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Cursus: GE3V13015
GE3V13015
Politics of Images
Cursus informatie
CursuscodeGE3V13015
Studiepunten (EC)7,5
Cursusdoelen
By the end of the course, students will:
  • contextualise and analyse relevant written and visual primary sources
  • be able to evaluate historiography critically and place it within a wider debate
  • be able to work both independently and in small groups to communicate findings in written and oral form
  • have formed an opinion about the role of both artists and visual culture more generally in society in times of conflict and today
Inhoud

LAS and TCS students who follow this course as part of the core curriculum of their major, need to complete a compulsory preparation course/assignment. See for more information: https://tcs.sites.uu.nl/

About this course:

The politics of images can work largely in two ways: On the one hand, images, artworks and visual artefacts can embody, convey and perform political messages by way of their context of production or their iconography. On the other hand, practices of using, handling, placing and looking at images can be embedded in highly political contexts which may also shift over time.

In this course, we will thus look at both the politics of images, and at the politics that have been connected to the interpretation, valuation and conservation of images or other items of cultural heritage during the modern period.

A particular focus will be on the circulation of such images and objects between political systems, institutions and frameworks of interpretation. This includes e.g. perspectives on the political history of museums, on preservation and ownership of cultural heritage, on political implications of iconoclasm, or on the relation between assumed centers and peripheries of the contemporary global art world.

Each lecture will present a case study, taking its cue from a politically charged image or set of images, while the seminar sessions will be dedicated to the discussion of seminal texts on the politics of images and image interpretation in the modern period. 
Questions to keep in mind throughout the course include:

  • In what ways does visual culture play a role in the construction – or contestation – of political messages or identities?
  • How does visual culture reflect and/or impact social and political action?
  • What is the relation between art, heritage and visual culture?
  • How are the biographies of artworks, images and artefacts connected to political histories?
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