Icono|Graphy: Interactions of Image and Text

Course Level: 
Master’s
Course Open to: 
Students on-site
Academic Year: 
2022-2023
Term: 
Fall
US Credits: 
2
ECTS Credits: 
4
Course Code: 
HIST5237
Course Description: 

Baroque allegory and urban graffiti, scientific illustration and captioned press photo, music video and typographic film, ancient pictogram and digital hypertext … the intersections of image and writing are numberless. The course will explore this heterogeneous field of cultural practices and media techniques by focusing on selected instances of ‘textual imagery’ or ‘pictorial script’ from prehistory to contemporary software. On the one hand, it addresses the genealogy of mechanic, photographic, electronic, and digital devices (stone tablet, typewriter, video, computer code …) as a series of material operators that pass on immaterial information and cultural knowledge in ever-changing icono/graphic forms. On the other hand, the course links this techno-history of image and letter to wider theoretical reflections on the two modes of representation. We will discuss their philosophical foundations, their conceptual contact zones, and their impact on cultural discourses with reference to semiotics, post/structuralism, media archaeology and the history of science & knowledge. Finally – and apart from analyzing how the dynamic rel(oc)ations of image and letter are inevitably entangled in issues of politics, power, gender, memory and identity – the course will deepen the students’ awareness of their own media reception and output, including their use of academic text and image sources.

Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be introduced to a variety of  IMAGE-TEXT-RELATIONS, especially with respect to their use in historical, cultural, social, and political contexts. They will  establish connections between specific MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND THEORETICAL CONCEPTS. The discussion of texts, images, and web-resources will contribute to their  ABILITY TO 2 EVALUATE DISCURSIVE AS WELL AS VISUAL ARGUMENTS in a structured and critical manner. The participants will train their  SKILLS OF SYNTHESIS AND COMMUNICATION through discussion, in-class presentations and written papers. They will have the opportunity to  APPLY THEIR PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE in the form of audio/visual research works.

Assessment: 
  • Attendance and active participation: 15%        
  • In-class presentation: 30%
  • Accompanying handout: 10%
  • Final paper or final audiovisual work: 45%
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