Title : Art & War
M14060
(20 credits) /
M14061
Level
4
Taught
Autumn Semester
(15 credits)
Module Convenor: Professor Alex Danchev
CONTENTS
Page
Summary of Content: ......................................................................................... 3
Educational Aims: .............................................................................................. 3
Learning Outcomes: ........................................................................................... 3
Module Evaluation: ............................................................................................. 3
Seminar Topics: ................................................................................................. 4
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
30 Sep. Introduction. ‘Night and Fog’ (Alain Resnais, 1955) .................... 4
7 Oct. War Photography: Don McCullin, Simon Norfolk et al. ................... 4
14 Oct. Gerhard Richter, ’18 October 1977’ (1988) ................................ 4
21 Oct. Visit to Imperial Museum North, Salford .................................... 4
28 Oct. War Artists ............................................................................ 4
4 Nov. Abu Ghraib ............................................................................. 4
11 Nov. ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ (Errol Morris, 2008) .................. 4
18 Nov. Music: Daniel Barenboim, Steve Reich ...................................... 4
25 Nov. ‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Ari Folman, 2008) ................................... 4
2 Dec. What can art do? .................................................................. 4
9 Dec. Consultation on research papers ............................................. 4
Method and Frequency of Class: ........................................................................... 5
Method of Assessment: ....................................................................................... 5
Reading: ........................................................................................................... 6
Coursework Support: .......................................................................................... 8
Guidance on Coursework:.................................................................................... 8
Proposal for research paper ................................................................................. 8
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Summary of Content:
This module will focus on the treatment of war or the representation of war in art
broadly conceived: war stories, war photography, war paintings, war films, war music,
even war architecture - war memorials and war museums. It will seek to ask in what
ways such works contribute to our understanding of war, and by extension our
understanding of international relations. How effective are they? Can works of the
imagination - works of art - reach parts that other works cannot reach? How? What
strategies do they employ? Do they have to be explicit? Do they have to be easy to
read (or watch or listen to)? In what ways are we affected by them? What difference
can they make?
Educational Aims:
1.To enable students to investigate how war has been treated in various art forms in
the modern period.
2.To encourage students to explore how works of the imagination can contribute to
the study of war, and, more broadly, international relations.
3.To stimulate thought about the interplay between fact and fiction, art and life.
Learning Outcomes:
1.Students should develop their understanding of the strategies and practices of art
and war.
2.Students should improve their research skills.
3.Students should improve their critical, analytical, presentational, organizational and
inter-personal skills.
Module Evaluation:
Evaluation and feedback are crucial to the success of any module. The School wants
students to have their say on Politics modules. Therefore modules are formally
evaluated on a biennial basis, so please use this opportunity to have your say. If you
have any other comments or queries regarding this module, please contact the Module
Convenor.
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Seminar Topics:
The weekly seminars are as follows:
Week 2
30 Sep. Introduction. ‘Night and Fog’ (Alain Resnais, 1955)
Week 3
7 Oct. War Photography: Don McCullin, Simon Norfolk et al.
Week 4
14 Oct. Gerhard Richter, ’18 October 1977’ (1988)
Week 5
21 Oct. Visit to Imperial Museum North, Salford
NOTE: THIS VISIT IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE COURSE. ALL STUDENTS WILL BE
EXPECTED TO ATTEND. STUDENTS SHOULD PLAN ON BEING AWAY ALL DAY.
STUDENTS SHOULD SEEK PERMISSION IN ADVANCE FROM THEIR TUTORS TO MISS
ANY LECTURES OR SEMINARS WHICH CLASH.
Week 6
28 Oct. War Artists
Week 7
4 Nov. Abu Ghraib
Week 8
11 Nov. ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ (Errol Morris, 2008)
Deadline for proposals for research paper: 12 Nov.
Week 9
18 Nov. Music: Daniel Barenboim, Steve Reich
Week 10
25 Nov. ‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Ari Folman, 2008)
Week 11
2 Dec. What can art do?
Week 12
9 Dec. Consultation on research papers
Deadline for research papers: 10 Jan.
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Method and Frequency of Class:
Activity
Lecture
Seminar
Number of Sessions
Duration of a Session
11
2 hours
Location of Seminar:
Day:
Time:
B40, Trent
Thursday
1300-1500
Method of Assessment:
This module will be assessed on the following basis:
Assessment Type
Coursework 1
Coursework 2
Weight
10%
90%
Requirements
1 x 500 word proposal
1 x 4,500 word research
paper (20 credit)/1 x 3,500
word essay (15 credit)
These pieces of work should be submitted to the School Office by Friday 12
November 2010 (coursework 1) and Monday 10 January 2011 (coursework
2). You must submit an electronic copy of your essay via the module’s WebCT site,
taking note of the individual ID number that will be generated once you have
successfully uploaded it. This process is self-explanatory.
After you have done that – and only then - you must submit two hard copies of the
essay to the School Office by the deadline. A submission sheet should be completed
and attached to the essay. You are required to enter the WebCT ID number on the
cover sheet, as proof that you have already electronically submitted the essay. The
submission sheet and the top of page of each copy of your essay should then be date
stamped, and submitted to the essay chest outside the School Office. Please note that
the School Office will be open from 10am till 4pm (Monday to Friday) on submission
days. Essays handed in after 4pm will be stamped as late and the usual University
penalties will be applied.
The electronic copies will be scanned to detect plagiarism. It is therefore
imperative that you consult the Student Handbook, which outlines what is counted as
plagiarism and advises you how to avoid it. Failure to submit an electronic copy even if
you submit two hard copies on time will mean that the essay will be counted as having
not been submitted.
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The standard University penalty for late submission should be 5% absolute standard
University scale per normal working day, until the mark reaches zero. For example, an
original mark of 67% would be successively reduced to 62%, 57%, 52%, 47% etc.
Normal working days include vacation periods, but not weekends or public holidays.
Applications for extensions will not normally be considered retrospectively. Any
student wishing to apply for an extension should collect and complete the necessary
forms from the School Office.
Reading:
General
Alex Danchev, ON ART AND WAR AND TERROR (Edinburgh UP, 2009)
REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (October 2009) on ‘Art and War’
GLOBAL SOCIETY (JULY 2010) on ‘Aesthetics and IR’
ALTERNATIVES (January-March 2006) on ‘Art and Politics’
ALTERNATIVES (July-September 2000) on ‘Poetic World Politics’
Roland Bleiker, AESTHETICS AND WORLD POLITICS (Palgrave, 2009)
Charles Hill, GRAND STRATEGIES (Yale UP, 2010)
Daniel Swift, BOMBER COUNTY (Hamish Hamilton, 2010)
Geoff Dyer, THE MISSING OF THE SOMME (Phoenix, 2009)
Gavin Stamp, THE MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING OF THE SOMME (Profile, 2007)
Diarmuid Costello & Dominic Willsdon (eds), THE LIFE AND DEATH OF IMAGES (Tate,
2008), especially W J T Mitchell, ‘Cloning Terror’ (also ch 1 of his own book)
W J T Mitchell, WHAT DO PICTURES WANT? (Chicago UP, 2005)
Judith Butler, FRAMES OF WAR (Verso, 2010)
War photography
**Alex Danchev, ‘War Stories’, JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY 69 (Jan 2005)
**Alex Danchev, ‘War Photography and the Face’, to be emailed; from ON ART AND
WAR AND TERROR
**Susan Sontag, REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS (Penguin, 2004)
**Frank Moller, ‘Looking/Not Looking’, to be emailed; from REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (October 2009)
*Frank Moller, ‘Rwanda Revisualized’, ALTERNATIVES (April-June 2010)
*Don McCullin, UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR (Vintage, 2002)
*Simon Norfolk website: www.simonnorfolk.com
*Magnum Photos website: www.magnumphotos.com
*Sean Smith on Guardian website: www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan
*David Levi Strauss, BETWEEN THE EYES (Aperture, 2003)
*Geoff Dyer, THE ONGOING MOMENT (Abacus, 2006)
*Susan Sontag, ON PHOTOGRAPHY (Penguin, 2002)
*Roland Barthes, CAMERA LUCIDA (Vintage, 2000)
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Gerhard Richter, ’18 October 1977’ (1988)
**http://www.baader-mienhof.com/special/RichterExhibition.htm
**Alex Danchev, ‘The Artist and the Terrorist’, to be emailed; from ON ART AND WAR
AND TERROR
**Peter Wollen, ‘October 18, 1977’, in PARIS MAHATTAN (Verso, 2004)
**Siri Hustvedt, ‘Double exposure’, MODERN PAINTERS (Summer 2002), or
‘Gerhard Richter: Why Paint?’ in MYSTERIES OF THE RECTANGLE (Princeton, 2005)
*Gerhard Richter, THE DAILY PRACTICE OF PAINTING (Thames & Hudson, 1995)
*Robert Storr, DOUBT AND BELIEF IN PAINTING (MoMA, 2003), part 3, and
*GERHARD RICHTER: OCTOBER 18, 1977 (MoMA, 2000)
*Stefan Aust, THE BAADER-MEINHOF GROUP (Bodley Head, 1987/2008)
Gordon Burn, ‘I bleive in nothing’, GUARDIAN, 20 September 2008
Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Steve Reich and ‘Different Trains’ (1988)
**Daniel Barenboim’s website: www.danielbarenboim.com
**Daniel Barenboim & Edward Said, PARALLELS AND PARADOXES (Bloomsbury, 2004)
**Steve Reich’s website: www.stevereich.com
**Daniel Barenboim, EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008)
**Elena Cheah, AN ORCHESTRA BEYOND BORDERS (Verso, 2009)
Abu Ghraib
**’The Abu Ghraib Files’: www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/
**’Inconvenient Evidence’: www.icp.org/exhibitions/abu_ghraib/
**Alex Danchev, ‘Bad Apples, Dead Souls’, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 84 (Nov 2008);
and ON ART AND WAR AND TERROR, ch 9
**Philip Gourevitch & Errol Morris, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (Picador,
2008)
**Errol Morris, ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ (DVD, 2009)
*W J T Mitchell, ‘Cloning Terror’, in Diarmuid Costello & Dominic Wilson, THE LIFE AND
DEATH OF IMAGES (Tate, 2008)
* Stephen F Eisenman, THE ABU GHRAIB EFFECT (Reaktion, 2007)
*Mark Danner, TORTURE AND TRUTH (Granta, 2004)
*Seymour Hersh, CHAIN OF COMMAND (Penguin, 2005)
*Alex Gibney, ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ (DVD, 2008)
*Botero, ABU GHRAIB (Prestel, 2006)
*Judith Butler, ‘Torture and the Ethics of Photography’, ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING
D: SOCIETY AND SPACE 25 (2007)
* Judith Butler, PRECARIOUS LIFE (2004)
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‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Ari Folman, 2008)
Michael Halkin, ‘The Waltz with Bashir Two-Step’, COMMENTARY (March 2009) at
http://www.commentarymagazine.com
Compare with other films:
‘Lebanon’ (Samuel Moaz, 2010)
‘Restrepo’ (Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger, 2010)
‘Armadillo’ (Janus Metz, 2010)
Background on Folman.
Coursework Support:
The Hallward Library and Halls of Residence have a number of networked PCs to
facilitate access to information on holdings.
As Module Convenor please do not hesitate to contact me by email, in the first
instance, if you have any difficulties with the module or assessed work. I will be
available without appointment during my office hours. Appointments to meet at other
times can be made via email.
Guidance on Coursework:
A short guide for students on essay writing skills and an outline of the marking criteria
used by staff is available on the School intranet.
Proposal for research paper:
500 words (excluding bibliography) due 12 November.
The proposal should contain:
(a) A brief explanation of the proposed topic for investigation.
(b) An itemized list of the main questions or angles or issues to be explored.
(c) A brief commentary on sources, on the basis of some preliminary research,
sufficient to indicate that there is enough to go on.
(d) A select bibliography (books, articles, artworks, websites, etc).
Further guidance on the research paper itself will be given during the course.
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