1 PHI 4930-003 Philosophy of Images and Photography Spring 2018 Dr
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PHI 4930-003 Philosophy of Images and Photography Spring 2018 Dr. Robert Leib Florida Atlantic University [email protected] ; rleib.wordpress.com Texts: ·The Photographer’s Playbook, edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern (‘PP’) ·On Photography, Susan Sontag ·Visual Thinking, Rudolf Arnheim ·A Primer of Visual Literacy, Donis A. Dondis ·Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes ·Pandora’s Camera, Joan Fontcuberta ·Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin (Penguin Great Ideas) ·Photography After Frank, Philip Gefter Amazon Booklist: http://a.co/hSsVrtN ($70-$80 used) You will also need: Camera (analog, digital, smartphone, etc.) and $40 to produce your own photo book at the end of the semester. Course Blog: https://philosophyofimages.wordpress.com A camera is an extension of our memories, a powerful tool if we understand its grammar. It is also a material force that is reshaping the way we live and look at one another. And many of us have them with us at all times. We act in conversation with them. We see that a camera at the right place and the right time is potentially world altering. Given the relative newness of photography as a technological practice, but at the same time, recognizing the strength of its influence in our increasingly image-driven social worlds, this is a course on philosophy and photography that is needed. Of design, it is equal parts theoretical, visual, and actively productive. This syllabus aims to produce students who are better able to think, express themselves, and understand others in images, while rigorously coming to grips with the best photographic theory philosophy has to offer thus far. This class is unique in the country, and I personally believe it is important for today’s philosopher, literary theorist, or visual artist. We are all photographers now, one could argue. 1 Beyond the course texts, this syllabus incurs no additional expense for those with camera phones. The practical component of the syllabus is built upon The Photographer’s Playbook, edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern. Students will complete seven photo assignments throughout the semester, posted to this blog, and produce one physical photo book as their final project, to be donated to FAU’s new Lester Embree Memorial Philosophy Library at the end of the term. Reading and Assignment Schedule: The question of the photographic image can be explored under the following designations, practices, and frames: Week Readings, Viewings, Links Possible Photographer’s Playbook Assignments Week 1: Note: The week a photo set is listed Images as Jan 9) Orientation Day; Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Republic: is the week in which we will begin Images https://web.stanford.edu/class/ihum40/cave.pdf talking about that set of assignments. All assignments will be Jan 11) Susan Sontag, “In Plato’s Cave”, On Photography, pp. 3-24 due the week of Apr 17. Overall, you will choose seven con-current, semester long projects to complete; you will revise one of these into a physical photo book. Week 2: Photography Jan 16) Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking, Chs 2&3, pp. 1-53 Set A, Complete one: as a kind of • Interpreting Light, by Gary Perception Donis A. Dondis, A Primer of Visual Literacy, Chs 1-3, pp. 1-66 Schneider, pp. 308 – optics • Unintended consequences by James Elkins, “How to Look at Color”, pp. 202-211, and “How to Asha Schechter, pp. 300 – Look at a Map”, pp. 126-130, How to Use Your Eyes getting started/editing • What Matters by Thomas Roma, pp. 293 – starting out Jan 18) In class viewing: “This Equals That” by Jason Fulford • Forgetting the Game by Dan Abbe, pp. 2 In class viewing: “The Nature of Photographs” by Stephen Shore • What to Photograph? by David Company, pp. 45 2 In class viewing: “Visual Grammar” by Christian Leborg • Rules for Students in Introduction to Photography “This Photographer Messes with Your Perspective on Purpose by Lois Conner, pp. 59 (Without Photoshop)”: • Sister Corita’s Rules by https://www.visualnews.com/2016/03/04/these-room-illusion- Yolanda Cuomo, pp. 70 photographs-will-mess-with-your-head-its-not-photoshop/ • Don’t Do Anything Subversive by Tim Davis, pp. 75 • The Basics by James Estrin, pp. 98 • Suggested Suggestions by Justine Kurland, pp. 186 • Two assignments by Jessica Lancaster, pp. 192 • Intentionality by Stephen Shore, pp. 317 Week 3-4: Imagery as a Jan 23) Arnheim, Visual Thinking, Chs 8, 13 & 16 Set B, Complete one: kind of • Rockaway Beach by Able Literacy Dondis, Chs 4, 6 & 9 Brown, pp. 35 – photographs not taken Umberto Eco, “Critique of the Image”, Thinking Photography, pp. • Photos Not Taken by Rein 32-38 Jelle Terpstra, pp. 340 – writing/image text Jan 25) In class reading: “Photographs Not Taken” edited by Will Steacy • Slow Down by Tina Barney, pp.18 – learning to see Jan 30) Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida • The Coal Thieves by Ute Behrend, pp. 20 – learning to Feb 1) Workshop day- photo criticism exercises see • Our relationship to the PP: Devil’s Advocate by Sam de Groot, pp. 77 – criticism windshield by Jeff Brouws, pp. 34 – learning to see 3 Blind Jury by Jim Dow, pp. 87 – editing/criticism • Preconceived Notions by Michael Schmelling, pp. 306 Two-Minute Drill by Christopher McCall, pp. 215 – criticism – learning to see • Insecurity by Jeffery Ladd, No Answers Allowed by Judy Natal, pp. 242 – critique pp. 189 – learning to see • What Cannot Be Seen by Gerry Badger, pp. 12-13 – visual literacy • Extract the Magic by Elspeth Diederix, pp. 85 – learning to see/ visual literacy • Sequence and Series by Nathan Lyons, pp. 201 – visual literacy/editing • Sequential or Serial by Tom Patton, pp. 265 – visual literacy/editing Week 5: Photography Feb 6) Joan Fontcuberta, “The Eye of God” and “Eugenics Without Set C, Complete one: as a means of Borders” and “Documentary Fictions”, Pandora’s Camera • The Death of the Documentation Photographer by Elisabeth “Gregory Halpern on Documentary Ethics—Preoccupations, Tonnard, pp. 346 – theory of Subjectivity and Untruths” (2013): photography http://www.americansuburbx.com/2013/05/asx-interview-gregory- • Assignment 96 by John halpern-on-documentary-ethics-2013.html Baldessari, pp. 14 - scientific documentation Feb 8) Roland Barthes and Elisabeth Tonnard, The Death of the • Collaborating Across Photographer Disciplines by Richard Barnes, pp. 17 – sci documentation 4 • The Camera Never lies by Sarah Pickering, pp. 270 – documentation/fiction Week 6: Photography Feb 13) Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, selections as a Surveillance Sandra Bartky, “Foucault, Femininity and the Modernization of Mechanism Patriarchal Power”, pp. 25-45 “What does the Panopticon Mean in an Age of Digital Surveillance?”: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/23/panopticon -digital-surveillance-jeremy-bentham Feb 15) In class viewing: “The Terrorist’s Handbook” by David Schultz In class viewing: “The New Town” by Andrew Hammerand: In class viewing: “X Marks the Spot” by Joachim Schmid In class viewing: “Fifteen Minutes on Broadway” by Joachim Schmid In class viewing: “Another Twenty-Six Gas Stations” by Gregory Eddi Jones “Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations” by Ed Ruscha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP4peTvkThQ Week 7: Feb 20) Fontcuberta, “Archives Noises”, pp. 169-81 Set D, Complete one: 5 Images as “Conversation with Melissa Cantanese”, Conversations • Feedback Loop by Steve archival Fitch, pp. 110 – starting Material “Conversation with Joachim Schmid”, Conversations out/forming a project • Parameters by Christopher Brad Feuerhelm, “Archive of Decline: Social Media Photography Anderson, pp. 5- forming a in the Anthropocene” (2017): project http://www.americansuburbx.com/2017/07/archive-of-decline- • Storytelling With Pictures by social-media-photography-in-the-anthropocene.html Jane Evelyn Atwood, pp. 9- forming a project • Open Mind by Dawoud Bey, Feb 22) In class viewing: “The Mushroom Collector” by Jason Fulford: pp. 24- forming a project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYk8h284oGg • Last Seven Pictures by Michael Christopher Brown, “Other People’s Photographs” by Joachim Schmid: pp. 39 – forming a project https://otherpeoplesphotographs.wordpress.com/ • Roll a Day by Jessica Ingram, pp. 158 – forming a “Archiv” by Joachim Schmid: project https://schmid.wordpress.com/works/1986-1999-archiv/ Week 8: Imagery as Feb 27) Walter Benjamin, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction reproducible Product “Andy Warhol’s Race Riot, 1964”, 3 mins: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2014/04/asx-tv-andy-warhols- race-riot-1964.html Philip Gefter, “Photography Reveals Itself Between Covers”, Photography After Frank, pp. 178-80 Mar 1) In class viewing: “The Americans” by Robert Frank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3LnroHcNc 6 In class viewing: “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” by Walker Evans and James Agee In class viewing: “American Photographs” by Walker Evans: https://vimeo.com/69333381 Spring Break (as in ‘Break Set E, Complete two: out the Cameras!’) • Daily Destination by Ari Marcopoulos, pp. 211 – learning to see/editing/forming a project • Limitation, Routine, and Repetition, pg. – forming a project/photography as time • Depicting Consumption by Jacqueline Hassink, pp. 142 – forming a project • A Beautiful Mistake by Katia Mater, pp. 213 – forming a project • Mistakes by Massimo Vitali, pp. 362 – forming a project/learning to see • Shadow Diary by Lynn Saville, pp. 299 – composition/forming a project/editing • The Seven-Minute Game by Mike Slack, pp. 320 – forming a project • Composing in Color by Sara Terry, pp. 341 - forming a project • The Land Speed Record by Nicholas Muellner, pp. 233 – forming a project • Photographing Atmosphere by Larry Fink, pp. 107 – learning to see • Lose an Eye by Melinda Gibson, pp. 122 – learning to see • Expose Yourself by Todd Hido, pp. 149 – learning to see • The Boundaries of Imitation by Takashi Homma, pp. 152 – learning to see 7 • The Body as a Site of Perception by Sharon Harper – learning to see • Small Ideas by Robin Maddock – learning to see/editing/fiction • Photograph Something Invisible by Arthur Ou, pp.