Content (Syllabus outline)
The course relates architectural theory and practice to the visual culture and cultural practices in general.
The theory of visual culture takes an interdisciplinary view on cultural practices of visual culture, and deals with with visual arts, architecture, design, film, photography, fashion, new media and advertising.
Visual culture not only focuses on the history of visual and high art but also deals with various visual phenomena of everyday life and cultural practices and the use of images in social, political and cultural context.
Due to the pressures of the global economy, cultural production and everyday culture, architecture – inherently bound to the territorial context - does not and can not remain indifferent. As an introduction to the understanding of architectural and cultural practices, that (also) produce images, the course familiarises students with the meaning of visual literacy, the process of creation of meaning, the role of ideologies and different historical and cultural contexts that are reflected in the issues of presentation and representation, vision and the visual, poiesis and mimesis, created, natural and cosmic order, ethics and aesthetics, narrative, transcendental, etc.
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
• analyse architectural projects in the context of visual culture graphically and/or textually
• compare developments in the field of visual culture in general and architecture in particular
• research and identify those contents in the field of the visual, which enable one to establish a critical relation to architecture and cultural production
• critically asses and reflect on connections between past and contemporary architectural concepts and their visual characteristics
• reflection of global movements in the field of the visual, and an understanding of the importance of cultural diversity, local and identity
Readings
– Čeferin, P. (ur.), Tektonika v arhitekturi : Frampton - Semper - Bötticher. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2014.
– Čeferin, P., Niti uporaben niti estetski objekt: Strukturna logika arhitekture. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2016.
– Erjavec, A., Ljubezen na zadnji pogled. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2004.
– Hall, S., Evans, E., ur., Visual Culture: The Reader. London: Sage, 1999.
– Harries, K., Ethical Function of Architecture. Cambridge, London: MIT Press, 1997.
– Howells, R., Visual Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003.
– Leach, N., ur., Rethinking Architecture, A Reader in Cultural Theory. London, New York: Routledge, 1997.
– Jay, M., Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French thought. Berkley: California, 1993.
– Perez-Gomez, A., Pelletier, L., Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge. Cambridge, London: MIT Press, 1997.
– Rampley, M., Exploring Visual Culture: Definitions, Concepts, Contexts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.
– Šenk, P., Kapsula: tipologija druge arhitekture. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2015.
– Šenk, P. (ur.), Funkcija v arhitekturi: Sullivan – Meyer – Arnheim - Adorno – Pallasmaa. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2020.
– Vesely, D., Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation. Cambridge, London: MIT Press 2004.
