Module overview
We live in a world that is saturated by images. Images from the far reaches of space to the sub-atomic level and just about everything in between. Images seem to have a special power over our lives, playing a part in the constructions of who and what we are and the ways in which we understand the world around us. Whether we like it or not we live in a ‘visual culture’ in which virtually everything is mediated by the image.
This module takes as its stating point the assumption that as future artists, designers or workers in the creative industries you will be future producers of visual culture or even visual counter-cultures.
This optional core module is designed to broaden your studies and provide you with an interdisciplinary learning experience with peers from a range of art and design subjects. The module will provide you with new perspectives and introduce you to themes and practices that can be critically explored to inform your ongoing development, interests and skills.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- develop and research your own position in relation to current debates in visual culture.
- evaluate different critical approaches to the production and consumption of visual culture;
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- how to identify and apply methods of critical and visual analysis.
- visual culture and its critical contexts;
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate clear, effective and persuasive communication skills.
- organise time and manage deadlines;
- develop an argument informed by different perspectives using a clear, coherent structure;
Syllabus
The syllabus explores key theories of visual culture through examples from film, TV, fashion, advertising, music videos, contemporary art, gaming and social media.
Indicative content for this module normally includes:
- Selfies: The role of the image in constructions of identity
- Shock and Awe: Why are images so powerful?
- Surveillance and Voyeurism: Watching and being watched, how seeing is related to power.
- Reality TV: what is meant by ‘reality’ in TV?
- Advertising and Propaganda: The role of the image in persuasion and manipulation
- The Gaze: Looking and power in relation to race, gender and sexuality.
- The Spectacle: The illusions of late Capitalism
- Museums and Power: Cultures of display and knowledge.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include:
- lectures;
- seminars.
Learning activities include:
- reflection on tutor feedback;
- individual presentations;
- peer group learning.
Relationship between the teaching, learning and assessment methods and the planned learning outcomes
In this module learning and teaching activities focus on helping you to investigate, question and analyse the nature of visual culture, its theories and how this influences your own ideas and/or the discipline in which you operate. Feedback on your progress and development will be given by group discussions, seminars and presentations. Informal feedback will provide opportunities for peer group learning and self-evaluation.
The formal assessment will be a 2500 word illustrated essay on an agreed topic. The use of illustrations will help you to develop visual research and analysis skills and to effectively present your critical engagement with visual cultural artefacts.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Completion of assessment task | 38 |
| Lecture | 12 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 25 |
| Wider reading or practice | 31.5 |
| Follow-up work | 31.5 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Internet Resources
Textbooks
Mirzhoeff, Nicholas (ed) (2002). The Visual Culture Reader. London / New York: Routledge.
Paul Wood & Harrison, Charles (Ed) (2002). Art in theory 1900-2000: an anthology of changing ideas. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gray, Carole and Malins, Julian (2004). Visualising Research. A Guide for Postgraduate Students in Art and Design. Ashgate.
Manghani, Sunil (2013). Image Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
Edwards, Steve (ed) (2012). Art and Visual Culture: 1850-2010: modernity to globalisation. London: Tate Publishing.
Lymberopoulou, Angeliki (2012). Art and Visual Culture: A Reader. London: Tate Publishing.
Barnard, Malcolm (2001). Approaches to Understanding Visual Culture. London: Palgrave.
Berger, John (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.
Smith, Shawn Michelle (1999). American Archives: gender, race, and class in visual culture. Princeton University Press.
Finkelstein, Joanne (2007). The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. London: I.B.Taurus.
Evans, Jessica and Hall Stuart (1999). Visual Culture : The Reader. London: Sage.
Kocur, Zoya & Leung, Simon (Eds) (2004). Theory in contemporary art: from 1985 to the present. Oxford: Blackwell.
Jones, Amelia(ed) (2010). The feminism and visual culture reader. London: Routledge.
Danto, Arthur C (1998). The wake of art: criticism, philosophy, and the ends of taste. Amsterdam: G+B Arts International.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Illustrated essay
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Draft essay proposal with written feedback In this module an important part of formative feedback is in written feedback on your essay proposals produced in weeks 7 and 8. You will also experience formative feedback in a range of learning situations, for example: •seminars •presentations •peer group feedback
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |