ARTH 348 Special Topics in Art and Film: Methods/Themes in Visual Culture

• Thursdays, 8:45 - 11:15am
• LB 125
• Dr. May Chew

This course is designed as an introduction to visual culture as an interdisciplinary field. Drawing on historical perspectives and contemporary debates, it asks: How do images shape the ways in which we understand and move through the world? Throughout the semester, we will explore the interlinked histories, theories, methods, and current debates of art history and film studies. Our investigation of the extended field of visual culture will take us through examples drawn from world fairs, museums, early cinema, television, print media, installations, new media, and material and virtual architectures. We will also consider how embodiment informs the ways in which we make, share, and engage with visual media. Dispensing with the assumption that looking is “neutral,” we will probe how a critical understanding of visual cultures must be attended by considerations of race, gender, class, Indigeneity and decolonization. This course will encourage students to understand that learning how to critically interpret images is just a start; how might we also mobilize this training to actively engage in the world as users and creators of visual texts?