Theory of Photography 2

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Learning outcomes of the course unit:

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.

Mode of study:

The course is an introduction to the main problems of the theory of photography

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

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).

Course contents:

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

Recommended or required reading:

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.

Assessment methods and criteria:

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).

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No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans: