Not only does contemporary media culture continually bombard us with images, but technologies of vision have spread to every corner of our lives. This course introduces students to key concepts in the discipline of visual culture through the study of key works in new media art.

Students will study artworks in a variety of media, from early video art of the 1960's through to contemporary interactive multimedia, with a special emphasis on contemporary Australian artists. Through analysis of key works students will gain a historically-informed understanding of current debates in visual culture concerning themes such as the physiology of perception; the representation of the human body; voyeurism and theories of the gaze; surveillance and the invisibility of power; the imagined spaces of utopias and dystopias; and the question of truth in the age of digital manipulation of images. The course will be framed by the overarching question of technological determinism: to what extent do new media technologies condition the way we see, feel and interact with others?

Artists and works to be studied
To be advised.

Key texts used in the formulation of the course

• Murphie, Andrew, & Potts, John. Culture and Technology. 
• Mirzoeff, Nicholas. An Introduction to Visual Culture.
• Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media
• Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Montfort, Nick.(ed.) The New Media Reader.
• Sturken, Marita & Cartwright, Lisa. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture.
• Mirzoeff, Nicholas, (ed.) The Visual Culture Reader