TAD2106

Ideas and form in visual culture

3 points
* 2 hours lecture/tutorial and 4 independent study hours per week
* Second semester
* Caulfield and Peninsula
* Prerequisites: TAD1101 and TAD1102

Objectives On the successful completion of the subject, students should understand certain aspects of the formal basis to art and design this century; be familiar with how non-representational imagery may communicate; appreciate some major ideas that have contributed to the variety of the art and design of the twentieth century.

Synopsis This subject looks at the impact of abstraction on art and design. The ideas and issues underpinning the separation of representational imagery and its means of presentation are considered in regard to major art and design developments. The impact of movements like suprematism, constructivism, de Stijl and also the Bauhaus on the use of space, colour, content, typography etc., are studied, to show how these have formed that basis of trends that are relevant to art and design in the present. Photography is explored in relation to the development of a photographic aesthetic, dependent on formal considerations and the impact of abstraction on film is also discussed. The emphasis is on the exploration of ideas that have been instrumental in the development of visual culture.

Assessment Research essay: 50%
* Seminar presentation: 50%

Recommended texts

Hoffert B Art notes Longman Cheshire, 1993
Hoffert B Art in diversity Longman Cheshire, 1989
Meggs P A History of graphic design Van Nostrand, 1983
Arnheim R Art and visual perception U California P
Barthes R Image, music, art Fontana