Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerpen
Koninklijke Academie van Antwerpen
Photography: Historical research 29788/3298/2425/1/83
Study guide

Photography: Historical research 2

9788/3298/2425/1/83
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).
Co-ordinator: Henneman Inge
Other teaching staff: Vanthuyne Stefan
Languages: Dutch, English
Scheduled for: Semester 2
This course unit is marked out of 20 (rounded to an integer).
Possible deadlines for learning account: 15.03.2025 ()
Re-sit exam: is possible.
Possibility of deliberation: You have to pass this course unit (will never be deliberated).
Total study time: 68,00 hours

Prerequisites

previously registered for Photo History I (part 2).

Short description

Postwar photography from the 1970s-1980s with focus on the photobook. Selected topics from contemporary photography.

Lectures alternate with student presentations (research assignments).

Learning outcomes (list)

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 is able to carry out systematic and focused photo-historical research and to link the acquired insights to the personal work.

Course content

Following a series of lectures, each student is given the assignment of creating a visual essay on a theme or topic linked to photography of the 1970-80s and communicating it in an oral presentation. Here the student takes on the role of curator and researcher.

From New Topographics to Conceptual photography, from Pop art to Pictures Generation and Appropriation. Through intensive research and group discussion, students delve into the work of key photographers of the postwar period and its connection to the cultural and social historical context.

Study material (text): Mandatory

Juliet Hacking, 'Photography: The Whole Story', Thames & Hudson 2012

Study material (text): Recommended

Highly recommended

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

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

David Campany, Art and Photography, Phaidon, New York, 2012

Stephen Shore, The Nature of Photographs, Baltimore, John Hopkins UP, 1998

Susan Sontag, On Photography, Penguin Books, London, 1977

John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, London 1972 (www.ways-of-seeing.com)

Recommended

Andy Grundberg, How Photography Became Contemporary Art, Yale University Press, 2021

Charlotte Cotton, The Photograph as Contemporary Art (Fourth Edition), Thames & Hudson, 2020

Bibliotheek van de Fotografie,1, 2 & 3, FotoMuseum Antwerpen & Nederlands Fotomuseum, 2004-2007

Roland Barthes, ‘Extracts from Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography’, The Photography Reader, ed. by Liz Wells (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 19-30

Walter Benjamin, a Short history of photography, 1931 (New Left Books, Londen, 1971)

Walter Benjamin, Extracts from “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, The Photography Reader, ed. by Liz Wells (London: Routledge, 2002), pp 42-52

Sontag, Susan, Regarding the Pain of Others, London, Hamish Hamilton, 2003

Alan Trachtenberg, Classic Essays on Photography, New Haven, Leete’s Island Books, 1980

Educational organisation (list)

Learning Activities
Collaborative learning24,00 hours
  • Description: looking and reading together - group discussions
Lectures and / or tutorials10,00 hours
Practicum24,00 hours
  • Description: presentation of a postwar photobook
Work time outside of contact hours10,00 hours
  • Description: self-tuition - visit exhibitions - photohistorical research

Evaluation (list)

Evaluation(s) for first exam chance
MomentForm%Remark
Eerste examenperiodeReflection assignment permanently during class weeks (Permanent evaluation)30,00
Eerste examenperiodeResearch Assignment70,00• Students are expected to be present during classes. Absences can have a negative impact on your study results.
Evaluation(s) for re-sit exam
MomentForm%Remark
2nd examination periodResearch Assignment100,00

Evaluation (text)

Semester 2: Visual essay+ presentation

Re-examination: Visual essay or paper