Sexual Politics and the Image (U03980)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-3-U03980

Widely encountered in late 20th-century criticism, the term ‘sexual politics’ has revolutionised our approach to the image. ‘Sexual politics’ is a key term in the humanities because it positions sexuality, as well as the production of the sexed/gendered subject, as complex political issues that are neither fixed nor exclusively private. Instead, the term ‘sexual politics’ implies that these issues are actively negotiated in the public domain of culture. The image (in the visual arts and elsewhere) has come to play a central role in contemporary culture and therefore the deployment of the term ‘sexual politics’ in current approaches to the image helps illuminate how images are produced and consumed by different subjects. The deployment of the word ‘politics’ in this context suggests that the interests of diverse social groups are expressed in the image, which can therefore never be ‘neutral’ and completely autonomous -even if it appears so. On the contrary, within the framework of ‘sexual politics’ both making and looking at images are understood as social practices. The discourse of sexual politics makes evident the immediate relevance of images, and of art, to our private and public existence. Ultimately then the term ‘sexual politics’, far from displacing the allure of the image, empowers us as spectators by helping us grasp the very complex processes that draw us to the image as such.
The course will place particular emphasis on the production and consumption of the image in the visual arts and related spaces of representation, such as film. We will concentrate on work produced during the last quarter of the 20th century when ‘sexual politics’ became a key concept in the practice and theory of art and visual culture. The unit will consider a variety of media and practices currently defining the expanded field of the visual.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : A pass in either History of Art 2 or Architectural History 2a and 2b

Subject Areas

Home subject area

History of Art, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	14:00	14:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : As well as the lecture (times above), there will be two seminars on Tuesdays. One at 0900-1050 and the other at 11.10-1300. Students will be required to attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will have knowledge and understanding of:
• The diverse ways by and through which sexuality structures the image as well as of the impact of sexual politics on a significant body of theory and contemporary art practice
• The ways that sexual politics, necessarily encoded in space and time, define one’s response to the image
• How and why artists, theorists and historians, sought to subvert the conventions defining the sexual politics of their times
• The conflicts between, and alliances, of theory and practice
• The significance of specific media and theoretical paradigms towards that end
• How to approach critically the wide variety of images in contemporary spaces of representation and assess the role of sexual politics in their formation, function and appeal to audiences
• How to participate with confidence in debates that continue to fuel arguments in contemporary art theory and practice but that spill over everyday practices as well
• How to formulate and assess own theoretical position and informed views in relation to relevant images and texts
• How to structure arguments that respect (do not underplay) the complexity of the positions encountered in art and its theory