March 5-7, 2026 @ Chirurgisch Theatre, University of Amsterdam Library
THURSDAY MARCH 5
13:00 | Registration
14:00 | Opening Remarks
14:15 | OPENING KEYNOTE
1. Ludification of Vision
(Mathieu Li-Goyette, UvA)
15:30 | Pause
16:00 | PLAYING WITH LINES (moderated by Toni Pape)
2.1 Drawing as Tummelplatz
(Mathijs Peters, Leiden University)
2.2 Bodies in Motion in David Kunzle’s “Movement Before Movies: The Language of the Comic Strip”
(Ian Horton, University of the Arts London)
2.3 Play by Death’s Own Time Scale: Or, How to See the Dead, Lose Sight of the Living, and Still Call it Vision—A Misreading of Comical and Morbid Proportions
(Max Eyschen, Independent Researcher)
18:00 | Conference Dinner (BG1, room 0.16)
FRIDAY MARCH 6
9:30 | WORKSHOP (moderated by Mathieu Li-Goyette)
3. Playful Lines from Reed and Steel – On Töpffer’s Use of Drawing Tools
(Gunnar Krantz, Malmö University)
10:45 | Pause
11:00 | CHILDISH EXPECTATIONS (moderated by Rik Spanjers)
4.1 Platinum Age Comics: Ludification or Knockabout Fun?
(Jakob Dittmar, Malmö University)
4.2 Understanding Tableaux: R.F. Outcault and the Documentary Image
(Josh Kopin, Haverford College)
4.3 Having a Dickens of a Time: Evoking the Playfulness of Real and Fictional Producers in Children’s Comics
(John Miers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Kingston University)
12:30 | Lunch
14:00 | PAPERWARE (moderated by Toni Pape)
5.1 “This is not a playhouse”: Unplayable Games in Chris Ware’s Building Stories
(Elizabeth Moulin, Sorbonne Université)
5.2 Chris Ware’s Counter-Archeology of Comics
(Yasco Horsman, Universiteit Leiden)
15:00 | Pause
15:30 | WHO DOES IT? (moderated by Erin La Cour)
6.1 Look Here, Not There: De/Familiarizing Horror in American Horror Story: Murder House Through Anamorphism
(Serkan Kasapoglu, UvA)
6.2 Paul Annett’s The Beast Must Die: Filmic Whodunits and the Intermedial Interactivity of Mystery-Solving
(Thomas Filteau, Université de Montréal)
16:45 | Borrel & Book Presentations (BG1, room 0.16)
Charlotte Gosselin with
La glace part en morceaux (2025)
Lucie Morel with
Toc Toc (2025)
18:00 | Beers @ Lambiek
SATURDAY MARCH 7
9:30 | WORKSHOP (moderated by Rik Spanjers)
7. Pixelated Panels, Glitched Bodies: Multimodal Annotation and Black Aesthetics in Robb Armstrong’s JumpStart
(Justin Wigard, University of North Dakota)
10:45 | Pause
11:00 | DIGITAL READING (moderated by Erin La Cour)
8.1 From Zines to Netflix: Intermedial Playfulness in Zerocalcare’s Storytelling
(Silvia Vari, University of Warwick)
8.2 The Playful Gaze: Digital Comics and the Reconfiguration of Reading
(Giorgio Busi Rizzi, Universiteit Gent)
12:00 | Lunch
13:30 | MAKING IT WORK (moderated by Toni Pape)
9.1 Construction Animators Through the Periodical Press: Movable Cutouts in European Children’s Magazines
(Eva Van de Wiele, Universiteit Gent)
9.2 Gamebooks and Comics: Ludifying the Page
(Aaron Kashtan, UNC Charlotte)
14:30 | Pause
14:45 | CLOSING KEYNOTE
10. The Knowledge Codex
(Ilan Manouach, Université de Liège)
16:00 | CLOSING REMARKS
18:45 | FILM SCREENING @ Filmhuis Cavia
Title of the program: Ludification of Vision
Tickets: 5 euros / Cineville
Synopsis: From optical experiments to sleights of mise-en-scène, this program reflects on the playfulness of cinema in regards to a history of toys playing with our gaze and putting the viewer in a unique position of understanding codes and habits, reclaiming the fun to be had. Sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA).
Program TBC
Ludification of Vision 