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Contemporary Art and Visual Culture

Code: 100549
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Art History OB 3

Contact lecturer

Name :
Silvia Roses Castellsaguer
Email :
silvia.roses@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required

Objectives

The aim of this course is to develop a critical understanding of contemporary society through the study of the major historical, political, and cultural processes that have shaped the world from the Second World War to the present day. It examines how different creative practices have represented, interpreted, and contributed to transforming these processes.

Learning outcomes

  1. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  5. Working in teams, respecting the other's points of view and designing collaboration strategies.
  6. Connecting an artistic imagery with other cultural phenomena within its period.
  7. Reconstructing the artistic outlook of a particular cultural context.
  8. Identifying the artistic imagery, placing it into its cultural context.
  9. Accurately defining and explaining an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
  10. Examining an artistic imagery and distinguishing its formal, iconographic and symbolic values.
  11. Distinguishing the elaboration techniques and processes of an artistic object.
  12. Explaining the reception mechanisms of a work of art.
  13. Analyse a situation and identify its points for improvement.
  14. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  15. Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.

Contents

Course Contents


  1. Visual Culture as a Tool for Understanding the Contemporary World. Concepts, methodologies, and an interdisciplinary approach.
  2. Totalitarianism and the Visual Culture of Propaganda. Images as instruments of power, persuasion, and social control.
  3. Trauma, Memory, and Reconstruction after the Second World War. New artistic, cinematic, and documentary languages in response to the experience of war.
  4. Reconstruction, Consumer Society, and the Welfare State. Design, architecture, advertising, and new forms of everyday life.
  5. Youth Culture and the Rise of Mass Culture. Music, fashion, Pop Art, and the construction of new generational identities.
  6. Counterculture and the Last Attempt to Change the World. The Beat Generation, the hippie movement, psychedelia, environmentalism, communal living, and new forms of cultural resistance.
  7. The Cold War and Technological Imaginaries. The atomic bomb, the Space Race, technology, and representations of the future.
  8. Feminism and the Sexual Revolution. The transformation of gender roles, the body, sexuality, and their representations in visual culture.
  9. The Civil Rights Movement and the Representation of Diversity. Racism, segregation, decolonization, and new cultural identities.
  10. LGBTQ+ Liberation Movements and the Construction of New Identities. From the Stonewall uprising to the visibility of sexual and gender dissidence in visual culture.
  11. Postmodernity, Globalization, and Neoliberalism. The crisis of grand narratives, consumer culture, the society of the image, and the transformations of contemporary society.
  12. Visual Culture in the Digital Age. The digital revolution, the internet, social media, new media, and the challenges of contemporary visual culture.



Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
DEBATES 13.5 0.54 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
THEORICAL CLASSES 77.75 3.11 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
TUTORIALS 7.5 0.3 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12
INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN WORKS 9.25 0.37 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

- Theoretical classes with visual support.
- Analysis of texts and films.
- Debates on the readings.
- Tutorials.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Theoretical proof 50% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Group work 30% 25 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Practical Exercises: exhibition, document and/or film analysis 20 % 15 0.6 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15

Theoretical exam (50%)

Practical exercice (20%)

Group work (30%)

Bibliography

General bibliography

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books.
  • Mirzoeff, N. (2013). An Introduction to Visual Culture (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
  • Mirzoeff, N. (Ed.). (2002). The Visual Culture Reader (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
  • Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


Specific bibliography

1. Visual Culture as a Tool for Understanding the Contemporary World

  • Rose, G. (2016). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials (4th ed.). London: Sage.
  • Sturken, M., & Cartwright, L. (2018). Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. Totalitarianism and the Visual Culture of Propaganda

  • Evans, R. J. (2005). The Third Reich in Power. London: Penguin.
  • Jowett, G. S., & O'Donnell, V. (2019). Propaganda & Persuasion (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

3. Trauma, Memory, and Reconstruction after the Second World War

  • Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
  • Young, J. E. (2000). At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.

4. Reconstruction, Consumer Society, and the Welfare State

  • Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang.
  • Baudrillard, J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. London: Sage.

5. Youth Culture and the Rise of Mass Culture

  • Hebdige, D. (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge.
  • Hoggart, R. (1957). The Uses of Literacy. London: Chatto & Windus.

6. The Cold War and Technological Imaginaries

  • Hughes, R. (1980). The Shock of the New. London: BBC Publications.
  • Westad, O. A. (2017). The Cold War: A World History. London: Allen Lane.

7. Counterculture and the Last Attempt to Change the World

  • Roszak, T. (1969). The Making of a Counter Culture. New York: Doubleday.
  • Turner, F. (2006). From Counterculture to Cyberculture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

8. Feminism and the Sexual Revolution

  • Beauvoir, S. de (2011). The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books.
  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.

9. The Civil Rights Movement and the Representation of Diversity

  • Baldwin, J. (1963). The Fire Next Time. New York: Dial Press.
  • hooks, b. (1992). Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press.

10. LGBTQ+ Liberation Movements and the Construction of New Identities

  • Muñoz, J. E. (2009). Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York: New York University Press.
  • Sedgwick, E. K. (1990). Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: University of California Press.

11. Postmodernity, Globalization, and Neoliberalism

  • Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press.

12. Visual Culture in the Digital Age

  • Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
  • Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.


Software

  1. Powerpoint
  2. MS Word (or similar)
  3. PDF Reader
  4. VLC Multimedia (free)

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed