History and Theory of Photography 2

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor:

Tomáš DVOŘÁK

Name of lecturer(s):

Tomáš DVOŘÁK

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

students will be introduced to the history of photography, media and visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries and to the main contemporary historical and theoretical approaches in the field

Mode of study:

lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

n/a

Course contents:

01. Modernism and photography (Josef Ledvina)

The lecture presents some intellectual conceptions standing behind the artistic Modernism and outlines its possible relations to such broad modernizing processes as is industrializatinon and urbanization. From the 19th century art work of Gustave Corbet and Edouard Manet will by introduced. More in depth attention will than be payed to the use of photographic medium in New Vision and New Objectivity.

Laszlo MOHOLY-NAGY, Painting, Photography, and Film, Cambridge MA: MIT Press 1967.

02. Photography, Film, Montage (Martin Čihák)

We will introduce the basic principles of the soviet montage school (Kuleshov, Pudovkin, Eisenstein) and place them within the context of their contemporary avant-gardes (constructivism, productivism, etc.). W will focus especially on Dziga Vertov’s “The Eleventh Year” from 1928 and use it to analyze Vertov’s editing theory (the so-called “theory of the interval”) and his methods of producing a new kind of moving image.

Victor Shklovsky, “Art as Device”, Theory of Prose, pp. 1–14.

03. Photography in the European Avant-Garde and Surrealism (Ladislav Šerý)

Prerequisites for the birth of the European avant-garde were formed during the artistic and intellectual boom in the second half of the 19th century. Impressionism and its offshoots have paved the way for abstraction, Nietzsche, Bergson and Freud's ideas have weakened yet decisive role of religion, the state and the family. Duchamp and Picabia radically changed the paradigm of art, their works then followed the Dadaists and Surrealists. The lecture will focus on the interaction between avant-garde conquests and expanding photography options, including new techniques of collage and photomontage. We will closely examine the contribution of the New Objectivity (Paul Strand, Albert Renger-Patzsch Karl Blossfeldt) movement Bauhaus (Moholy-Nagy) and the surrealistic imagination (Eugène Atget, Man Ray, Brassai, Raoul Ubac, John Heartfield).

André Breton, “Manifesto of Surrealism.” in: Manifestoes of Surrealism, pp. 1–48.

04. Photography & War (Václav Janoščík)

Lecture features iconic moments in development of war photography. But it won’t be concerned only with traditional reportage photography. We will focus on overarching issues, and recent topics, such as use of drones and smartphone.

SONTAG, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, pp.

05. Important Photo Exhibitions, Curating and Institutions (Václav Janoščík)

The lecture offers overview of key exhibitions and curatorial projects, but it will also outline the changes in conception art photography and its presentation. From the beginning of MOMA photographic collection, through conceptual art to the impact of photography on so-called postinternet art we will map what role has context, space or institution in our understanding of photography.

SOLOMON-GODEAU, Abigail. Photography after Art Photography. In: WALLIS, Brian. Art after Modernism: Rethinking Representation. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984, pp. 75-86.

06. Vernacular photography and consumer culture (Michal Šimůnek)

The lecture focuses on the vernacular (mainly family) photography, that is discussed in the perspective of selected concepts and approaches of cultural studies, semiotics, history, sociology and anthropology of photography. In the broader context of reflection on the relationship between consumer, popular and visual culture we are going to specify social functions and meanings of vernacular photography and explain how the family life is photographically depicted within historically shifting and mutually interacting discourses of consumer culture and advertising, studio photography, photojournalism, documentary photography, art and family life itself.

James M. MORAN, „The Home Mode of Cultural Reproduction.“ in: James M. Moran, There’s No Place Like Hhome Video. Minneapolis – London: University of Minnesota Press 2002, pp. 48–63.

07. Problems with the post-modern (Josef Ledvina)

Post-modernism represents an ambiguous concept whose particular content in small measure, is debated. Attempts to create a universal period category for artistic production of a given period (most often 70s and 80s), usually fails because of variation in individual, group or study „post-modern“ programs. Along with a basic presentation of period discussions on post-modernism, lectures will be devoted, primarily, to theory-aware pieces of artists, so called Pictures Generation (Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levin, Jack Goldstein, and others.), for whom photography was a key tool.

Douglas CRIMP, „The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism“, October 15, 1980, č. 4, s. 91-101.

08. no lecture – Broumov

09. Changes in documentary photography (Hana Buddeus)

Lectures cover basic reverses in photography history and theory, from the rise of the documentary genre and social photography (Lewis Hine), through documentation of historical monuments (Mission heliographique), photography activity in the Farm Security Administration (Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange), critique documents of the 70s and 80s (Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Victor Burgin) to the documentary rebound in the arts at the turn of the 21st century. We focus not only on the changes in the documentary style but also wider issues in the relation of the photographed, the photographer and the viewer and question of photography as a political tool.

Martha ROSLER, „In, around and Afterthoughts (on documentary photography)“ , in: Liz WELLS (ed.), The Photography Reader, New York: Routledge 2003, pp. 261-274

10. Photography in conceptual art (Hana Buddeus)

Lectures focus on the use of photography in conceptual art and performative arts and its particular aesthetic, defining in the face of tradition artistic photography. We will devote a part of the day to the canon of foreign artists (Ed Ruscha, Dan Graham and others) and their theory reviews (Jeff Wall, Nancy Foote), but shall also refer to related phenomena in Czech art (Pavel Vančát / Jan Freiberg: Photography??).

Jeff WALL, „Marks of Indifference: Aspects of Photography in, or, as, Conceptual Art“, in: Ann GOLDSTEIN and Anne RORIMER, Reconsidering the object of Art, 1965-1975, kat. výst, Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art 1995, pp. 247-267.

11. New media and photography theory (Tomáš Dvořák)

Lectures provide an overview and critical analysis of theory approaches to new media from the 1990s to the present with an emphasis on the changes in form and function of the photographic image. The lecture is devoted primarily to the shift from „realistic“ form representation, dominating the 20th century (photography, film, television, virtual reality) to technology prevailing today: databases, GPS system and data visualizations.

Jay David BOLTER - Richard GRUSIN, „Immediacy, Hypermediacy, Remediation.“ Remediation. Understanding New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1999, pp. 20-50.

12. Computational photography: apparatus & algorithms (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture will survey the shift from the technical image as representation to instrumental or operative images – images that autonomously pursue certain tasks. It will also pay attention to the convergence of the camera with other technologies and apparatus and to the shift from optical processes to digital computation.

Hito Steyerl, „Proxy Politics: Signal and Noise.“ eflux journal 2014, no. 60.

13. discussion of final essay themes (Tomáš Dvořák)

Recommended or required reading:

see course contents

texts available at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B36pcjuZK5yyUW1rVWNzMXRBclU

Assessment methods and criteria:

The two main requirements for completing the course are:

attendance (you cannot miss more than 2 classes, in serious cases announced in advance, you may compensate for missing more lectures by another - typically written - assignment: this needs to be consulted beforehand with the lecturer)

turning in all required assignments (if you fail to submit only one of the presentations, your final grade is F):

1st written assignment: a critical analysis of a given scholarly text, 2-3 pages, deadline: 10 April 2017

2nd written assignment: final essay on a given topic, 5-10 pages, deadline: 29 May 2017

the exam will have the form of a discussion of both texts with the teacher

Course web page:

Note:

On alternate year for 1. and 2. class

Schedule for winter semester 2016/2017:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2016/2017:

	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	místnost 112 Učebna KF 112 (Lažanský palác) DVOŘÁK T. 13:10–14:45 (přednášková par. 1)
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	13:10–14:45	Tomáš DVOŘÁK	Učebna KF 112 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Photography EN - Bachelor (qualification subject)