124266 KO Critical Media Analysis (2025S)
Photography in Practice
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Registration/Deregistration
Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
- Registration is open from Tu 17.06.2025 00:00 to Mo 23.06.2025 08:00
- Deregistration possible until Mo 23.06.2025 08:00
Details
max. 30 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
Co-taught in collaboration with FOTO ARSENAL WIEN
Location for first two sessions on Tuesday, 24 June, and on Monday, 30 June: Foto Arsenal Wien, Arsenal Objekt 19A, 1030 Vienna - https://www.fotoarsenalwien.at/en/- N Tuesday 24.06. 08:00 - 12:00 Ort in u:find Details
- Monday 30.06. 15:15 - 18:30 Ort in u:find Details
- Tuesday 01.07. 08:00 - 13:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
- Wednesday 09.07. 08:00 - 12:00 Digital
- Friday 18.07. 08:00 - 13:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
Regular participation in discussions; oral presentation; portfolio tasksThe teacher reserves the right to conduct a personal interview with any student whose written work has a doubtful status, in relation to plagiarism, ghost-writing or illegitimate AI-use.
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
- 40 points: group presentation (including short Instagram posts/reels/stories in which you make a statement/argument about the topic of the course)
- 50 points: portfolio to be handed in on 18th July 2025 (a choice of written assignment: glossary/definitional and/or critical; responding critically or poetically to one of the themes of FOTO WIEN 2025. Emphasis is placed on original thought, critical engagement, and clarity of expression. Selected texts will be professionally edited and featured in the official festival catalogue.)
- 10 points: joint research/bibliographic task to be handed in together with the portfolioMarks in %:
1 (very good): 90-100%
2 (good): 80-89%
3 (satisfactory): 70-79%
4 (pass): 60-69%
5 (fail): 0-59%
- 50 points: portfolio to be handed in on 18th July 2025 (a choice of written assignment: glossary/definitional and/or critical; responding critically or poetically to one of the themes of FOTO WIEN 2025. Emphasis is placed on original thought, critical engagement, and clarity of expression. Selected texts will be professionally edited and featured in the official festival catalogue.)
- 10 points: joint research/bibliographic task to be handed in together with the portfolioMarks in %:
1 (very good): 90-100%
2 (good): 80-89%
3 (satisfactory): 70-79%
4 (pass): 60-69%
5 (fail): 0-59%
Examination topics
This is an interactive course with continuous assessment ("prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung"). Students are expected to complete reading assignments, actively participate in class throughout the semester (in group activities and discussions), contribute to their group project, and hand in all assigned portfolio tasks on time.
There will be no written exam.
There will be no written exam.
Reading list
• Watch! Watch! Watch! Henri Cartier-Bresson, exhib. cat. Bucerius Forum, Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid and FOTO ARSENAL WIEN. Hirmer, 2024/2025.
• Aresheva, Victoria, and Clothilde Morette (eds.), Science/Fiction: A Non-History of Plants, exhib. cat. Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) and FOTO ARSENAL WIEN. Spector Books 2024.
• Crimp, Douglas, On The Museum's Ruins. MIT Press 1993.
• Ferguson, Bruce W., Reesa Greenberg, and Sandy Nairne, Thinking About Exhibitions. Routledge 1996.
• Haraway, Donna, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press 2016.
• Kolb, Ronald, Shwetal A. Patel and Dorothee Richter (eds.), OnCurating, No. 46,[= Contemporary Art Biennials–Our Hegemonic Machines in Times of Emergency], 2020.
• Lowenhaupt-Tsing, Anna, Mushroom at the End of the World. On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton UP 2015.
• Muñoz, José Esteban, Cruising Utopia, The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York UP 2009.
• Parikka, Jussi, and Abelardo Gil-Fournier (eds.), Living Surfaces. Images, Plants, and Environments of Media. MIT Press 2024.
• Zylinska, Joanna, Nonhuman Photography. MIT Press, 2017.
• Zylinska, Joanna, The Perception Machine. Our Photographic Future between the Eye and AI. MIT Press 2023.
• Aresheva, Victoria, and Clothilde Morette (eds.), Science/Fiction: A Non-History of Plants, exhib. cat. Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) and FOTO ARSENAL WIEN. Spector Books 2024.
• Crimp, Douglas, On The Museum's Ruins. MIT Press 1993.
• Ferguson, Bruce W., Reesa Greenberg, and Sandy Nairne, Thinking About Exhibitions. Routledge 1996.
• Haraway, Donna, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press 2016.
• Kolb, Ronald, Shwetal A. Patel and Dorothee Richter (eds.), OnCurating, No. 46,[= Contemporary Art Biennials–Our Hegemonic Machines in Times of Emergency], 2020.
• Lowenhaupt-Tsing, Anna, Mushroom at the End of the World. On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton UP 2015.
• Muñoz, José Esteban, Cruising Utopia, The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York UP 2009.
• Parikka, Jussi, and Abelardo Gil-Fournier (eds.), Living Surfaces. Images, Plants, and Environments of Media. MIT Press 2024.
• Zylinska, Joanna, Nonhuman Photography. MIT Press, 2017.
• Zylinska, Joanna, The Perception Machine. Our Photographic Future between the Eye and AI. MIT Press 2023.
Association in the course directory
Studium: BA 612, BEd 046/407
Code/Modul: BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260
Code/Modul: BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260
Last modified: We 18.06.2025 17:25
• Guest Curator Introduction: We will be joined by one of the lead curators of FOTO WIEN 2025 for an in-depth session on curatorial strategies, themes, and the making of an international photo biennial.
• Visit to FOTO ARSENAL WIEN: A guided institutional visit will provide behind-the-scenes insight into exhibition planning, archival research, and curatorial workflows.
• Writing & Publication Opportunity: Students will complete a reflective or critical writing assignment on a selected photograph, exhibition, or theme. A curated selection of these texts will be published in the catalogue of FOTO WIEN 2025.Core Topics:
• Photography as curatorial and discursive practice
• The politics and poetics of the photographic image
• Exhibition-making and institutional critique
• Visualizing the future through photographyBy the end of the course, students will have:
- familiarized themselves with and have practiced the use of select cultural studies' concepts, theories and methods
- analyzed a spectrum of media texts and acquired media-critical competences
- offered critical reflection on photography as a medium and practice
- practiced constructing careful arguments to make their points in the appropriate language and in a suitable format.
The class will be based on teacher's/curator's input and students' prior reading, which will enable engaged discussions, either in small groups or in a larger forum.