This course is part of HF's PhD week. The course is worth 1 ECTS.
Course description
“There is a very fine line between pictures visible as such and the virtual worlds they relay, create, and modify,” Whitney Davis points out (Visuality and Virtuality). In recent years there’s been renewed interest in the theorization of images, prompted by the recognition of their ever-increasing socio-political purchase in current culture as well as their changing perceptual and epistemic functions in the age of machine learning. One might argue that the task of critical analysis of images is still to keep the “fine line” Davis talks about – between material reality and immaterial worlds, artefact and illusion – in sharp conceptual focus. But where and how do we draw this line today?
This course works through key frames from the recent “image sciences” (Bildwissenschaft and visual culture studies) – such picture/image, body and medium, image and power – to seek some answers and to broaden our skills of interpretation. It aims to develop critical conceptual tools to tackle the current work of images, the practices and technologies of imaging they emerge from, as well as the imaginations (perceptual and cognitive abilities) they shape. The course’s focus is on contemporary visual worlds, without however forgetting the historical roots of the issues that we are facing today.
Course preparations
Course participants will read the required readings, in total 100-150 pages. Participants will write a brief (4-5 page) response paper where they critically engage with a proposition in one or several of these texts and relate the themes from the workshop to their own field or their own research project.
Language
The course language is English, including reading responses and essays.
Readings
A list of the curriculum is avilable in the course Canvas room.
Registration
Registration opens at noon on February 25.
Course convenors
- Professor Pasi Väliaho, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas.
- Professor Liv Hausken, Department of Media and Communication.