Schedule subject to change at instructor’s discretion. Please check back frequently for latest version.
Monday, August 29
Introduction
- What is Visual Culture?
Before next class:
- Introduce yourself on our Sakai sites’ Conversation within the “Introduce Yourself!” discussion and share an artifact of visual culture of recent interest.
Wednesday, August 31
Images, Power, and Politics, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Introduction and Chapter 1 (pp. 1 - 29). PDF
Friday, September 2
Discussion Sections
Before class:
- Review lecture notes and Chapter 1, pp 1 - 29.
- Watch:
Monday, September 5
Images, Power, and Politics, Part 2
CLASS WILL BE HELD IN 103 CLASSROOM BLDG on East Campus
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 1 (pp. 29 - 49) PDF
Wednesday, September 7
Viewers Make Meaning, Part 1
Reading Due:
Casey, Brenna M. (2021, August 29). “Art, Power, and Profit at Duke University” The Assembly. PDF Version
Practices of Looking, Chapter 2 (pp. 51 – 74)
Friday, September 9
Discussion Sections
Review your notes on PoL Chapter 1 (esp. your understanding of semiotics) and come prepared to discuss the Duke Mangum controversy “Art, Power, and Profit at Duke University
Complete Quiz #1 by 11:59 PM
Monday, September 12
Viewers Make Meaning, Part 2: Ideology and Encoding / Decoding
Reading Due:
Practices of Looking, Chapter 2 (pp. 74 – 88)
Stuart Hall, “Encoding / Decoding” (1980/2006) in Durham, M.G. & Kellner, D.M. Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 163-173.
Wednesday, September 14
The Politics of Authorship, Part 1: Barthes vs. Foucault
Reading Due:
Barthes, Roland. (1967 ⁄ 1977). “Death of the Author.” in Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana Press. pp. 142-148.
Foucault, Michel. (1969 ⁄ 1998). “What is an Author?” in Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology (Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Vol. 2). New York: The New Press. pp. 205-222.
Friday, September 16
Discussion Sections
Complete Quiz #2 by 11:59 PM
Monday, September 19
The Politics of Authorship, Part 2: Craft, Labor, and Alienation
Reading Due:
- Selection from Karl Marx’s early writings (1844) on “estranged labor”
- Graeber, David. (2013). “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant.” Strike! Magazine, Issue 3 “The Summer of …”
Handout:
Wednesday, September 21
Modernity: Spectatorship, the Gaze, and Power, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 3 (pp. 89 – 113)
Friday, September 23
Discussion Sections
Bring preliminary set of visual artefacts for [Visual Culture Time Capsule blog post](Blog Post #1 - Visual Time Capsule)
Complete Quiz #3 by 11:59 PM
Monday, September 26
The Colonial Gaze and the Right to Look
- Mirzoeff, N. (2011). “Introduction: The Right to Look, or, How to Think Within and Against Visuality” in The Right to Look. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 1 - 30.
Wednesday, September 28
Modernity: Spectatorship, the Gaze, and Power, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 3 (pp. 113 – 138)
Friday, September 30
Discussion Sections
Due: Blog Post #1 - Visual Culture Time Capsule
Monday, October 3
Realism and Perspective: From Renaissance Painting to Digital Media, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 4 (pp. 139-158)
Wednesday, October 5
Realism and Perspective: From Renaissance Painting to Digital Media, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 4 (pp. 158-177)
Friday, October 7
Discussion Sections Cancelled, enjoy Fall break!
However, you are still expected to complete Quiz #4 by 11:59 PM
Monday, October 10
No Class - Fall Break
Wednesday, October 12
Midterm Exam Review
Friday, October 14
Discussion Sections
Midterm Exam
Monday, October 17
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Reading Due:
- Benjamin, Walter. (1935). “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Arendt, Hannah (Ed.)/Zohn, Henry (Trans.), Illuminations (pp. 217-251). Schocken Books.
Wednesday, October 19
Visual Technologies, Reproduction, and the Copy, Part 1
Reading/Viewing Due:
Practices of Looking, Chapter 5 (pp 179 – 198)
Living With Van Gogh: A Look Inside the World of Chinese ‘Copy Culture’ [00:25:37]
Friday, October 21
Discussion Sections
CLASS WILL BE HELD IN THE NASHER
Guided tour of the Roy Lichtenstein: History in the Making, 1948 – 1960 exhibition, Nasher’s “study storage,” and the exhibition Beyond the Surface
Complete Quiz #5 by 11:59 PM
Monday, October 24
The Culture Industry: Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School
Reading Due:
- Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, 1946. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception“
Wednesday, October 26
Visual Technologies, Reproduction, and the Copy, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 5 (pp. 198-218)
Friday, October 28
Discussion Sections
Complete Quiz #6 by 11:59 PM
Read:
- Tate. (n.d.). Institutional Critique – Art Term.
- Buren, D. (1970/1985). “Function of the Museum.” In Hertz, R. (Ed.). Theories of Contemporary Art. (pp.189-192). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Piper, A. (1983/2009). “Some Thoughts on the Political Character of This Situation.” In Alberro, A. & Stimson, B. (Eds.). Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings. (pp. 242-243). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Monday, October 31
Simulacra and Simulations
Read:
- Baudrillard, Jean. (1983/1988). “Simulacra and Simulations“ in Poster, M. (Ed.). Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. pp. 166-184.
Wednesday, November 2
Media in Everyday Life, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 6 (pp. 219-234)
Friday, November 4
Discussion Sections
Due: “The Visuality of the Nasher Museum” (Blog Post #2)
Monday, November 7
Media in Everyday Life, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 6 (pp. 234-256)
Wednesday, November 9
Public Sphere or Spectacle?
Review:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 6
Friday, November 11
Discussion Sections
Complete Quiz #7 by 11:59 PM
Monday, November 14
Postmodernism: Irony, Parody, and Pastiche
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 8 (pp. 301-336)
Wednesday, November 16
Brand Culture: The Images and Spaces of Communication
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 7 (pp. 257-299)
Friday, November 18
Discussion Sections
Complete Quiz #8 by 11:59 PM
Monday, November 21
Scientific Looking, Looking at Science, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 9 (pp 337-357)
Wednesday, November 23
No Class – Thanksgiving Break
Friday, November 25
No Discussion Sections – Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 28
Scientific Looking, Looking at Science, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 9 (pp 357-378)
Wednesday, November 30
The Global Flow of Visual Culture, Part 1
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 10 (pp. 379-402)
Friday, December 2
Discussion Sections
- Due Friday before 11:59 PM: Extending Theory: Critical Visual Analysis (Blog Post #3)
Monday, December 5
The Global Flow of Visual Culture, Part 2
Reading Due:
- Practices of Looking, Chapter 10 (pp. 402-423)
Wednesday, December 7
Review for Final Exam
Complete Quiz #9 by 11:59 PM
Friday, December 9
Discussion Sections
- Continue Review for Final Exam
Wednesday, December 14
Final Exam
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Nasher Auditorium