11283 The Social Photo and Designed Landscapes
6cp; the subject is run intensively over two weeks, across a series of full day sessionsRequisite(s): 48 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10271 Bachelor of Design Interior Architecture OR 48 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10272 Bachelor of Design Interior Architecture Bachelor of International Studies OR 48 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10322 Bachelor of Design Interior Architecture Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation OR 72 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10004 Bachelor of Design Architecture OR 72 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10413 Bachelor of Design Architecture Master of Architecture OR 72 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10325 Bachelor of Design Architecture Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation OR 48 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C09079 Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Honours)
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
In his book The Social Photo, media theorist Nathan Jurgenson considers how the rise of smart phones and social media has remade conventional expectations of both photography and the world. Drawing on theory and examples from visual culture, photography, and digital media, Jurgenson’s survey of contemporary developments accounts for a shift, whereby photography once synonymous with fixity, media specificity and objectivity, is now considered indeterminate, in appearance, form and meaning.
This elective examines how understandings of contemporary designed landscapes might benefit from a critical engagement with the increasing indeterminacy of photographic images and practices of photography. This is pursued on the understanding that the indeterminacy of landscapes and indeterminate approaches to designing are of increasing importance. Working with extant images and the infrastructures that support their creation, dissemination, and reception, the elective aims to generate new knowledge about a range of indeterminate landscapes using a novel approach to visual research. The latter draws on contemporary interest in generative potential of photographic collections and the legacy of Aby Warburg’s ‘image-atlas’.
In doing so, students come to understand the degree to which the ‘social photo’ mediates professional understandings of designed landscapes. At the same, and by way of the ‘social photo’, students are introduced to a range of innovative designed landscapes, their indeterminate states, and attendant processes of design.
NB It is intended that the visual research conducted during this elective will serve as a data set for a forthcoming publication, authored by the convenor of the elective. More information about this will be provided prior to the commencement of the elective.
Detailed subject description.