Designed to teach students foundational skills in 'reading' visual texts, this assessment sees students choose a photograph, artwork, or other form of visual media on which they conduct a short visual analysis. Students are expected to draw on discipline specific theoretical frameworks and technical knowledge when completing their analysing, however they may also be expected to incorporate reflexive or speculative responses to the visual stimuli. Students can choose an image or artwork that they personally respond to (within the parameters set by staff) to produce an analysis that addresses (1) style and formal characteristics (2) content and subject matter (3) the work's historical significance and relevance. Students may also be required to conduct background research on the artist or producer of the image. In ARTT2127 students must choose an art work from a current collection at Queensland Art Gallery, whereas students in MSTU2140 are given access to the UQ Fryer Library archives and must choose a photograph that relates to an aspect on Queensland history. This assessment is particularly well suited to disciplines that focus on visual forms (Art History, Film and Television, Photography). However, this assessment has wide transferability across HaSS disciplines as modes of visual communication become ubianalysis. Students are expected to draw on discipline specific theoretical frameworks and technical knowledge when completing their analysing, however they may also be expected to incorporate reflexive or speculative responses to the visual stimuli. Students can choose an image or artwork that they personally respond to (within the parameters set by staff) to produce an analysis that addresses (1) style and formal characteristics (2) content and subject matter (3) the work's historical significance and relevance. Students may also be required to conduct background research on the artist or producer of the image. In ARTT2127 students must choose an art work from a current collection at Queensland Art Gallery, whereas students in MSTU2140 are given access to the UQ Fryer Library archives and must choose a photograph that relates to an aspect on Queensland history. This assessment is particularly well suited to disciplines that focus on visual forms (Art History, Film and Television, Photography). However, this assessment has wide transferability across HaSS disciplines as modes of visual communication become ubiquitous.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 20-40
- CLASS LEVEL
- Second year
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Low time
- GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
- In-depth knowledge in the field(s) studied, Effective communication skills
- TAGS
- analysis
Advantages
This assessment creates an active, embodied learning experience as students are required to visit a discipline specific cultural institution, collection, or archive. Students learn to perform analysis of visual stimuli and convey their ideas in relation to the stimuli with clarity and fluency, thus developing their critical judgment and communication skills. The ability to read, interpret, and critically engage with visual media (drawing on both discipline specific and interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks) is an increasingly important skillset as modes of visual communication become more common. This is therefore an assessment that has wide transferability across HaSS disciplines.
Challenges
Some students become overwhelmed by having to choose their own image for analysis. This can be mitigated by limiting the scope of possible options or having suggested options from which students to choose.
Tips for implementation
It may be useful to provide a list of questions that students can draw on to guide their analysis.
How it supports academic integrity
Students are required to visit a local cultural institution in which the visual stimuli are located – this may deter misconduct as the assessment is based in individual, firsthand experience.
Dr Paolo Magagnoli
p.magagnoli@uq.edu.au
I completed my MA and PhD in Art History at University College London in 2012, and moved to Australia in 2015 to take up my position at UQ. I am an art historian with expertise in the history of photography, artists’ cinema and video. I have written widely on modern and contemporary art and his articles have appeared in Oxford Art Journal, Third Text, Afterall, Philosophy of Photography, Photography and Culture. I am also the author of Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary (2015). I am in favour of a broader approach to image culture, one which crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines such as art history, media studies, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. My research interests are contemporary artists’ use of images for the production of history and memory, and the aesthetics and politics of documentary. I am interested in the history of Australian photography and the role that lens-based images and visual culture have played in advancing social and environmental justice movements in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Find out more