VIS 4002 Visual Aesthetics

SubjectCat-NbrClassTermModeDescriptionUnitsCampus
VIS4002151372, 2002ONCVisual Aesthetics1.00TWMBA
Academic Group:FOART
Academic Org:FOA007
HECS Band:1
ASCED Code:100300

Contents


STAFFING:

Examiner: Robyn Stewart
Moderator: Ann-Maree Reaney



SYNOPSIS:

Debates over the questions of meaning, textuality, intertextuality, history, and the subject organise contemporary aesthetic studies in the context of the visual arts. This course introduces students to a consideration of these questions through a selection of essays drawn from particular areas such as critical theory, structuralism, post- structuralism, modernism, postmodernism, aesthetic analysis, feminism and post-colonialism.


OBJECTIVES:

On successful completion of this course students will have:

  • an ability to identify key problems in the interpretations of visual and/or written texts and images;

  • a demonstrated ability to discuss and evaluate a range of critical responses to these problems;

  • a demonstrated ability for reflexivity in their critical practice.



    • TOPICS:


    DescriptionWeighting (%)
    1. The nature of aesthetic value
    		 0.00
    2. Visual Aesthetics and reading systems
    		 0.00
    3. 'Goodness' in visual art
    		 0.00
    4. Aesthetics and information society
    		 0.00
    5. Critical dialectics and the visual arts
    		 0.00
    6. The 'posts' as channels for contemporary critical theories
    		 0.00
    7. Contested terrains: history, artist and audience
    		 0.00

    TEXT and MATERIALS required to be PURCHASED or accessed:

    Books can be ordered by fax or telephone. For costs and further details use the 'Book Search' facility at http://bookshop.usq.edu.au by entering the author or title of the text.

    Visual Aesthetics: Book of Readings and study book




    REFERENCE MATERIALS:

    Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

    Adorno, T 1996, Aesthetic Theory, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

    Adorno, T, Bernstein, J M (trans.) 1991, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture, Routledge, London.

    Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G. & Tiffin, H 1998, Key Concepts in Post- Colonial Studies, Routledge, London.

    Battersby, C 1989, Gender and Genius: towards a feminist aesthetics, Women's Press, London.

    Baudrillard. P 1988, Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings, Polity Press, Cambridge.

    Benjamin, A 1991, Art, Mimesis and the Avant-Garde, Routledge, London.

    Bennett, T., Mercer, C. & Wollacott, J. (eds) 1986, Popular Culture and Social Relations, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

    Betterton, R. (ed) 1989, Looking On: Images of Feminity in the Visual Arts and Media, Pandora, London.

    Bourdieu, P 1984, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Routledge, London.

    Bourdieu, P & Wacquant, L 1992, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge.

    Brodribb, S 1992, Nothing Matters: A Feminist Critique of Postmodernism, Spinifex Press, North Melbourne.

    Broude, N. & Garrard, M 1982, Feminism and Art History, Harper & Row, New York.

    Bulloch, Stallybrass, et al (eds) 1989, Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, Fontana Press, London.

    Butler, R. (ed.) 1996, What is Appropriation?, Power Publishers & IMA, Sydney.

    Carroll, D 1987, Paraesthetics: Focault, Lyotard, Derrida, Routledge, Chapman & Hall, New York.

    Cooper, D. (ed) 1995, A Companion to Aesthetics, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Danto, A 1981, The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    de Lauretis, T 1982, Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

    Derrida, J 1987, The Truth in Painting, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Forester, J. (ed) 1985, Critical theory and Public Life, MIT Press, Cambridge Ma.

    Foster, H 1989, Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics, Bay Press, Port Townsend, Washington.

    Foster, H. (ed) 1983, The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture, Bay Press, Seattle.

    Foster, H. (ed) 1988, Vision and Visuality, New Press, New York.

    Gombrich, E H 1972, Art and Illusion, 4th edition, Phaldon, London.

    Harvey, D 1989, The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Herwitz, D.A 1993, Making theory/constructing art, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Hutcheon 1989, The Politics of Postmodernism, Routledge, London.

    Kosuth, J 1991, Art after Philosophy and after, MIT Press, Cambridge.

    Lechte, J 1994, Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers, Routledge, London.

    Lippard, L.R 1995, The Pink Glass Swan: Selected Essays on Feminist Art, New Press, New York.

    Lyotard, J 1984, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

    Meynell 1986, The Nature of Aesthetic Value, State University of New York Press, Albany.

    Mulvey, L 1989, Visual and Other Pleasures, Macmillan, Hampshire.

    Nochlin, L 1988, Women, Art and Power and other Essays, Harper & Row, Philadelphia.

    Pollock, G. (ed) 1996, Generations and Geographies in the Visual Arts: Feminist Readings, Routledge, London.

    Postman, N 1985, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, Heinemann, London.

    Prinz, J 1991, Art Discourse, Discourse in Art, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.

    Ross, S. (ed.) 1994, Art and its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory, 3rd edition, State University of New York Press, Albany.

    Russell, B 1975, History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, New York.

    Said, E 1994, Culture and Imperialism, Vintage Books, New York.

    Said, E 1990, Orientalism, Penguin, London.

    Sheppard, A 1991, Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Wexler, P 1991, Critical Theory Now, Falmer, Philadelphia.

    Williams, R 1988, Keywords, rev edn, Fontana, London.

    Wolff, J 1993, Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art, 2nd edition, Macmillan, London.

    Young, R 1990, White Mythologies, Routledge, London.

    Zolberg, V 1990, Constructing a Sociology of the Arts, Cambridge University Press, New York.




    STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

    ACTIVITYHOURS
    Private Study137
    Seminars28


    ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

    DescriptionMarks Out ofWtg(%)RequiredDue Date
    ESSAY - 2000 WORDS100.0025.00Y09 Aug 2002
    SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS100.0025.00Y08 Nov 2002 (see note 2)
    RESEARCH PAPER 3000 WORDS100.0050.00Y08 Nov 2002
    NOTES:
    2.
    Refer to Course Specifications for information about assignment due dates.

    OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

    1. The assessment format and requirements will be established as part of the original contract, and ratified by the Visual Arts Course Team.
    2. All items of assessment must be submitted.
    3. Final grade for the course will represent a cumulative score of the 3 assessment items and will be assigned in accord with Faculty guidelines.
    4. (i) Assignments submitted after the due date, and without prior approval of an extension from the examiner, will be penalised at the rate of 10% per working day up to 5 days, after which a grade of zero will be awarded. (ii) Since it is a requirement of the course that all items of assessment must be submitted, any assignments which are beyond the five working day limit will not be eligible for a grade, but must be of an acceptable standard. The assignments must be submitted by the examination date, or where there is no end-of- semester examination, by the end of the semester assessment period.