Violence and Representation

Traces diverse genealogies from which to theorize violence and its relation to aesthetics. We will identify a disciplinary philology for “violence” as a signifier within visual culture, art practice and literature; historicize key transitions in varied invocations of violence in representation; study texts (photography, film, novel, installation) that create a space where violence can be discussed as both everyday and extraordinary. Some issues to be considered: representability in moments of historical crisis (war, colonialism, genocide); the efficacy of genres and artistic movements in representing violence (tragedy, surrealism, theater of cruelty); and the violence of representation (surveillance, spectatorship, voyeurism).