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The City - Boundary Transgressions and Visual Expressions
What is this phenomenon that we today refer to as “city”? How did it come about and how did the concept of urbanity develop? How are individuals affected by city surroundings and, conversely, how is the urban context affected by the social and visual practices of the individual? In what ways can we attempt to understand, describe and account for these processes? These are examples of some of the key theoretical and methodological issues of this course, and, if you share our interest in these and similar issues concerning the city and the role of people within it, this course is for you.
The course is in the second cycle of studies and is the result of a collaboration between the division of Art History and Visual Studies and the division of Social Anthropology. A central component of the course is a group project in which students from Art History and Visual Studies, Architecture, Design, Social Anthropology, Sociology and Human Geography get the opportunity to work across the disciplines on an empirical study of one or more city environments.
The subject focus is the city as a visual and social phenomenon, in the past and in the present. The street spaces and place formations of cities constantly affect the movements and life practices of people, just as people affect the urban space with their practices. Through a combination of visual analyses and ethnographical approaches, the subject will be discussed from the point of view of, on the one hand, how power is manifested in urban planning, signage and surveillance and, on the other, how this discourse of power is reflected, transformed, subverted and transcended by individuals and groups, thereby contributing to the characteristic diversity of living street environments.
The course is introduced by a survey of the historical development of the city and the public sphere, focusing on the life of citizens and using examples from Europe as well as other parts of the world. Furthermore, we will discuss how the visual images of cities work, partly as representations and partly as orchestrations of urban life through the creation of a bias that governs our actions and what we perceive to be our scope for action. There will also be lectures on the methodology of Social Anthropology and Art History and Visual Studies, focusing on how the different subjects can be combined in practice. These historical, theoretical and methodological perspectives lay the foundation for the students’ group work and independent study of contemporary street culture that are the primary components of the course.
As preparation for this major project, the students will participate in methodological seminars and workshops and will get the opportunity to discuss street art as an art form and transgressive signs as visual ethnographic projects with the internationally recognised artist Asbjørn Skou/Armsrock. They will also work on a minor empirical pilot project prior to their travel to Berlin.
The independent project that is the main component of the course consists of a short field study in Berlin in the spring semester 2012. Students will work on an independently selected aspect of visual and social street culture, which will be described, analysed and interpreted through individual empirical investigations. The field study is to result in a written report and a seminar in which students will present their empirical observations and interpretations, as well as their experiences of and reflections on the methodology. The idea is that these reflections and the collaboration between students from different disciplines may lead to an improvement of the methodological approaches adopted during the course and, possibly, to completely new ways of investigating the city as a phenomenon. The final project reports are intended to make up a stock of knowledge that future students can consult and base their own work on.
Last modified 22 Feb 2012
KOVR01
Art History and Visual Studies: The City - Boundary Transgressions Visual Expressions, 15 ECTS credits
Peter Bengtsen
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
E-mail:
Peter.Bengtsen@kultur.lu.se