Aurora Hoel

Aurora Hoel is a Professor of Media Studies and Visual Culture at the Department of Art and Media Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where she also serves as Deputy Head of the strategic focus area "Ocean and Coast." She leads the NFR project "Visualizing the Deep Sea in the Age of Climate Change" (2023-2027) and the research group "AI Media." Previously, she served as Vice-Dean for Art and Innovation at the Faculty of Humanities at NTNU (2021-2024).

Hoel has held various prestigious academic positions, including Novo Nordisk Foundation Visiting Professor in Art & Art History at Aarhus University, Professor of Media Aesthetics at the University of Oslo (2019-2020), and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Fellow at Humboldt University in Berlin (2015-2017). She has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Stony Brook University, the University of Copenhagen, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, and École polytechnique.

Her research focuses on images and imaging technologies, including photography, scientific instruments, medical visualization, and underwater robots and sensors, with particular attention to their epistemological implications. Hoel's work explores the active dimension of images and image technologies (their "agency") and aims to develop operational aesthetics and theories of knowledge. Her research spans disciplines such as image theory, visual culture, media philosophy, and science and technology studies.

Hoel's recent publications reveal a strong focus on operative images, technological mediation, and the philosophical dimensions of visualization. Her work increasingly examines how AI-generated imagery and deep learning systems transform our understanding of visual representation and knowledge production. She has developed frameworks for analyzing the "operational" status of images that go beyond traditional representational models.

She has led several major research projects, including the MSCA project "Styles of Objectivity: Agency, Alignment and Automation in Image-Guided Surgery" (2015-2017), "Face of Terror: Understanding Terrorism from the Perspective of Critical Media Aesthetics" (2016-2021), and "Picturing the Brain: Perspectives on Neuroimaging" (2010-2014). She has also participated in projects like "Digitization and Diversity" and "Photography in Culture."

Her artistic collaborations include exhibitions such as "Operating Fields: Medical Imaging Across Art and Science" (2014), "A-me: Augmented Memories" (2013), and her 2007 exhibition "Maktens bilder" at the Norwegian Museum of Justice, demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of her scholarly practice.