Visual Culture

This course will explore a range of fundamental critical concepts in visual culture studies, and it will help students explore critically and individually topics and problems related to various cultural objects such as artworks, photographs, visual media, movies, television, magazines, the Internet, data visualization, and so forth. We will focus on a critical and reflective understanding of “vision” itself, how it is constructed and what it means to “see” and analyze cultural and visual objects that in turn construct our own world and reality.

Through reading of key texts (both historical and more contemporary), the study of specific visual materials, and consideration of related secondary literature, students will develop the ability to critique visual culture itself. Classes will take the form of seminars, dedicated to the discussion of key texts and critical analysis of related visual materials and students will be able to critically and pro-actively engage with the visual world around them.