Science Fiction (SF) is an image driven genre. Whether described in text, see the “dull yellow eye” in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)); rendered in the two-dimensional art of magazines like Analog; or brought to life in film, TV, and video games, SF imagery continually confirms Gérard Klein’s observation that “science fiction does not proceed directly from science, nor from philosophy, but from the “images (eikons) and representations (eidons)” that these disciplines “unknowingly” produce (“From the Images of Science to Science Fiction,” 2000). SF images abound; how those images are understood and interpreted iterates to infinity. The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium explores the many aspects, configurations, and meanings of the image in SF. We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of image in SF broadly construed. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, October 31, 2025. Topics with a connection to image in SF might include but certainly are not limited to:
- image across modalities: textual, visual, interactive, etc.
- images of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, and other aspects of identity
- images meant to shape understanding of stories and/or sell them (e.g., magazine covers, in-text illustrations, movie posters, trailers)
- advertising images in and around SF (e.g., advertising to sell SF as well as non-SF advertising around SF ranging from Big Tobacco to the Johnson Smith Co.
- fandom’s use, adaptation, and transformation of images
- image and politics
- image and meaning
- image and representation
- SF and photography
- SF, simulacra, and simulation
- Generative AI and SF