Theory of Photography
- Code:
- 307ETHP
- Completion:
- ZK
- Credits:
- 4
- Range:
- 26/S
- Tutor:
- Tomáš DVOŘÁK
- Synopsis:
-
The course is an introduction to the main problems of the theory of photography. It surveys its history from the origins of photography to the present, but it follows a thematic approach rather than a chronological one. Each of the themes will be discussed in relation to a selected chapter from the history of photography.
- Jazyk výuky:
- CS
- Prerequisites:
-
Requirements:
It is assumed that students have a basic knowledge of the history of photography. Winter semester: written assignments, 2 credits (students will write two short essays on a given theme, 3 and 5 pages in the middle and at the end of the term). Spring: written assignment and an oral exam (4 credits).
- Study Objectives:
- Outline and Syllabus:
-
Syllabus:
Introduction: photography between technology and discourse.
Photography and subject I: the perceiver.
Photography and subject II: the perceived.
Visibility and visualization.
The materiality of images.
Photography analogue and digital.
Photography as universal language.
Photography as universal equivalent.
Arrangements of images: collage, montage, series.
Photography and modernity.
Weimar theories of photography.
Media and ideology critique: apparatus, dispositive, program.
Media specificity I: photography as photography.
Photography and semiotics.
Media specificity II: post-photography.
Photography as interface.
Remediation and postproduction.
Supervised by: Mgr. Tomáš Dvořák
- Study materials:
-
Recommended readings:
Geoffrey Batchen, Burning with Desire. The Conception of Photography. Cambridge - London: The MIT Press 1997; Each Wild Idea: Writing, Photography, History. Cambridge - London: The MIT Press 2001.
Richard Bolton (ed.), The Contest of Meaning. Critical Histories of Photography. Cambridge - London: The MIT Press 1999.
Vicky Goldberg (ed.), Photography in Print. Writings from 1816 to the Present. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1981.
Liz Heron - Val Williams (eds.), Illuminations. Women Writing on Photography from the 1850s to the Present. Durham: Duke University Press 1996.
Beaumont Newhall (ed.), Photography: Essays and Images. New York: The Museum of Modern Art 1980.
Christopher Phillips (ed.), Photography in the Modern Era. European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913-1940. New York: Aperture 1989.
Carol Squiers (ed.), Overexposed. Essays on Contemporary Photography. New York: The New Press 1999.
- Note:
- Schedule for summer semester 2007/2008:
-
06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon Tue Fri Thu Fri - The subject is a part of the following study plans:
-
- Fotografie EN - bakalář (qualification subject)