Course Description:
Employing various sociological perspectives, this course is an exploration of images and their various uses as forms of visual communication. It ranges from visual art, particularly painting, then photography including videos, to advertising, and data visualization including maps. An underlying concern is the current prevalence of images in our everyday lives and the media.
Theoretical perspectives will be presented and applied to historical and contemporary examples of painting and photography ¾ to examine how these images are produced, distributed, and used. Although this is partly an art appreciation course, the sociological perspective places art works in their social context, including economic, political, social class, and gender aspects. For example, the role of women in art worlds as well as how they are represented in art will be considered.
The role of technology in the various arts is another theme. Reproductive technology as, for example, in photographs of paintings and music recordings, has allowed for the ‘consumption’ of art works in settings far removed in time and place from their original settings ¾ thus changing their meanings. A section will be devoted to photography in terms of both its history and current social uses. The implications of digital technology will also be discussed.
A section of this course deals with Semiotics which provides a way of analyzing how images communicate through their detailed features. This approach is applied to photographs, advertisements, data displays, and maps.
Multimedia presentations including pictures and videos will be used for illustrations and for stimulating frequent discussions.
- Teacher: Peter Weeks