Building on the historical contexts introduced at Level 4, this module concentrates on the theoretical frameworks in which photography is produced, consumed and interpreted today. Introducing case studies emerging from current trends in contemporary photographic practice, the module is taught as a combination of lecture, seminar, workshop and exhibition visits through which you will be encouraged and enabled to identify and experience the vital links between practice and research. The political, social, philosophical and aesthetic issues driving current practice will be introduced via lecture and seminar discussion, focused and deepened through independent reading and research, and applied and evaluated through workshops on research practice. With reference to key texts that have informed the development of photographic theory, you will acquire the knowledge and analytical skills to build a framework within which to engage with the critical contexts in which photography operates. You will also develop research methods appropriate to the study and practice of your discipline, propose an area of research for development at Level 6, and begin to contextualise and make sense of the concerns emerging in your own practice.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
This module will integrate subject content and research practice, methods and skills through lectures, seminars tutorials, screenings and visits. Hands-on workshop seminars enable the application of research skills to explore a range of current issues affecting research and practice in contemporary photography.
The module will make use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Canvas for communication and dissemination of information between students and staff as well as making online learning materials available to all. Students should check this site on a daily basis for module information, timetables, sign-ups, updates and additional information and teaching materials.
All courses based in the Kingston School of Art offer students free access to the online video tutorial platform Lynda.com. This provides a wide range of subjects to choose from, many with downloadable exercise files, including software tutorials covering photography, graphics, web design, audio and music, CAD and Microsoft Office software, as well as courses on Business and Management skills. Some of these are embedded in the curriculum and offer additional self-paced learning, others may be taken at will by students wishing to broaden their employability skills in other areas.
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Lectures, seminars, workshops, visits and tutorials Study groups | 44 44 |
| Guided independent study | 212 | |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
Assessment for this module is by written Essay (2,500 words) responding to a brief but developed in relation to students' individual research area of interest, and Research Portfolio (including some or all of the following: exhibition review, textual and visual analyses, photo-essay, Dissertation Proposal, as well as lecture notes and independent research).
The Essay responds to themes introduced in lectured content and developed via workshops. Formative feedback will assist students in identifying an area of research to be developed in their Research Portfolio. Formative feedback on this at mid-term crit will feed into the development of the final element, a Dissertation Proposal.
Essay (2,500 words) 50%
Research Portfolio 50%
BA Art and Design History & Practice students only:
BA Art and Design History and Practice students will submit a 2500 word Essay (50%) and a Research Portfolio (50%). In the first part of this module students will produce an essay which responds to a set question relating to the issues, debates and themes explored during the course and developed through students' own disciplinary interests. The Research Portfolio is the repository for each student's response to set tasks, exercises and self-initiated research. This will include a range of tasks such as image and object analyses, an exhibition review and a photo essay.
The Research Portfolio will include either a Dissertation Proposal or a Critical Reflection (both approximately 1200 words). Only one of these forms of assessment can be submitted per HA51.. module, and each can only be submitted once across both modules. The Dissertation proposal will serve to identify and locate an area of individual research related to the student's design practice and map out aims, objectives and resources to be investigated in future study at Level 6. The Critical Reflection allows students to reflect on the hybridity of their course, to evaluate the similarities and differences in methods and ideas encountered across the Level 5 modules and to consider the influence that this cross disciplinary learning may have had on their research interests as they prepare to progress to Level 6.
Feedback and feed forward will be provided for elements of the research portfolio, as these are initiated as part of scheduled teaching activities.
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| 1) Identify, describe and analyse issues affecting the current practice, display and critical framing of contemporary photography within a fine art context; | Essay Research Portfolio |
| 2) Articulate and apply the ideas of a range of key critical and theoretical positions in relation to the production, consumption and interpretation of photography; | Essay Research Portfolio |
| 3) Present an informed creative engagement with the ways photography research can be approached methodologically; | Essay Research Portfolio |
| 4) Demonstrate a reflective, critical and creative engagement with photography through visual and textual examples; | Essay Research Portfolio |
| 5) Articulate their own experiences as both photographers and researchers in relation to historical and contemporary concerns; | Research Portfolio |
| 6) Locate their own research practice and personal interests in a chosen area and identify key objectives and resources for future study. | Research Portfolio |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Essay (2,500 words) | Coursework | 50% |
| Research Portfolio including a Dissertation Proposal | Coursework | 50% |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any element of assessment is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.
Core Text(s)
Caruana, Natasha and Anna Fox (2012), Basics Creative Photography 03: Behind the Image: Research in Photography (AVA Publishing).
Emerling, Jae (2012), Photography: History and Theory. London: Routledge.
Van Gelder, Hilde and Helen Westgeest (2011), Photography Theory in Historical Perspective. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Journals
Source: The Photographic Review (Belfast: Photo Works North/Gallery of Photography)
Photoworks (Brighton: Photoworks)
Photographies (Abingdon: Taylor & Francis)
Photography & Culture (Oxford: Berg)
Philosophy of Photography (Bristol: Intellect Ltd.)
Barthes, Roland (1981) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. London: Random House.
Bolton, Richard (ed.) (1989)The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Campany, David (2012), Art and Photography. London: Phaidon.
Campany, David (ed.) (2007) The Cinematic. London: Whitechapel.
Cotton, Charlotee (2004), The Photograph as Contemporary Art. London: Thames & Hudson.
Elkins, James (ed.) (2007), Photography Theory. London: Routledge.
Heron, Liz & Val Williams (eds) (1996) Illuminations: Women Writing on Photography form the 1950s to the Present. Durham: Duke University Press.
Iversen, Margaret and Diarmuid Costello (eds) (2010), Photography After Conceptual Art. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lipkin, Jonathan (2005) Photography Reborn: Image Making in the Digital Ere. New York: Harry Abrams.
Lister, Martin (ed.) (1995) The Photographic Image in Digital Culture. London: Routledge, 1995.
Mitchell, William (1992) The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era. Cambridge, MA & London: MIT Press.
Modrak, Rebekah and Bill Anthes (2011), Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
Price, Mary (1994) The Photograph: A Strange, Confined Space. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Ritchin, Fred (2009), After Photography. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Roberts, John (1998) The Art of Interruption: Realism, Photography and the Everyday. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Solomon-Godeau, Abigail (1991) Photography at the Dock. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Sontag, Susan (1979) On Photography. London: Penguin.
Squiers, Carol (ed.) (1990) The Critical Image.Bay Press.
Tagg, John. (1988) The Burden of Representation.(London: Macmillan.
Trachtenberg, Alan, (1980), Classic Essays on Photography. Leete's Island Books.
Traub, Charles, Steven Heller and Adam Bell (eds.) (2006), The Education of a Photographer. New York: Allworth Press.
Wells, Liz (ed. (2003) The Photography Reader. London: Routledge.