Visual and Cultural Studies: new subjects, methods, and teaching strategies
2004-2006, Minsk - Vilnius
2004-2006, Minsk - Vilnius
Visual and cultural studies is the new interdisciplinary direction which appeared on the crossing of philosophy, cultural studies, aesthetics, art studies and investigate specificity of modern culture as visual cultures visual par excellence. The modern visual culture covers such various in means of expressions and in its "ideology" cultural phenomena as cinema, design, TV, photography, conceptual art, «public art», advertising etc. Variety of visual practices corresponds also to the plurality of the theoretical approaches used for their analysis - from semiotics and the feministic criticism to the paradigm of «Cultural Studies» and post-structuralism philosophy.
The project aims at:
- the analysis of forms and meanings of various visual activities, which define the specificity of modern culture in the context of social and economic transformations;
- the researching of theoretical approaches (and their critical potential) in whose frameworks the cultural phenomena designated above were considered in the 20th century and the multiplicity of which represent the plurality of discourses about the visual (their polyphony) in the modern culture;
- revealing of the specificity of the Soviet and Post-Soviet visual practices, their connections with dominating ideological projects, their historical determinancy, their formal-aesthetic parametres and substantial transformations;
- the explication of the foreign and domestic (Russian-speaking) philosophical, psychoanalytic, feministic, semiotic methodologies, which form the theoretical kernel of the paradigm of visual/cultural researches, and, correspondently in the long term the realisation of this conceptual project by the regional academic communities;
- working out of the curricula and plans of interdisciplinary specialisation in cultural and visual studies with the use of multimedia technologies and various visual means (alternatively to the cultural approach).
- the analysis of forms and meanings of various visual activities, which define the specificity of modern culture in the context of social and economic transformations;
- the researching of theoretical approaches (and their critical potential) in whose frameworks the cultural phenomena designated above were considered in the 20th century and the multiplicity of which represent the plurality of discourses about the visual (their polyphony) in the modern culture;
- revealing of the specificity of the Soviet and Post-Soviet visual practices, their connections with dominating ideological projects, their historical determinancy, their formal-aesthetic parametres and substantial transformations;
- the explication of the foreign and domestic (Russian-speaking) philosophical, psychoanalytic, feministic, semiotic methodologies, which form the theoretical kernel of the paradigm of visual/cultural researches, and, correspondently in the long term the realisation of this conceptual project by the regional academic communities;
- working out of the curricula and plans of interdisciplinary specialisation in cultural and visual studies with the use of multimedia technologies and various visual means (alternatively to the cultural approach).
Project problems:
* Acquaintance of participants with modern academic approaches, concepts and methods of teaching in the field of visual and cultural researches.
* Organization of productive academic dialogue and creative cooperation between theorists and practitioners of modern visual culture.
* Rendering of academic-methodical help to young university lecturers in working out of new interdisciplinary courses, programs and educational modules in the field of visual and cultural researches from the leading experts, invited to teach at summer schools;
* Creation of conditions for formation of regional academic community of new generation, for activization and professional growth of young university teachers, for expansion of professional communications with young colleagues from Post-Soviet region and countries of Eastern Europe.
* Inclusion of educational-research process at Post-Soviet universities into the international context not at the level of translation of “similar ideas”, but at the level of constant communication with international research community and development of own theoretical concepts and teaching forms.
* Approximation of theorists and practitioners, search of forms of co-operation between the intellectuals teaching at universities, and the people who directly work in cultural sphere. Young teachers should be ready not only to realize new educational programs at universities, but also to participate actively in formation of the cultural policy of the countries and cooperation with media.
* Acquaintance of participants with modern academic approaches, concepts and methods of teaching in the field of visual and cultural researches.
* Organization of productive academic dialogue and creative cooperation between theorists and practitioners of modern visual culture.
* Rendering of academic-methodical help to young university lecturers in working out of new interdisciplinary courses, programs and educational modules in the field of visual and cultural researches from the leading experts, invited to teach at summer schools;
* Creation of conditions for formation of regional academic community of new generation, for activization and professional growth of young university teachers, for expansion of professional communications with young colleagues from Post-Soviet region and countries of Eastern Europe.
* Inclusion of educational-research process at Post-Soviet universities into the international context not at the level of translation of “similar ideas”, but at the level of constant communication with international research community and development of own theoretical concepts and teaching forms.
* Approximation of theorists and practitioners, search of forms of co-operation between the intellectuals teaching at universities, and the people who directly work in cultural sphere. Young teachers should be ready not only to realize new educational programs at universities, but also to participate actively in formation of the cultural policy of the countries and cooperation with media.
Visual Studies of Immedia: Exploring Postmodern Immediacy of Mass Media
Project description:
The seminar aims at the collaborative analysis of how contemporary media (cinema, TV, Internet) re-configure the correlation of form and content of the message (formats of communicative mediation as an “immediate” content), the narrative and the visual, the global and the local, the private and the public experience of individuals in the new space of global communications. Participants’ team-work in the course of the seminar is focused on the elaboration of the model for the renewal of education in visual media, journalism and Communication Studies in post-Soviet countries.
Project duration – 2 years (September 2007 - September 2009).
The first year of the project is organized along the lines of theoretical and methodological inquiry of contemporary approaches to visual media, while the second year will be more focused on the didactic issues (how to incorporate new approaches to studying media culture into University curriculum, how to implement media formats into the practices of teaching) and the forms of interaction between academia and mass media which has to do with the role of intellectuals in public sphere and the social relevance of University knowledge. The format and profile of Challenge Seminar presupposes a variety of forms and ways of cooperation and interaction between resource faculty, participants and invited media practitioners. We envisage lectures, seminars, master-classes, the workshops of digital video production; round-table discussions; the collective production of multimedia didactic materials and so on.
The project builds upon previous work in HESP Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching Rethinking Visual and Cultural Studies: new subjects, methods and teaching strategies (EHU, 2003 – 2006).
The seminar aims at the collaborative analysis of how contemporary media (cinema, TV, Internet) re-configure the correlation of form and content of the message (formats of communicative mediation as an “immediate” content), the narrative and the visual, the global and the local, the private and the public experience of individuals in the new space of global communications. Participants’ team-work in the course of the seminar is focused on the elaboration of the model for the renewal of education in visual media, journalism and Communication Studies in post-Soviet countries.
Project duration – 2 years (September 2007 - September 2009).
The first year of the project is organized along the lines of theoretical and methodological inquiry of contemporary approaches to visual media, while the second year will be more focused on the didactic issues (how to incorporate new approaches to studying media culture into University curriculum, how to implement media formats into the practices of teaching) and the forms of interaction between academia and mass media which has to do with the role of intellectuals in public sphere and the social relevance of University knowledge. The format and profile of Challenge Seminar presupposes a variety of forms and ways of cooperation and interaction between resource faculty, participants and invited media practitioners. We envisage lectures, seminars, master-classes, the workshops of digital video production; round-table discussions; the collective production of multimedia didactic materials and so on.
The project builds upon previous work in HESP Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching Rethinking Visual and Cultural Studies: new subjects, methods and teaching strategies (EHU, 2003 – 2006).
Discipline and Method: on the theoretical identity of Visual Studies
Dates: April 22 – May 2, 2010
Dates: April 22 – May 2, 2010
Goals and aims:
A special session on the methods and research agendas of Visual Studies is organized in cooperation with two other HESP projects, namely – Alternative Cultures BeyondBorders and Philosophy and Media, however, participants from other HESP projects could also apply.
The seminar’s major goal is to analyze and discuss what has been done in the region (achieved, failed, challenged, questioned?) in the field of Visual Culture studies over the course of the last ten years, with a focus on conceptual ideas, research agendas and teaching methods in Visual Studies .
The increasing accessibility (‘democratization’) of audiovisual and multimedia technologies, the radical transformation of media landscapes in the age of Internet, the growing economic importance of the creative industries’ sector, the omnipresence of sophisticated forms of electronic surveillance and control, etc. – all this leads to a rethinking of the role of visual images in our everyday life, as well as in the process of learning, mastering and exploring the world. There is no doubt that Visual Studies have become more or less successfully established in academia in many countries: there are almost no scholars or teachers left who totally avoid using visual tools in their research and teaching practices. However, the ‘ideologies’ of Visual Studies, as well as their theoretical ‘styles’ and research priorities vary considerably from place to place.
We started developing our vision of what Visual Studies is about and what it can become in Eastern Europe with an ambition to promote new interdisciplinary scholarship in the region which would be, on the one hand, “adjusted” to the trends and traditions existing in western Visual Studies; and on the other, would foster the development of local research centers, educational programs and original ideas. The conditions for the implementation of these ideas and projects at the institutional level are not generally favorable in Post-Soviet universities, yet in some places, sometimes rather ‘remote’ from capital cities and internationally known centers of research, new projects and initiatives may advance faster and further, depending on the situation, and on the community and networks of scholars.
This event gives us an opportunity to discuss the experience of the institutionalization of Visual Studies (its good and bad sides, assets and disadvantages), and of conceptual ‘marriages’ between disciplines which deal with the use of visual images; the creating of a new generation of teaching materials, of ‘must-be’ core disciplines and theories in university programs, of setting up new research agendas and of the elaboration of new techniques and means of teaching in the age of the ‘visual turn’.
Therefore, we consider this seminar to be a ‘meeting point’ between:
• western and post-Soviet scholars;
• between old and new HESP projects;
• Between scholars who work in different disciplines (including other than Visual Studies), namely, in history, anthropology, political sciences, law, sociology, etc.)
A special session on the methods and research agendas of Visual Studies is organized in cooperation with two other HESP projects, namely – Alternative Cultures BeyondBorders and Philosophy and Media, however, participants from other HESP projects could also apply.
The seminar’s major goal is to analyze and discuss what has been done in the region (achieved, failed, challenged, questioned?) in the field of Visual Culture studies over the course of the last ten years, with a focus on conceptual ideas, research agendas and teaching methods in Visual Studies .
The increasing accessibility (‘democratization’) of audiovisual and multimedia technologies, the radical transformation of media landscapes in the age of Internet, the growing economic importance of the creative industries’ sector, the omnipresence of sophisticated forms of electronic surveillance and control, etc. – all this leads to a rethinking of the role of visual images in our everyday life, as well as in the process of learning, mastering and exploring the world. There is no doubt that Visual Studies have become more or less successfully established in academia in many countries: there are almost no scholars or teachers left who totally avoid using visual tools in their research and teaching practices. However, the ‘ideologies’ of Visual Studies, as well as their theoretical ‘styles’ and research priorities vary considerably from place to place.
We started developing our vision of what Visual Studies is about and what it can become in Eastern Europe with an ambition to promote new interdisciplinary scholarship in the region which would be, on the one hand, “adjusted” to the trends and traditions existing in western Visual Studies; and on the other, would foster the development of local research centers, educational programs and original ideas. The conditions for the implementation of these ideas and projects at the institutional level are not generally favorable in Post-Soviet universities, yet in some places, sometimes rather ‘remote’ from capital cities and internationally known centers of research, new projects and initiatives may advance faster and further, depending on the situation, and on the community and networks of scholars.
This event gives us an opportunity to discuss the experience of the institutionalization of Visual Studies (its good and bad sides, assets and disadvantages), and of conceptual ‘marriages’ between disciplines which deal with the use of visual images; the creating of a new generation of teaching materials, of ‘must-be’ core disciplines and theories in university programs, of setting up new research agendas and of the elaboration of new techniques and means of teaching in the age of the ‘visual turn’.
Therefore, we consider this seminar to be a ‘meeting point’ between:
• western and post-Soviet scholars;
• between old and new HESP projects;
• Between scholars who work in different disciplines (including other than Visual Studies), namely, in history, anthropology, political sciences, law, sociology, etc.)
Thematic focuses:
• visual literacy and visual competence in the humanities and sciences;
• the development and legitimization of visual methods in social research.
• Visual Studies vis-à-vis the creation of sub-disciplinary trends of Visual Studies: back to disciplinary ‘niches’?
• the forms of Visual Studies around the world: ‘ideologies’, histories of institutionalization, ‘styles’ and perspectives;
• modes of knowledge production in Visual Studies and of the dissemination and promotion of this knowledge (it would be important to discuss, for instance, which novel or original ideas scholars from Eastern European countries have produced in this field over the course of the last 10-20 years; whether these ideas get ‘transferred’ and adopted by western academia and so on);
• “Teaching in a world full of images”: edutainment without limits? The use of visual images in the class: what for, when and with what effects?
• How has the evolution of Visual Studies reshaped the traditional University programs of Culturology, Film Theory, Art History and Museum Studies? The structural and institutional conditions for the implementation of new curricula and the establishment of undergraduate and graduate programs in Visual Studies?
• the social relevance of Visual Studies: what does it help us to understand and how can this knowledge be used/spread/mediated?
• “Visualize it!” – knowledge production and the forms of its mediation in the televisual and alternative media age;
• visual literacy and visual competence in the humanities and sciences;
• the development and legitimization of visual methods in social research.
• Visual Studies vis-à-vis the creation of sub-disciplinary trends of Visual Studies: back to disciplinary ‘niches’?
• the forms of Visual Studies around the world: ‘ideologies’, histories of institutionalization, ‘styles’ and perspectives;
• modes of knowledge production in Visual Studies and of the dissemination and promotion of this knowledge (it would be important to discuss, for instance, which novel or original ideas scholars from Eastern European countries have produced in this field over the course of the last 10-20 years; whether these ideas get ‘transferred’ and adopted by western academia and so on);
• “Teaching in a world full of images”: edutainment without limits? The use of visual images in the class: what for, when and with what effects?
• How has the evolution of Visual Studies reshaped the traditional University programs of Culturology, Film Theory, Art History and Museum Studies? The structural and institutional conditions for the implementation of new curricula and the establishment of undergraduate and graduate programs in Visual Studies?
• the social relevance of Visual Studies: what does it help us to understand and how can this knowledge be used/spread/mediated?
• “Visualize it!” – knowledge production and the forms of its mediation in the televisual and alternative media age;
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