240519 SE Machine vision: images, operations, and the (post)human (P4) (2022W)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
ON-SITE
Participation at first session is obligatory!The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used for courses with continuous assessment.
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 Th 01.09.2022 00:01 to Mo 26.09.2022 23:59
- Deregistration possible until Mo 17.10.2022 23:59
Details
max. 25 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
If possible, the course is to be conducted in presence. Due to the respective applicable distance regulations and other measures, adjustments may be made.
UPDATE: 08.11.2022: changed dates
Friday
14.10.
13:15 - 16:30
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Friday
28.10.
13:15 - 16:30
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Wednesday
16.11.
13:15 - 16:30
Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
25.11.
13:15 - 16:30
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Friday
09.12.
13:15 - 16:30
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Friday
13.01.
13:15 - 16:30
Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
27.01.
13:15 - 16:30
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
What can Google Street View, drone warfare, Instagram, satellite imaging, protest videos, and pipeline monitoring data tell us about how images mediate our social and political present? How do contemporary visual technologies—human yet more-than-human, machinic yet not only machinic—shed light on broader debates over subjectivity, the political, and the human sensorium in mass-mediated societies? This course aims to extend and deepen students’ understanding of the relations between visual media and sociopolitical life. Beginning with older discussions over photography, film, and cybernetics, the course moves towards a focus on more recent technologies driven by smartphone cameras, (anti)imperial warfare, algorithms and automation, and late capitalism’s financial, logistical, and extractive operations. Broadly, the course presents current debates over visual media as extensions and reformulations of a long-held set of concerns: what do visual media reveal about social relations of power, the possibility of transcending those relations, and dreams of (post)human freedom at the threshold of the present? Beyond the required readings, we will also view relevant films, video, and photographic work, such as those of Harun Farocki and Hito Steyerl.
Assessment and permitted materials
The course requires students to read each session’s assigned readings; reflect on the readings in the form of one response paper per session; make one in-class presentation; participate actively in in-class discussion; and submit a final term paper.
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
Response papers: 30%
Participation: 30% (5% attendance, 10% in-class participation, 15% in-class presentation)
Term paper: 40%91-100 points: 1 (excellent)
81-90 points: 2 (good)
71-80 points: 3 (satisfactory)
61-70 points: 4 (sufficient)To complete the course, students need to obtain at least 61 points.
Participation: 30% (5% attendance, 10% in-class participation, 15% in-class presentation)
Term paper: 40%91-100 points: 1 (excellent)
81-90 points: 2 (good)
71-80 points: 3 (satisfactory)
61-70 points: 4 (sufficient)To complete the course, students need to obtain at least 61 points.
Examination topics
The course does not require an exam
Reading list
Full syllabus available on first day of class—assorted films to be included as wellBarthes, Roland. 1981. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang.
Beech, Dave. 2019. Art and Postcapitalism: Aesthetic Labour, Automation, and Value Production. London: Pluto Press.
Benanav, Aaron. 2022. Automation and the Future of Work. New York: Verso.
Benjamin, Walter. 2007 (1955). “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Walter Benjamin, Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books.
Braidotti, Rosi. 2013. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Cole, Teju. 2016. Known and Strange Things. New York: Random House.
Demos, T.J. 2013. Return to the Postcolony: Specters of Colonialism in Contemporary Art. Berlin: Sternberg Press.
Eder, Jens and Charlotte Klonk, eds. 2017. Image Operations: Visual Media and Political Conflict. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Elsaesser, Thomas, ed. 2021. Harun Farocki: Working on the Sight-Lines. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Groys, Boris. 2018. In the Flow. New York: Verso.
Halpern, Orit. 2014. Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason since 1945. Durham: Duke University Press.
Harney, Stefano and Fred Moten. 2021. All Incomplete. New York: Minor Compositions.
MacLean, Ken. 2022. Crimes in Archival Form: Human Rights, Fact Production, and Myanmar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mollona, Massimiliano. 2021. Art/Commons: Anthropology beyond Capitalism. London: Zed Books.
Paraica, Ana. 2019. The Age of Total Images: Disappearance of a Subjective Viewpoint in Post-Digital Photography. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.
Sekula, Allan. 1975. “The Instrumental Image: Steichen at War.” Artforum.
Steyerl, Hito. 2019. Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War. New York: Verso.
Stone, Naomi. 2017. “Living the Laughscream: Human Technology and Affective Maneuvers in the Iraq War.” Cultural Anthropology 32(1).
Strassler, Karen. 2020. Demanding Images: Democracy, Mediation, and the Image-Event in Indonesia. Durham: Duke University Press.
Toscano, Alberto and Jeff Kinkle. 2015. Cartographies of the Absolute. London: Zero Books.
Weizman, Eyal and Matthew Fuller. 2021. Investigative Aesthetics: Conflicts and Commons in the Politics of Truth. New York: Verso.
Wilcox, Lauren. 2017. “Embodying Algorithmic War: Gender, Race, and the Posthuman in Drone Warfare.” Security Dialogue 48(1): 11-28.
Wu, Chin-Tao. 2002. Privatising Culture: Corporate Art Intervention since the 1980s. Durham: Duke University Press.
Beech, Dave. 2019. Art and Postcapitalism: Aesthetic Labour, Automation, and Value Production. London: Pluto Press.
Benanav, Aaron. 2022. Automation and the Future of Work. New York: Verso.
Benjamin, Walter. 2007 (1955). “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Walter Benjamin, Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books.
Braidotti, Rosi. 2013. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Cole, Teju. 2016. Known and Strange Things. New York: Random House.
Demos, T.J. 2013. Return to the Postcolony: Specters of Colonialism in Contemporary Art. Berlin: Sternberg Press.
Eder, Jens and Charlotte Klonk, eds. 2017. Image Operations: Visual Media and Political Conflict. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Elsaesser, Thomas, ed. 2021. Harun Farocki: Working on the Sight-Lines. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Groys, Boris. 2018. In the Flow. New York: Verso.
Halpern, Orit. 2014. Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason since 1945. Durham: Duke University Press.
Harney, Stefano and Fred Moten. 2021. All Incomplete. New York: Minor Compositions.
MacLean, Ken. 2022. Crimes in Archival Form: Human Rights, Fact Production, and Myanmar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mollona, Massimiliano. 2021. Art/Commons: Anthropology beyond Capitalism. London: Zed Books.
Paraica, Ana. 2019. The Age of Total Images: Disappearance of a Subjective Viewpoint in Post-Digital Photography. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.
Sekula, Allan. 1975. “The Instrumental Image: Steichen at War.” Artforum.
Steyerl, Hito. 2019. Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War. New York: Verso.
Stone, Naomi. 2017. “Living the Laughscream: Human Technology and Affective Maneuvers in the Iraq War.” Cultural Anthropology 32(1).
Strassler, Karen. 2020. Demanding Images: Democracy, Mediation, and the Image-Event in Indonesia. Durham: Duke University Press.
Toscano, Alberto and Jeff Kinkle. 2015. Cartographies of the Absolute. London: Zero Books.
Weizman, Eyal and Matthew Fuller. 2021. Investigative Aesthetics: Conflicts and Commons in the Politics of Truth. New York: Verso.
Wilcox, Lauren. 2017. “Embodying Algorithmic War: Gender, Race, and the Posthuman in Drone Warfare.” Security Dialogue 48(1): 11-28.
Wu, Chin-Tao. 2002. Privatising Culture: Corporate Art Intervention since the 1980s. Durham: Duke University Press.
Association in the course directory
Last modified: Tu 08.11.2022 12:29