Questions and Methods in Art History and Visual Culture

Description

This module introduces you to the key methods used to analyse works of art and visual culture and, in doing so, raises critical questions about the disciplines of Art History and Visual Culture and their relationship to one another. While Art History is a long-established field of study, Visual Culture can be viewed as an interdisciplinary mode of enquiry that has emerged in more recent times, which is both attuned to a history of visual culture as much as a definition of contemporary culture. Together, both fields of study continue to evolve in line with a series of common intellectual debates. You will be introduced to the appropriate terminology used in academic literature and to the foundational texts upon which both fields rely. You will also learn about a range of historical and contemporary theoretical approaches that inform the study of Art History & Visual Culture. Art History & Visual Culture will be a new subject for almost all students at University level, and this module aims to: - Provide you with a basis for successful progress in the degree programme, embedding a good understanding of methods and questions in Art History, Visual Culture and related fields of enquiry. - Assist your thinking about works of visual art and culture (their identity, their production, their significance), as well as cultures of vision and visuality, both (pre-)historic and contemporary. - Engage critically with art historiography and visual cultures studies (their intentions, methods, audience) and how their position has changed over time, conditioned by wider social and intellectual considerations. - Map the concerns that typify its approach to the study of visuality and indicate its possible future direction. - Encourage you to accept the dynamism and continued development of the subject in your own approach to the study of visuality. The module makes reference to theoretical commentaries on the aesthetic, social and political issues embedded in Art History and Visual Culture and offers you a foundation for further University-level study in the subject. Through project work, centred on the University Library and its resources, the module also acquaints you with the varied visual, archival and textual sources used in the study of Art History & Visual Culture, and provides practical instruction in their use.