Module Outline
Art and architecture exists only in relation to its geographical and historical contexts. Through a balanced series of lectures and site visits (four per term), this module will explore the relationships between art, architecture and visual culture, and the spaces, places and localities from which they emerge. Moreover, we will aim to understand the cultures which produced these spaces, and the cultures they, in turn, produce, in order to interrogate the relationships between spaces and the people who inhabit(ed) them.
If you have an interest in the visual and would like to know more about `why` and `how` the visual works in the much wider context of the everyday, then a one term module in the skills of art history will be of interest to you. `Space, Place, Locality' is an introductory skills module for students of art history and those interested in the visual and in visual culture, aiming to equip students with the fundamental tools of art-historical enquiry and academic study, from writing and research, to discussing and analysing art and buildings in the real world beyond the classroom.
Over ten weeks, we will visit four modern and contemporary galleries, buildings, places and spaces in Essex, London and the South East of England – from places and spaces perhaps including galleries and museums, via churches, cathedrals and ruins, to parks, piers, power-stations and prisons. Each trip, buttressed by lectures and guided independent study, will involve an associated skills task. Designed to offer you the key skills of visual and socio-cultural analysis which will enable you to engage with a broad range of art works and buildings, this module is intended to develop your understanding of why images, buildings and things appear as they do, and how their contexts have constrained and produced particular responses. This module is also designed to develop your transferable skills as we consider the visual arts in various broad contexts and the impact that art has on our lives.
AIMS
This introductory module aims:
* to introduce students to a wide range of methods, research materials, scholarly approaches and relevant terminology associated with a study of art history, architecture and the visual;
* to stimulate students to develop skills in oral and written communication through essays, debate in seminars and written exercises;
* to introduce students to original works of art and architecture in galleries, museums and in situ as appropriate, in addition to their classroom studies.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. a sound grasp of the history, art and culture of the sites visited;
2. the ability to interpret art in situ based on sound knowledge of the appropriate historical and interpretative contexts;
3. the confidence to subject the artworks seen and texts studied to critical analysis;
4. some experience in textual analysis relevant to works and theoretical debates;
5. an ability to analyse works of art in situ, both with preparation and sight-unseen;
6. an ability to talk lucidly about art and buildings in situ.
By the end of the module, students should also have acquired a set of transferable skills, and in particular be able to:
* define the task in which they are engaged and exclude what is irrelevant;
* seek and organise the most relevant discussions and sources of information;
* process a large volume of diverse and sometimes conflicting arguments;
* compare and evaluate different arguments and assess the limitations of their own position or procedure;
* write and present verbally a succinct and precise account of positions, arguments, and their presuppositions and implications;
* be sensitive to the positions of others and communicate their own views in ways that are accessible to them;
* think 'laterally' and creatively (i.e., to explore interesting connections and possibilities, and to present these clearly rather than as vague hunches);
* maintain intellectual flexibility and revise their own position based on feedback;
* think critically and constructively.
This introductory module aims:
- to introduce students to a wide range of methods, research materials, scholarly approaches and relevant terminology associated with a study of art history, architecture and the visual;
- to stimulate students to develop skills in oral and written communication through essays, debate in seminars and written exercises;
- to introduce students to original works of art and architecture in galleries, museums and in situ as appropriate, in addition to their classroom studies.
Learning Outcomes:
a sound grasp of the history, art and culture of the sites visited;
the ability to interpret art in situ based on sound knowledge of the appropriate historical and interpretative contexts;
the confidence to subject the artworks seen and texts studied to critical analysis;
some experience in textual analysis relevant to works and theoretical debates;
an ability to analyse works of art in situ, both with preparation and sight-unseen;
an ability to talk lucidly about art and buildings in situ.