The Innovative Gaze: Snapshots of Visual Culture in the City

3.00 credits · Undergraduate

Prereq: 3 credits from VMCS 1201, 1301; or permission of the Department This course examines the multifarious relationship between the city and visual culture through the prism of creativity, innovation, and design. Using cultural snapshots of a selection of cities at defining moments in their history, it sheds light on the impact of images and visual expression on urban spaces and the communities inhabiting them. It focuses on culturally important and globally significant cities that foster innovation and embody a unique creative vision in their visual language, in order to reflect on how metropolitan culture and visuality in the public sphere display artistic principles, ideological preoccupations, societal values, and political views through architecture, fashion, food, open-air sculpture, street art, and interior and urban design. It considers the representation of cities in advertising, digital media, illustration, film, music videos, painting, photography, and other visual media. (Format: Integrated Lecture/Laboratory 3 hours)