Level 3
Literature
Sturken, Marita & Lisa Cartwright.
Practices of Looking. An Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford
University Press, 2001
S.Hall (ed.) Representation, London, Sage, 1997
Articles and optional readings (on shelf in library)
Optional readings (on shelf in library)
Aim
In this course you will learn to analyse and interpret the
increasing visualisation of contemporary culture. You will develop
specific visual and verbal skills for observing, analysing,
describing and critiquing (audio)visual imagery from a range of
diverse theoretical perspectives.
Content
In the course you will learn about the
following aspects of visual culture:
Structure
For each class you are asked to read a chapter (or two) from
Practices of Looking and/or Representation (which are
both very accessible), and one (or two) theoretical article (which
you may find more challenging). Don’t get discouraged reading
difficult texts, but try and come to terms with complex ideas.
Please bring your questions to class; together we will make sense of
complicated theories. Also, you are requested for each class to
bring a sample of an image that you think illustrates the theory you
have read. This may be any kind of image: photo, video, or computer
image. In class we will discuss those images together so as to make
theories more concrete and practical.
Assignments have to be handed in before class on max. 1 A4, typed
and printed.
Tips on how to tackle difficult texts:
After reading the article once, take note of the concepts and / or
foreign terms that you do not understand. Read a second time
following the advice below:
Look up for words you don’t know in dictionaries and/or
encyclopaedias
Summarise the text’s main argument in one sentence
Make a list of what, in your opinion, are the main characteristics
of the text and explain why
Think about the elements that, in your opinion, constitute the
cornerstone of Visual Culture
Try and discover the inter-textual references present in the text
Identify issues in the text with which you don’t agree and explain
why
Choose one aspect you are particularly interested in within the
field of Visual Culture and prepare a list of questions relating to
this aspect
Think whether you can come up with any material (from the field of
journalism, digital media etc.) that has any relation at all with
what you are reading, which are the similarities?
Consider carefully the style, tone and rhythm of some sentences that
attract your attention take note of them and explain why they stand
out from the rest of the text
Above all be proactive, creative, critical and open minded: try and establish connections among the diverse issues you come across and make explicit the reasons on which your evaluations are based. In matters of culture there are no easy answers, but that is no reason to stop asking questions!
Hand in final assignment (17/1/04)
For your final assignment, please
choose any of the topics discussed in the Programme making use,
whenever appropriate, of the articles you have read in class and of
the Selected Bibliography below. You are obliged to use at least one
theoretical perspective that has been discussed in class and apply
it to an example of visual culture that you analyse.
Dutch students are advised to write in Dutch; should you wish to
write in English, please consult the instructor in advance.
Advice as for writing good essays is available, for Dutch speakers
‘de ACW-schrijfwijzer’;
for English speakers at ‘How to write good essays’:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/index.html
and MLA Essay writing Guidelines:
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/mla.html
The final paper should be:
Between 3000-4000 words (excluding bibliography, notes, and
appendices); longer papers will not be accepted
Typed, printed, double spaced with enough margin for comments; two
copies (one for archive)
For essays returned 1-2 days after deadline 1 mark is detracted,
from 3 to 5 days delay, 2 marks are detracted, essays handed in 5
days after deadline are no longer accepted. Extensions are granted
only after authorization by teachers and only for serious reasons
If you return the essay late, you won’t be able to rewrite if it is
unsuccessful
If your essay has been returned on time, but it is insufficient,
then you can rewrite it and return it by the first teaching day in
period 4 (11/4). Same rules as above apply for late essays
In case the essay that you have rewritten is still unsuccessful,
then you will be required to attend the course again next year
10/11 1.
What is Visual Culture?
The aim of this session is to think about the notion of Visual
Culture: What is it? How does it differ from art history and
cultural studies?
Literature: please read from Practices of Looking:
Introduction
Ch 1, ‘Images, Power, and Politics’
Ch 2, ‘Viewers Make Meaning’
Assignment: Please bring to class an image that you find very
striking, disturbing or moving. In class we will ask students to
comment on their choice. The image may be taken from any medium: a
picture, fashion photo, advertisement, videoclip, movie, television
or website. Make sure your image can be immediately and easily shown
in class; all the equipment is available.
Film Screening: none
12/11 No Session. Afternoon trip to the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF) in Rotterdam. Web Site http://deaf.v2.nl/
17/11 2. Gaze
This class examines how power and desire work
in visual culture, from the perspective of psychoanalysis.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 3, ‘Spectatorship, Power, and
Knowledge’
S. Freud, from Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, New
York: Basic Books, 1905: 22-23
S. Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams, New York: Avon
Books, 1965 (1900): 289-292 and 294-299
Freud, ‘Female sexuality’ (1931) pp. 194-208 (laatste deel
niet!)
J. Lacan, ‘The mirror stage as formative of the
function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience’
Écrits. A Selection, New York: Norton, 1977 (1949): 1-7
Optional reading: P. Adams ‘Father Can’t You See I’m Filming? in T.
Brennan & M. Jay (eds.) Vision in Context, pp. 203-217
(refers to film Peeping Tom)
Assignment: Take an example from visual culture and apply
psychoanalysis by concentrating on perspective: who looks, who is
being looked at, how is identification produced, can you recognise
oedipal desire, etc.? Because of the number of pages to read, you
don’t have to write this assignment up or hand it in. Bring your
image to class. In class we will ask students to present their case.
Film Screening (in the morning): Peeping Tom, Michael Powell, GB 1960
19/11 3. Sign
This class deals with the question
‘what is a sign?’ from a semiotic perspective.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 4, ‘Reproduction and Visual
Technologies’,
Ch 5, pp. 138-144 (on semiotics)
Stuart Hall, Representation, pp.30-41 and Reading C and D by
R. Barthes, pp.68-9
Assignment: Do Activity 6 and the one connected to Reading D in
Representation, pp. 40-41
24/11 4. Photography and the Multiplying
Image
This class deals with the question how
technology has changed the nature of representation.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 5, ‘The Mass Media and the Public
Sphere’
Walter Benjamin, (1935) ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction’, reprinted in: Benjamin, Illuminations, New
York: Schocken Books, 1968: 217-251
(optional) M. Jay ‘Photo-unrealism: the contribution of the Camera
to the Crisis of Ocularcentrism’ in S. Melville & B. Readings (eds.)
Vision & Textuality, Duke UP, 1995, pp. 344-360
(optional) Susan Sontag, On Photography, London, Penguin pp.
167-180
Assignment: choose one from the following:
Refer to S. Hall, Representation, pp.81-87 and bring to class
two photographs, one which reflects documentary as objective
representation and another that reflects documentary as subjective
interpretation
Bring to class an image that is mechanically reproduced or digitally
manipulated. Analyse how the technological process changes the
nature of the visual representation.
Film Screening (in the morning): The Man with the Movie Camera
(1929, Sovjet Union: Dziga Vertov)
26/11 5. Visualising Gender
This class looks at the notion of gender, in other words at cultural
constructions of femininity and masculinity.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 6, ‘Consumer Culture and the
Manufacturing of Desire’
S. Hall, ‘Exhibiting Masculinity’, pp. 291-322
L. Mulvey (1975), ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’. In R.
Stam & T. Miller, Film and Theory, an Anthology. Oxford:
Blackwell, 2000: 483-494
Assignment, please choose on of the following:
Do Activity 7 and 8 in S.Hall, Representation, pp.52-54 and
Reading F, pp.71-74
Do Activity on p.319 related to Reading A, pp.331-333 in S. Hall
Representation
1/12 6. Visual Culture and Everyday Life
This class discusses how postmodernism is mostly a culture of
pastiche and simulation.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 7, ‘Postmodernism and Popular
Culture’
Jean Baudrillard, Simulations. New
York: Semiotext(e), 1983: pp. 1-13.
Assignment: Please bring to class an image that is clearly a
pastiche of another image and analyse, in writing, how the pastiche
works: irony, parody, repetition, simulation?
Film Screening (in the morning): eXistenZ (David Cronenberg,
1999)
This film also fits in to the next class on Friday!
3/12 7. The Cyborg
This class considers how the figure of
the cyborg (a cybernetic organism) informs
contemporary visual culture.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 8, ‘Scientific Looking, Looking at
Science’
D. Haraway, ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and
Socialist Feminism in the1980s’ (1985) in Haraway, Simians,
Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature. London, Free
Association Books, 1991: 149-181.
Available online at:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html
Assignment: Please bring to class an image of a cyborg. Determine whether you find this image liberating or not. You might find useful to visit the ‘History of the Cyborg’ web page at http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/technoculture/cyborgy/
8/12 8. Visualising Race
This class assesses the effects of
globalisation on popular culture, from the perspective of race and
ethnicity.
Literature: please read and study:
Practices of Looking: Ch 9, The Global Flow of Visual
Culture’
Stuart Hall, ‘Contesting a racialized regime of representation’, in
Representation. London: Sage, 1997: 269-277
Assignment: Do Activity 12 in S. Hall, Representation, p. 275
Film Screening (in the morning): Métisse (Mathieu Kassovitz,
Frankrijk, 19??)
Extra: hand in one page with the subject of your final paper, including your name; title; short description of the problem or question you want to research; hypothesis; a few lines on theoretical background; proposed methodology; and short bibliography.
10/12 9. Visual Power: Surveillance
Culture
In this session we will address the
positive and negative aspects connected to the use of video cameras.
Literature: please read and study:
J. Fiske, ‘Videotech’ in N. Mirzoeff, The Visual Culture Reader,
pp. 153-163
Foucault, M. ‘Panopticism’ in Discipline and Punish at
http://foucault.info/documents/disciplineAndPunish/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.panOpticism.html
Explore the Panopticism web site at
http://zeke.tzo.com/panopticism/panoptic.html
Assignment: choose one from the following:
Rent and view The Matrix. Before and while watching the
movie, think through the following prompts:
Locate specific instances in the film where Foucault’s theory of
panopticism plays an influential role. Think about how particular
characters relate to Foucault’s essay. Describe the roles that
different characters play. While writing his essay, Foucault most
likely had types of people in mind: Who performs the surveillance?
Who is being watched? Who, therefore, possesses the power and
authority? What do they do with that power and authority? Think
about the power structures in the film. Who has power? Why? How did
they get it? How did they keep it? Who wants power? How do they plan
to get it? Do they get it? What will they do with it if they have
it? Explain, in writing, the connections you can make between
Foucault’s notion of panopticism and The Matrix.
2) Research the Rodney King Incident by visiting the web sites
below. Try and answer the following questions: what are the main
reasons, to your mind, why this incident had such a huge impact on
American public opinion? What is the role that video technology
played in highlighting racial tensions in American society? Try and
explain what J. Fiske means when he says: ‘Technology may determine
what is shown, but society determines what is seen’ in N. Mirzoeff,
The Visual Culture Reader, p. 156. Report,
in writing, your findings to the class:
The Rodney King incident: click on the ‘Introduction’ video at
http://www.leldf.org/king_qt.html
Read more at
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/rodney_king_anniversary010303.html
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/Kingkeyfigures.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~gregmeyer/articles/king1pg3.html
‘From Rodney King to Clinton, Video Images Help Galvanize Public
Opinion’
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40763,00.html
‘The Video Tape that Marked History’ at
http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/handicam/king/
View excerpt from the R. King Video at
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingvideo.html
(click on ‘George Holliday Video of King Beating’)
15/12
10. (No) logo
This class assesses the effects of globalisation on popular
culture, from the perspective of branding; it also evaluates whether
the logo is a visual image.
Literature: please read and study:
Naomi Klein, Ch 2, ‘The Brand Expands’, from No Logo, London:
Flamingo, 2001: 27-61
Assignment: Please wear clothes with a logo. Analyse who made this
piece and where; how did this piece of clothing travel across the
world; you may also want to reflect on the relationship between
branding and fashion design. Try and establish a connection between
your own reflections and today’s readings. Write a 1 page report
with your conclusions and expect to share your findings with the
whole class.
17/12 11. Fashion I
We will discuss visuality in relation
to fashion.
Literature: please read and study:
Bruzzi & Church Gibson, Fashion Cultures. Theories, explanations,
and
analysis. Routledge, 2000, extracts
Brydon, & Niessen, Consuming Fashion, Berg: 1998 extracts
Assignment: choose one of the following:
1) Please bring one of your own designs (or favourite designers) to
class and prepare an oral presentation in which you bring one or two
theoretical points to bear on that particular example of fashion.
2) From
http://projects.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/paperbark/
Read Sections ‘Lenore Dembski’, ‘History of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait islanders textiles’, and do the following Activity:
Discuss the cross-cultural use of textile production techniques
Identify the advantages of study tours in another country included
in the section ‘Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander
textiles’
22/12
12. Fashion II
Literature: please read and study:
Rebecca Arnold, ‘Fashion’, in Fiona Carson & Claire Pajaczkowska,
Feminist Visual Culture, London: Routledge, 2001, pp. 207-220
Film Screening: none
Instead, teachers will receive students individually (10 minutes
each) to discuss progress of final paper.
24/12 No
class
17/1 Hand in final assignment by 17.00
hours
Selected Bibliography (by subject, in alphabetical order)
Fashion
Gender
Multiculturalism
Photography
Postmodernism
Reading Images: Psychoanalytic Approaches
Representing Race
Reading Images: Semiotic Approaches
Surveillance Culture
Visuality & New Media
Visual Culture (general)