okay, it's visual/material/media culture, or whatever you want to call the by-products of our super-visual society.
it's a pretty all encompassing topic, but for whatever reason, the phrase 'visual culture' or the like causes instant polarization. semantics aside, i'm really interested in visual culture as this huge untapped resource for learning about... everything ever. this enormous part of everyone's collective existence, one near-universal frame of reference, has been marginalized and denounced as somehow less valid than 'not visual culture' (a tough thing to pinpoint, by the way). it's important! it's exciting!
Have you read Teaching Visual Culture?
ReplyDeleteIt's a dense book, but I recommend skimming it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=JCsAY15OwKoC&pg=PP1&dq=Teaching+Visual+Culture&ei=DevDSvLNKIa6zATko-SEBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false
that was the book i did my report/presentation on for critical response. kerry freedman approaches things from a super-academic perspective, which i can't help but feel like is a little bit in opposition to the whole point of what she discusses. but! i was glad i read it, if only to feel like i was more informed on the how the topic was being broached from a more legitimate/research perspective.
ReplyDeleteAnother great source for visual culture discussion (but that is pretty academic, too - ) is Kevin Tavin - you can look him up on JSTOR. AND he's our guest blogger soon AND is coming to MICA to visit us right after NAEA! Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteAnother terrific source you're probably already aware of is Debbie Smith-Shank's book Semiotics and Visual Culture. Fantastic.
Another question--- how is it possible that "art" ISN"T part of our visual culture? AND - who says/decides/pronounces that there is something inherently better about "art" than "non-art" in terms of learning? AND -- what motivates them to make those distinctions and decisions?
ReplyDeleteYES. beth thomas, that is what i find so interesting about people who get all up in arms about teaching "visual culture" in the classroom. it does have an instantly lesser value in our society, simply by determining that it does not deserve the "art" label (for what reason, i'm still unsure) but ultimately, art/visual culture are of the same stock. the idea that one can foster worthwhile learning and one can't is absurd to me because they are so inherently interconnected.
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