Visual Culture

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:

evaluate different critical approaches to the production and consumption of visual culture;
develop and research your own position in relation to current debates in visual culture.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

demonstrate clear, effective and persuasive communication skills.
develop an argument informed by different perspectives using a clear, coherent structure;
organise time and manage deadlines;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

visual culture and its critical contexts;
how to identify and apply methods of critical and visual analysis.

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.

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	12
Follow-up work	31.5
Wider reading or practice	31.5
Preparation for scheduled sessions	25
Lecture	12
Completion of assessment task	38
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Internet Resources

Blackboard.

Textbooks

Smith, Shawn Michelle (1999). American Archives: gender, race, and class in visual culture. Princeton University Press.

Mirzhoeff, Nicholas (ed) (2002). The Visual Culture Reader. London / New York: Routledge.

Danto, Arthur C (1998). The wake of art: criticism, philosophy, and the ends of taste. Amsterdam: G+B Arts International.

Paul Wood & Harrison, Charles (Ed) (2002). Art in theory 1900-2000: an anthology of changing ideas. Oxford: Blackwell.

Barnard, Malcolm (2001). Approaches to Understanding Visual Culture. London: Palgrave.

Jones, Amelia(ed) (2010). The feminism and visual culture reader. London: Routledge.

Evans, Jessica and Hall Stuart (1999). Visual Culture : The Reader. London: Sage.

Edwards, Steve (ed) (2012). Art and Visual Culture: 1850-2010: modernity to globalisation. London: Tate Publishing.

Manghani, Sunil (2013). Image Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

Lymberopoulou, Angeliki (2012). Art and Visual Culture: A Reader. London: Tate Publishing.

Gray, Carole and Malins, Julian (2004). Visualising Research. A Guide for Postgraduate Students in Art and Design. Ashgate.

Finkelstein, Joanne (2007). The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. London: I.B.Taurus.

Berger, John (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.

Kocur, Zoya & Leung, Simon (Eds) (2004). Theory in contemporary art: from 1985 to the present. Oxford: Blackwell.

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.

Breakdown
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.

Breakdown
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.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Illustrated essay	100%