Semestral Theme for All Ateliers 2

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Subject guarantor:

Name of lecturer(s):

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

This course delves into the main issue topics of photography theory. It presents the historical development considerations of photographic media from its beginning to the present. This will be structured topically rather than chronologically. Individual theory topics will be demonstrated in selected chapters from the history of photography.

Mode of study:

This course delves into the main issue topics of photography theory

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Grading:

The acquisition of 4 exams (4 credits) lies in the execution of two presentations from selected theory writings and a final paper of approx. 10 pages.

Recommended optional programme components:

none

Course contents:

Lecturer:Mgr. Tomáš Dvořák

Introduction: Photography between technology and discourse. The image, the viewed and optical devices as conceptual models. Example of camera obscura.

Issue I: The observer. Changes in observers in a context of visual culture of the 19th century, surpassing the static model of the camera obscura with an emphasis on the carnality and active participation of the recipient on the creation of thought.

Issue II: The observed. From the camera obscura to „Big Brother“. Relation of the spectacularization of society and surveillance.

Visibility and visualization: automatic images and „natural“ viewing.

Subjectivity of images. Classic metaphors of photography as a eye or mirror, forget that it is also an object: Benjamin's tactile perception. Photographed objects of the 19th century. Latin-American photo-esculturas. Hi-tech and lo-tech.

Talbot's lace as digital photography: relationship of traditional and new media. Problem of its limits. Collaborations between Talbot and Charles Babbage, inventors of the computer.

Photography as a universal language. A discourse of televisuality of the 19th and 20th centuries as advancement in the search for a perfect language. Ideological and political use of photography. Family of Man.

From the single image to a series. Creating something new versus manipulating the existing. The image as a narrative: photography in books, books in photography. Collectors' strategies and dispersed perception.

Media and critical ideologies. The device, dispositive, program.

The particulars of the medium: photography as photography. Modernist aesthetics and their role in photography theory and criticism. Laokoon in the 20th century. Post-photography. Analog and digital media.

Issues in distinguishing between traditions and new media.

Requirements:

The course requires a basic familiarity with the history of photography and the ability to read in English.

Recommended or required reading:

Roland Barthes, Světlá komora. Bratislava: Archa 1994; Mytologie. Praha: Dokořán 2004.

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.

Walter Benjamin, Dílo a jeho zdroj. Praha: Odeon 1979.

Richard Bolton (ed.), The Contest of Meaning. Critical Histories of Photography. Cambridge - London: The MIT Press 1999.

Karel Císař (ed.), Čítanka z teorie fotografie. Praha: Herrmann & synové, 2005.

Vilém Flusser, Za filosofii fotografie. Praha: Hynek 1994; Moc obrazu - Výtvarné umění, č. 3/4, Praha: OSVU 1996; Do universa technických obrazů, Praha: OSVU 2001.

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.

Susan Sontag, O fotografii. Praha: Paseka 2002.

Carol Squiers (ed.), Overexposed. Essays on Contemporary Photography. New York: The New Press 1999.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

none

Assessment methods and criteria:

Grading:

The acquisition of 4 exams (4 credits) lies in the execution of two presentations from selected theory writings and a final paper of approx. 10 pages.

Course web page:

Note:

This course takes place once every two years. It is registered for 2011/12

Further information:

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans: