| Description: | This course aims to open up new ways of reading and perceiving works of art by exploring the relationship between images and words. The course will start by questioning the role of the spectator in front of works of art, which represents a relationship that has been greatly affected by the revolutionary invention of photography and the modern innovations of digital technology. The course will then proceed to explore the mutual inspiration and exchange between visual images and written words that this relationship between art and the spectator has inspired. Is painting and art in general able to tell stories? Is the written word able to express the power of images? Do images need the support of words to better convey their message? These are some of the questions that the course will address and it will do so through a selection of fundamental theoretical texts and through a close examination of visual and written works (painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, digital art but also prose narrative, fiction and poetry). During the course, students will have the opportunity to become themselves active spectators and through their practical work of observing, reading, sketching and writing, they will have the chance to experience different ways of looking at art while learning about art history, theory, literature, museums, culture and society. This is an interdisciplinary course where art theory, literature, psychology and semiotics converge to enhance the students' skills as readers of visual as well as verbal texts. |