have moved much closer to achieving our aim of developing a science of imagery that is relevant to all disciplines.“