VSA1010

Contemporary visual culture

Leigh Astbury

6 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon completion of this subject students will have developed skills of visual analysis; understand the role of visual culture in the formation of cultural identity; be able to make informed, critical judgements about various forms of contemporary visual culture.

Synopsis This introductory subject aims to acquaint students with basic principles of visual analysis, and to develop in students an understanding of the visual characteristics of contemporary culture, through the study of selected aspects of recent Australian art, architecture, photography, and so on. Discussion will involve consideration of the visual dimensions of various issues and ideas such as the urban and suburban experience, Aboriginality and Australia's relationship with Asia, cultural identity and nationalism, the role of art and architecture in the public realm, and questions concerning the body and representation.

Assessment First essay (1500 words): 25%
* Second essay (2000 words): 50%
* Visual test (1 hour): 25%

Prescribed texts

Willis A-M Illusions of identity: The art of nation Hale and Iremonger, 1993

Recommended texts

Caruana W Aboriginal art Thames and Hudson, 1993
During S (ed.) The cultural studies reader Routledge, 1993
Taylor P (ed.) Anything goes: Art in Australia 1970- 1980 Art and Text, 1984
Willis A-M Picturing Australia: A history of photography Angus and Robertson, 1988
Wood P and others Modernism in dispute: Art since the forties Yale U P, 1993