Brief description

Module Title: SPECIALIST MODULE 2: PHOTO-PSYCHE/PHOTO-GRAPHY: PHOTOGRAPHY AS A MEDIATOR OF THE REAL

Academic Year: 2002/3

Co-ordinator: Chris Webster

Other Staff:   

Semester: 1

Course Delivery: Lecture/Seminars: 10 hrs
Research Presentations: 3 hrs
Tutorials: 3 hrs
   Practicals: 0 hr
   WorkshopsL 0 hr
Study Time: 84 hrs (General reading, Essay preparation, and Examination revision)

Assessment Essay:   100%

Brief Description
The module deals with the intimate relationship between the human psyche and the photograph. It introduces concepts related to the historical image in context, and the application of the camera as a powerful tool of construction of ideas. There is a focus on the paradoxical position of photography within the struggle to affirm the spiritual in both the metaphorical allusions of artists using the camera to photographs of spirit extras by those claiming a psychic link with the afterlife.

Syllabus

This structure is given for guidance only:

1 Introducing the course and issues.
2 Opticks: light as a visual metaphor
3 Mirror with a memory: the Daguerreotype revisited
4 Memento Mori I: The image of death in the nineteenth century
5   Memento Mori: Conquering Mortality (Early Portraits).
5 Ghost images: The rise and use of spirit photography
6 The window of metaphors: the photograph as God
7 Photography and the body: Joel Peter Witkin a case study
8 Memento Mori II: contemporary images of death
9 UFO’s, Bogies and ghosts: imaging the unreal
11 Slide review and examination of the course
12 Class research Presentations

Skill Development

The module will assist the development of the following academic and transferable skills:

· Self-directed project work -- through the production of the essay
· IT and information handling -- you will be expected to word-process the essay and search the internet for research sources. Where appropriate, supporting work may be generated using computer-graphic software in consultation with individual tutors and subject to the availability of existing resources.
· Writing in an academic context -- The essay will be composed in accordance with academic conventions.
· Oral discussion and presentation -- These will be developed in the context of class discussions and seminars and presentations
· Self-management -- you will be expected to construct a realistic timetable for the completion of discrete phases of research and writing in consultation with their supervisors.
· Group activity – regular seminar discussions.

Assessment

Components

Essay (100%) (5000 words minimum to 7,000 words maximum).

Conditions
The assessed element must be passed.

Bibliography
Barthes, R. Camera Lucida: London: Cape 1982
Brooke, R. Jung and phenomenology: OLD COLLEGE BF173.J9.B8
B. Coe and M. Haworth-Booth, A Guide to Early Photographic Processes, London: Victoria and Albert Museum 1983
Jeffery, I. Photography: A Concise History, London: Thames and Hudson 1981
Jung, C.G. Flying Saucers; a modern myth of things seen in the sky: Hull 1987 OLD COLLEGE BF173.J9
Malcolm, J. Diana and Nikon, Mass: David and Godine 1980
Mitford, M. The American Way of Death, London: Hutchinson 1963
Susan Sontag, On Photography, London: Penguin 1979
Warwick. Experiments in psychics, New York: E.P. Dutton and co. 1939

Aims
The module should enable you to:
.
A. study the development of specific applications of photography from 1839 to the present
B. examine the hypothesis that western culture has used and recognises the photograph as a substitute for reality
C. encourage students to develop convictions regarding the debates surrounding photography today
D. cultivate an ability and confidence to examine and compare ways in which photography is discussed and written about
E. develop a critical apparatus and criteria to evaluate specific images
F. sharpen students powers of judgement
G. form ideas relating to the interconnectedness of visual art disciplines
H. develop a specific program of research and a research methodology
I. undertake a systematic inquiry within a prescribed framework
J. form and test hypotheses

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you are expected to be able to:
1. research and compose an essay that clearly demonstrates an ability to contextualize, reflect upon, and critically appraise an aspect of art history (Aims: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
2. formulate ideas and opinions in a substantiated and orderly manner (Aims: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
3. analyse particular photographs in order to show an informed awareness of their possible reading (Aims: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
4. critique specific approaches to the medium of photography and contextualise these approaches in relation to the work of lens-based artists (Aims: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)

Relation to Assessment
Outcomes 1, 2, 3 & 4 are assessed through the extended essay and the class presentation where the research for the essay is presented to your peers