Rendering Images Operative in and for Science

From a science-as-practice approach I will address the theme of when, where and how images become operative for the case of scientific knowledge production. The operative potential and capacity of scientific images will thus be explored by taking into consideration various kinds of 'image work', i.e. the practices and strategies engaged in rendering images operative, and the different actors and social contexts involved. In particular, I will show how images become operative through two actions: mediation and assemblage. I will illustrate this argument with examples from nanoscale science and particle physics that highlight how images mediate between practices and actor groups and how this mediation may rest on images being assembled from multiple, oftentimes heterogeneous elements.