| This course introduces to the students various aspects of visual culture, with a strong emphasis on documentary mode of representation. Beginning with workshops on narrative and non-fiction filmmaking, the course treats visuality and its production as the core of its inquiry. How is visuality different from a mere sensory facility of seeing? How is the visual filed constructed and what are, to quote John Berger, the different “ways of seeing”? By focusing on the documentary mode of representation and working closely with a semester-long documentary film series, this seminar poses crucial questions about visual culture from media such as film and photograph, to news and advertisement, from history to memory, and from places like art museums to shopping malls. The “truth” claim of vision—“seeing is believing”—is at once affirmed and challenged. Hands-on participation is emphasized in this class, from screenings to workshops, from discussions to in-class presentations. There are also several special guest visits when the students meet face to face with makers and critics of visual culture. |
