Contemporary Photography and Art 1

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Tomáš DVOŘÁK

Name of lecturer(s)

Tomáš DVOŘÁK, Josef LEDVINA, Noemi PURKRÁBKOVÁ, Michal ŠIMŮNEK

Department

Předmět zajišťuje Department of Photography

Contents

Each class consists of a lecture (approx. 60-70 min) followed by space for questions and discussion of the readings. (approx. 20-30 min).

9. 10. (Noemi Purkrábková & Josef Ledvina)

*Introductory Class*

16. 10. (Josef Ledvina)

*The Image as a Tool and the Image as a Work of Art*

Reading:

Alva Noë: “Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature”, Hill and Wang 2016 (read especially part III).

23. 10. (Noemi Purkrábková)

*Invisible and “invisual” images: The post-perceptual regime of digital media*

Reading:

Jussi Parikka: “What is not an Image?”. Operational Images: From the Visual to the Invisual, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2023, 57–94.

Suggested reading:

Shane Denson: Dividuated Images, Coils of the Serpent 5 (2020), s. 153-62. Accessible at: https://shanedenson.com/articles/Denson_Dividuated-Images.pdf

Trevor Paglen: Invisible Images: Your Pictures Are Looking at You. Architectural Design 89(1), 2019, 22-27

30. 10. (Noemi Purkrábková)

*More-than-human art? Posthumanist and Post-anthropocentric Tendencies in Artistic Practice*

Reading:

N. Katherine Hayles. “Nonconscious Cognitions: Humans and Others”. In Unthought: The Power of the Cognitive Nonconscious, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017, 10–40.

Suggested reading:

Joanna Zylinska. Non-human Photography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press 2017.

T. J. Demos. Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. New York: Sternberg Press 2016.

6. 11.(Josef Ledvina)

*Cute pictures in a gallery and on social networks*

Reading:

Simon May. The Power of Cute. Princeton University Press 2019.

13. 11. (Josef Ledvina)

*Institutional Critique and Institutionalization of Photography*

Reading:

Krauss, R. (1982). “Photography’s Discursive Spaces: Landscape/View”. Art Journal, 42(4), 311–319.

https://monoskop.org/images/6/6b/Krauss_Rosalind_1982_Photographys_Discursive_Spaces_Landscape_View.pdf

20. 11. (Noemi Purkrábková)

*„Where“ is contemporary art? Artwork between the gallery space and exhibition documentation platforms*

Reading:

Hito Steyerl. Too much World. Is the Internet dead?, e-flux journal #49. Accessible at: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/49/60004/too-much-world-is-the-internet-dead/

Suggested reading:

Loney Abrams. Flatland. The New Inquiry, 2013. Accessible at: https://thenewinquiry.com/flatland/

Lauren Cornell – Ed Halter (eds.). Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: MIT Press 2015.

Omar Kholeif. Goodbye, World! Looking at Art in the Digital Age, 2018, Berlin: Sternberg Press 2018, 97–119.

27. 9. (Josef Ledvina)

*Authentic, Superficial and Authentically Superficial: Strategies of Contemporary Performance*

Claire Bishop, “Outsourcing Authenticity? Delegated Performance in Contemporary Art”, in Double Agent, eds. Claire Bishop and Silvia Tramontana, London: ICA, 2008, pp 110-125.

https://monoskop.org/images/1/19/Bishop_Claire_2008_Outsourcing_Authenticity_Delegated_Performance_in_Contemporary_Art.pdf

4. 12. (Noemi Purkrábková)

*Technology – art – gender: Feminism and (new) media*

Reading:

Donna Haraway. Cyborg Manifesto. Socialist Review, 1985, 80, 65–105

Suggested reading:

Sadie Plant. The Future Looms: Weaving Women and Cybernetics, Body & Society© 1995, Vol. 1(3-4): 45–64 // Sadie Plant. Zeros + ones: digital women + the new technoculture. London: Fourth Estate 1997.

Laboria Cuboniks. The Xenofeminist Manifesto: A Politics for Alienation, London/New York: Verso, 2018

Legacy Russel. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, London/New York: Verso 2020

11. 12. (Josef Ledvina)

*What is a Christmas Tree for and Why Do We Take Pictures of It so Often? (About the Objects of Special Attention)*

Reading:

Bernd Brunner: “Inventing the Christmas Tree”, Yale University Press 2012.

18. 12. (Noemi Purkrábková)

*The Re-enchantment of the World: Contexts of magic in contemporary art*

Reading:

Isabelle Stengers: Reclaiming animism, e-flux journal #36. Accessible at: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/36/61245/reclaiming-animism/

Suggested reading:

Jamie Sutcliffe (ed.). MAGIC. Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel Gallery London, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2021.

Silvia Federici. Re-enchanting the World. Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, New York: PM Press 2018.

Learning outcomes

The student is oriented in contemporary art, understands contemporary theories of art and photography, is able to think about photography in the context of current discussions about technical images and is able to reflect on some of the topics discussed in his/her own creative work.

Prerequisites and other requirements

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Literature

Evaluation methods and criteria

To complete the course, two written papers must be submitted – one short (2-3 standard pages) in the middle of the semester and the second in the form of a final seminar paper (5-10 standard pages) at the end of the semester (standard page = 1800 characters including spaces). This is followed by an oral examination in the form of a discussion of both submitted texts.

For the “shorter written assignment”, students choose one contemporary artwork, exhibition, photograph, or other alternative art format to which they relate analytically and/or critically.

The “final term paper” may connect directly to the topic of the student’s future undergraduate thesis and/or to topics and readings discussed during the course. The use of scholarly literature and relevant sources is required, as well as the formal editing appropriate to the standards of a bachelor's thesis. It is recommended to consult the topic with one of your teachers before writing the assignment.

Note

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Schedule for winter semester 2024/2025:

• Week view
• List

Schedule for summer semester 2024/2025:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Photography EN - Bachelor - 2022 (Required subjects)