Course Details

Course Information Package

Course Unit Title	VISUAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
Course Unit Code	MID505
Course Unit Details	MA Interdisciplinary Design (Required Courses) -
Number of ECTS credits allocated	5
Learning Outcomes of the course unit	By the end of the course, the students should be able to: Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of: key texts that influenced the course of art appreciation and art criticism, texts that became reference in the discourse of art and design theory. Discuss the significant theories and theorists that prevailed in the formation of aesthetic discourse and aesthetic evaluation. Realize the issues and themes that were repeatedly brought into contexts by artists, visual producers and cultural theorists, placing them in a historical context. Draw connections between diverse disciplines and understand fragmentation and blurring of the boundaries in relation to specific cultures Synthesize different historical, cultural and interpretative material from various disciplines in order to develop a rich understanding and analysis of art objects and their relationship to the contexts of their production and presentation. Develop strategies that can communicate, explain and analyze successfully visual examples, verbally or written, with audiences where multiple and even contradictory viewpoints are admitted and encouraged. Form ideas and opinions in order to be able to engage respectfully and scientifically in constructive dialogues regarding aesthetic theory and reflect upon and assess examples of visual production Analyze significant examples from the art and design field that changed the course of contemporary thinking and understanding Recognize the qualities of the contemporary visual culture and obtain a good knowledge of contemporary art practices,
Mode of Delivery	Face-to-face
Prerequisites	NONE	Co-requisites	NONE
Recommended optional program components	NONE
Course Contents	The course explores a range of theoretical ideas that influenced and shaped artistic production and critical dialogue in the field of visual culture during the late 20th/early 21st centuries. It examines key understandings, writings, thinkers, concepts, and theoretical approaches that engage in the analysis and study of visual culture and the methodologies of art/design criticism. The course views cultural production and art practice as operating in the larger areas of the social, the political, the personal, the national etc, that are governed by diverse and/or interrelated theories. The course aims to explore various diverse theoretical discourses such as philosophy, linguistics, art history, psychoanalysis, and literary studies bringing into context significant examples taken from the contemporary art practice and visual culture. The course aims to further the understanding of contemporary artistic developments and encourages the deepening of critical knowledge, fostering dialogue and debate. Furthermore the course investigates how contemporary visual culture and critical theory interrelate, interact and influence each other.
Recommended and/or required reading:
Textbooks	Eagleton Terry, The Ideology of the Aesthetic, Blackwell Publishers 1990. Sarup Madan, An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism, University of Georgia Press; Second Edition edition, August 1, 1993. Kraus Rosalind, The Originality of the Avant-garde and Other Modernist Myths, MIT Press, 1985. Bourriaud Nicolas, Relational Aesthetics, Les Presse Du Reel, Franc, January 1, 1998. Debord Guy, Society of the Spectacle, Black & Red; Reprint, 2010 edition, June 1, 2000. Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism, University of Michigan Press (February 15, 1995). John Welchman, Art After Appropriation: Essays on Art in the 1990s, Routledge; 1 edition, September 14, 2001. Kembrew McLeod (Editor), Rudolf Kuenzli (Editor), Cutting Across Media: Appropriation Art, Interventionist Collage, and Copyright Law. Charles Harrison (Editor), Paul Wood (Editor), Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishers, 2002: Sigmund Freud “On Dreams”, 1901, pp.26/ Roger Fry “An Essay in Aesthetics” 1909 pp.78/ Clive Bell “The Aesthetic Hypothesis” 1914, pp.113/ Marcel Duchamp “The Richard Mutt Case”, 1917, pp.248/ Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, 1936, pp.512/ Clement Greenberg, “Avand Garde and Kitsch” 1939, pp.529/ Roland Barthes, from “Myth Today”, 1956, pp.687/ Michael Fried, “Art and Objecthood”, 1967, pp.822/ Jacques Derrida, from “On Grammatology”/ Jean Baudrillard, “Ethic of Labour, Aesthetic of Play”,1973, pp.957/ Daniel Bell, from “Modernism and Capitalism”, 1978, pp.993, Jean Francois Lyotard, Introduction to “The Postmodern Condition”, 1979, pp. 998, Jurengen Habermas, “Modernity- An Incomplete Project” 1980, pp. 1000, Jean-Francois Lyotard “ What is Postmodernism”, 1982, pp.1008/ Julia Kristeva, “Powers of Horror”, 1980, pp.1015, Rosalind Kraus. Freud Sigmund, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Chapter VII “Identification”, 1922. Freud Sigmund, “Fetishism”, Miscellaneous Papers, 1888-1938. Vol. 5 of Collected Papers. 5 vols. London: Hogarth and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1924-1950. pp198-204.
References	http://www.understandingduchamp.com/text.html http://womanhouse.refugia.net/ http://www.bartleby.com/290/7.html
Planned learning activities and teaching methods	·  Lectures with visual aids. ·  Group discussions. ·  Work analysis. ·  Written and Verbal Presentations/Exercises. ·  Gallery/ Art Spaces and Museum visits. ·  Group critiques. ·  Internet Research/ Information Gathering/ Evaluation.
Assessment methods and criteria	Research and Methodology 30% Class Participation 20% Project work 40% Time management and Presentation 10%
Language of instruction	English
Work placement(s)	NO