Undergraduate Course: Design and Screen Cultures: Modernism and After (DESI08055)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the defining characteristics and events of modernity and postmodernity, and to the key critical concepts of modernism and postmodernism. It identifies and engages with the significant critical and aesthetic debates and creative practices that have shaped design and screen cultures since the late nineteenth century. The specific aims of the Course are to enable you to acquire an understanding of the defining features of the evolution of design and screen-based creative practice since the late nineteenth century; to help you develop competence, imagination and understanding when applying key critical concepts relevant to the analysis and production of design and screen cultures; and to support you in your investigation and analysis of some of the core issues that will establish a historical foundation for the development of your studio practice. |
| Course description |
Modernism and After offers a survey of the key themes and ideas that have created the material world we live in today. Its primary focus is on the significant cultural, social and political events that have influenced designers, filmmakers, and cultural producers more broadly, as well as the impact that design and screen cultures have had on wider society. The course takes a broadly chronological look at the rise of modernity from the late nineteenth century, including processes of industrialisation. In the first half of the course you will be introduced to key moments in the history of modernism including: the role of fashion in shaping cultural identity; the significance of the Bauhaus as an educational force; the relationship between technology and film; and the continued importance of the handmade. The second half of the course deals with the postmodern turn, where many of the ideas associated with modernism were challenged. You will consider a further range of topics including: the roots of postmodernism; subjectivity in the postmodern era; pastiche and irony; and the rise of brand cultures.
The course is delivered through lectures, seminars and film screenings. Each week students will be required to undertake research activities and prepare work, as part of their directed learning hours, for presentation or discussion in seminar and in preparation for the final submission.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate broad knowledge of a range of debates on modernism and postmodernism in the context of visual and material culture.
- Evaluate the key ideas and debates relating to modernist and postmodernist developments both in your field and in relation to their wider cultural influence.
- Convey pertinent ideas using a range of forms of communication effectively in both familiar and new contexts.
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Reading List
Modernism
Modernism with Ali Smith and Kevin Jackson (2012) BBC Radio 4. 22 October 2012, 21:30. available from «http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ng2qq [6 December 2012].
Barbican Art Gallery (2012) Bauhaus: Art as Life. Koln: Koenig in Association with Barbican Art Gallery.
Crouch, C. (1999) Modernism in Art, Design and Architecture. New York: St Martins Press.
Harrison, C. and Wood, P. (eds.) (1991) Art in Theory, 1900-1990: an Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford: Blackwell.
Howard, M. (2000) The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lupton, E. (1996) Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Osborne, P. (2010) The Oxford Handbook of Modernisms. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Overy, P. (1991) De Stijl. London: Thames and Hudson.
Wilks, C. (2006) Modernism, Designing a New World. London, VandA Publications.
Postmodernism
Appignanesi, R. (1995) Introducing Postmodernism. Thriplo: Icon.
Branxi, A. (1984) The Hot House: Italian New-Wave Design. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
Featherstone, M. (1993) Consumer Culture & Postmodernism. London, Sage.
Jencks, C. (1986) What is Post-modernism? Academy.
Harvey, D. (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford, Blackwell.
Harrison, C. and Wood, P. (eds.) (1991) Art in theory, 1900-1990: an Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford: Blackwell.
Howard, M. (2000) The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCracken, G. (2008) Transformations, Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture. Bloomington, Ind.: Indianna University Press.
Sardar, Z. (1997) Postmodernism and the Other: New Imperialism of Western Culture. London: Pluto Press.
Sparke, P. (2004) An Introduction to Design and Culture: 1900 to the Present. 2nd Edition, London: Routledge.
Thackara, J. (1988) Design After Modernism. London: Thames and Hudson.
Miller, D. (1998) Shopping, Place, and Identity. London: Routledge.
-- (1991) Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Blackwell.
V&A (2011) Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970-1990. London: V&A Publishing.
Ward, G. (1997) Postmodernism. London, Hodder.
Watson, C . (2000) Multiculturalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Woods, T. (1999) Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester: MUP
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
To be able to identify processes and strategies for learning
To be able to identify, define and analyse problems and identify or create processes to solve them
To be able to search for, evaluate and use information to develop their knowledge and understanding
To make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, negotiate, create and communicate understanding |
| Keywords | Design theory,design history,screen cultures,modernism,postmodernism |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sonia Matos
Tel: (0131 6)51 5753
Email: S.Matos@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Karolina Mazur
Tel: (0131 6)51 5712
Email: Karolina.Mazur@ed.ac.uk |
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