Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerpen
Koninklijke Academie van Antwerpen
Photography: History and -actuality 212318/3298/2425/1/64
Study guide

Photography: History and -actuality 2

12318/3298/2425/1/64
Academic year 2024-25
Is found in:
  • Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts, programme stage 2
    Specialisation:
    • Photography
  • Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts
    Specialisation:
    • Photography
This is a single course unit.
Study load: 3 credits
Special admission is required to enrol in this course unit under
  • exam contract (to obtain a credit).
  • exam contract (to obtain a degree).
Teaching staff: Vanthuyne Stefan
Languages: Dutch, English
Scheduled for: Semester 1
This course unit is marked out of 20 (rounded to an integer).
Possible deadlines for learning account: 31.10.2024 ()
Re-sit exam: is possible.
Possibility of deliberation: You have to pass this course unit (will never be deliberated).
Total study time: 72,00 hours

Prerequisites

previously registered for Photo History I (part 1).

Short description

Introduction to Postwar Photohistory and selected topics of actual photography.

Prerequisite competencies (text)

Reading and listening comprehension are necessary skills, as well as writing skills. Capable of self-tuition.

Learning outcomes (list)

BA2 - The student has the necessary knowledge, skills and insights regarding material, form, action, concepts, function and contents of the chosen medi
The student knows the different historical styles and image strategies.
BA5 - When developing his/her personal visual language the students starts from a searching and reflective attitude when developing one's own visual language.
The student has his own vision on the history of photography.
The student can link the acquired knowledge to his own photographic artistic work.

Course content

Survey of the postwar photographic movements and practices from humanist and street photography to New Documents. Focus on the photobook. Looking and reading together. Profound analysis of defining issues and topics of postwar photography and defining photographic practices. Focus on connections between photography and society, and on the multiple roles of the photographic medium. Comparative studies of postwar and contemporary aesthetics.

Photohistorical and theoretical lectures alternate with presentations by the students on chosen photobooks, texts or case-study's.

Study material (text): Mandatory

There is no written course. Students prepare for the exam based on their own notes, the powerpoint presentations and the reader with texts made available on Digitap, and the textbook 'Juliet Hacking, 'Photography: The Whole Story', Thames & Hudson 2012'.

Reader on Digitap:

John Szarkowski, 'Introduction to 'The Photographer's Eye', 1966, in: Liz Wells, The Photographic reader, London, Routledge 2002,pp 97-103

John Berger, ‘Understanding a photograph’, Penguin Books, 1967

Martin Parr and Gary Badger, The Photobook, A History, Volume 1, Chapter 8, The Indecisive moment. Stream-of-consciousness photobooks, Phaidon, 2004, pp 232-265

Stephen Shore, ‘Form and Pressure’, Aperture, Winter 2011


Study material (text): Recommended

Highly recommended

Mary Warner Marien, ‘Photography: A Cultural History (5th edition)’, London, Laurence King Publishing, 2022

Recommended

Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, David Joselit, ‘Art Since 1900 (Third Edition)’, Thames & Hudson, 2016

Walter Benjamin, 'Photography, A short history', 1931 (New Left Books, 1971)

Walter Benjamin, extracts from 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction', in: Liz Wells, The Photographic Reader, London, Routledge 2002, pp 42-52

Educational organisation (list)

Exam duration
Estimated time for testing
Learning Activities
Collaborative learning24,00 hours
  • Description: teamwork and individual student presentations
  • Remark: teamwork consists of reading and looking together
Lectures and / or tutorials24,00 hours
  • Description: lectures
Work time outside of contact hours24,00 hours
  • Description: self study - visit expositions and library FOMU/KASKA - assignments reading, writings, image analysis
  • Remark: independent research

Evaluation (list)

Evaluation(s) for first exam chance
MomentForm%Remark
Eerste examenperiodeKnowledge and comprehension test during the examination series70,00Students are expected to be present during classes. Absences can have a negative impact on your study results.
Eerste examenperiodeReflection assignment permanently during class weeks (Permanent evaluation)30,00Possible assignments are: presentation of a photobook or photographer, review of an exhibition, analysis of a theoretical text....
Evaluation(s) for re-sit exam
MomentForm%Remark
2nd examination periodKnowledge and comprehension test during the examination series100,00

Evaluation (text)

Semester 1: Oral exam and assignments throughout the semester 
Re-examination: Oral exam