Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
1
Introduction to Art and Design Theory 1A
Enrolment code: FST101
Offered: Hbt, sem 1
Unit description: Introduces the language and issues of practical art criticism.
What do we respond to when we look at works of art? How do we describe and
evaluate a work of art?
The weekly lectures address the description and analysis of subject matter,
form, medium, technique and style in visual art and design. The lectures are
grouped into three main areas of study – Classicism, Romanticism and Early
Modernism. Each week the tutorial groups discuss one or two visual images
which relate to the particular lecture topics. During the semester, students are
expected to write several short commentaries for designated tutorials; these
commentaries form the basis for discussion.
The aim of the unit is to provide the student with a sound working knowledge
of the techniques used for describing a work of art and/or design. By the
conclusion of the unit the successful student should be able to articulate a
complex and persuasive description of a work of art or design. This is taught by
example in the lecture program and by exercise in the tutorials.
Staff: Mr EJ Colless, Assoc Prof JH Holmes, Dr L Negrin
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Assess: 5 short pieces of writing, end-of-sem slide test, attendance and
participation
Required texts, etc:
Honour H and Fleming J, A World History of Art, Laurence King, Lond, 1991.
Courses: F3E S3T
Introduction to Art and Design Theory 1B
Enrolment code: FST102
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Unit description: Concentrates on developing the student’s ability to
comprehend and comment on critical discussion of art and design. The weekly
lectures examine innovative and significant aspects of 20th-century art and
design – the range of new subject matter, the experiments in form and
technique, the novel modes of expression which were introduced. Tutorials are
organised as a series of practical exercises in criticism. During the semester
students submit five short comparative exercises based on material assigned by
the tutor. The aim of the unit is to provide the student with a working
knowledge of the techniques for analysing and interpreting a work of art. By
the conclusion of the unit the successful student should be able to articulate a
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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complex and persuasive response to a work of art. This is taught by example in
the lecture program and by exercise in the tutorials.
Staff: Mr EJ Colless, Assoc Prof JH Holmes, Dr L Negrin
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: FST101
Assess: 2x750-word written papers, end-of-sem slide test, attendance and
participation
Required texts, etc:
Honour H and Fleming J, A World History of Art, Laurence King, Lond, 1991.
Courses: F3E S3T
Art and Design Theory 2/3
Enrolment code: FST200/300
Offered: Hbt, sem 1; in-c, sem 1
Special note: compulsory unit for students enrolled in Bachelor of Fine Arts;
FST200 is being offered semester 1, Off-shore in 2001
Unit description: Is the core year-2 or year-3 unit, which explores a range of
theoretical issues confronting visual artists and designers in the modernist and
postmodernist periods (1940-2000) and investigates the relationship between
artistic theory and practice. Students begin by studying the writings of
Jean-Paul Sartre, which consider the visual arts and existentialism, and continue
with diverse writers such as Clement Greenberg, Walter Benjamin, Theodor
Adorno, Susan Sontag, Lawrence Alloway, Rodland Barthes, Bernard Leach,
Lucy Lippard, Jean Baudrillard and Arthur Danto. Tutorial papers and
discussions focus on the way in which many of the theoretical ideas under
investigation were manifested in works of visual art and design. Students can
expect to study a number of the significant late modern art and design
movements as well as the work of a wide range of individual practitioners.
Staff: Assoc Prof JH Holmes, Dr L Negrin, Mr E Colless
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: FST101, FST102
Mutual excl: HAC200/300
Assess: 2,000-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
1,500-word tutorial paper (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Harrison C and Wood P (eds), Art in Theory, 1900–1990: an anthology of changing
ideas, Blackwell, Oxf, 1992.
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Australian Art of the 1970s and 1980s
Enrolment code: FST201/301
Offered: in-c, sem 1
Special note: not offered in Tasmania in 2001; FST201 is being offered
semester 1, Off-shore in 2001
Unit description: Covers certain key survey exhibitions of the period,
beginning with The Field in 1968 and including others such as the Sydney
Biennales, Perspectas and a range of exhibitions of Australian art shown
overseas. All visual arts disciplines are studied using much contemporary
source material, including exhibition catalogues, recent journal articles and
newspaper clippings. A study booklet with extensive topic bibliographies is
provided at the beginning of the semester.
Staff: Assoc Prof JH Holmes
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC255/355
Assess: 2,000-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
1,500-word tutorial paper (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Taylor P (ed), anything Goes: Art in Australia, 1970–1980, Art & Text, Sth Yarra,
1984
Butler R, What is Appropriation? An Anthology of Critical Writings on Australian
Art in the 80s and 90s, Power Pubs and IMA, Syd, 1996
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Cinema
Enrolment code: FST202/302
Offered: Hbt, sem 1
Unit description: In the first part of the unit the artistic form and production
techniques of cinema are covered and students learn how the two work
together creatively. This is done through a series of demonstrations in the
lectures and through a series of practical exercises in the tutorials. In order to
assess how the material has been understood, students complete a simulation
exercise in filmmaking. This results in a short ‘treatment’, with a ‘marked up’
scripted sequence and a ‘storyboard’ of that sequence showing how the student
would direct it. In the second part of the unit this knowledge about form and
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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technique is applied to the experience of looking at feature films in order to
understand what those films are saying and how they say it. Students write a
short critical paper on film.
Staff: Mr EJ Colless
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly; regular film
screenings (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC256/356
Assess: film treatment, script and ‘storyboard’ presentation of between
1,500-2,000 words (70%); a critical 500 to 1,000-word evaluation of a feature
film (30%)
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Postmodernism and Visual Culture
Enrolment code: FST203/303
Offered: Hbt, sem 1
Unit description: Examines recent widespread questioning of the project of
high art, a challenge which is central to what has become known as the
postmodern sensibility. In the realm of theory it has led to a fundamental
re-evaluation of the concepts by which art and its institutions have traditionally
been analysed. In the realm of practice, it has led to a search for new cultural
forms which transcend the boundaries between high art and mass culture.
Topics covered include: the death of the author; postmodern pastiche; critiques
of the museum as an institution; and, the commodification of art.
Staff: Dr L Negrin
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC250/350
Assess: 2,500-word essay (50%), tutorial presentation with associated
2,000-word tutorial paper (50%)
Courses: F3E
Performance
Enrolment code: FST204/304
Offered: Not offered in 2001
Unit description: Introduces the critical theories and techniques of
performance art. As with the critical study of any mode of art, hands-on
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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experience of that art will sharply enhance understanding and appreciation of
it. The unit provides students with practical skills in performing, to inform
them about procedures for producing a performance, and to help them to
develop a critical perspective on performance as an art. In order to achieve
these aims the unit has both practical and academic objectives. The academic
component involves critical study of bodily expression in photography, theatre,
cinema and TV. It will examine the nature of gesture, of pose, of modelling,
mimicry and enactment. It will include study of the principles of certain
methods for effective performance both in theatrical and non-theatrical modes.
The practical component of the unit, which takes up the largest part of the total
contact hours, is directly related to the academic work and consists of a series of
two hour workshops. The workshops include basic exercises in stage and
non-stage performance, basic production techniques and exercises in directing.
This will involve practical floor work followed by critical feedback.
Staff: Mr EJ Colless
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 2-hr workshop; 1-hr Art Forum weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC257/357
Assess: scripted production of an original performance (100%)
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Picturing the Wilderness
Enrolment code: FST205/305
Offered: Hbt, s-sch
Unit description: Looks at the history and theory of landscape art with
particular emphasis being given to the ways in which artists have worked with
wilderness and natural environment themes. While it will be historical in
nature the unit will also offer students the opportunity to consider the role of
the visual arts in current environmental debates.
Staff: Assoc Prof JH Holmes
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 13x1-hr lectures, 8x1.5-hr tutorials, 3-4 Gallery visits (4 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC258/358
Assess: 2,000-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
1,500-word tutorial paper (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Mitchell WJT (ed), Landscape and Power, Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, 1994
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A S3T
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Contemporary Craft and Design
Enrolment code: FST206/306
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Unit description: Looks at ideas and influences which have shaped craft and
design practice in Australia in the post-war period and places it in the context
of contemporary international craft and design. The major focus will be
domestic objects and interiors although the unit will also focus on
developments in graphic design and in architecture.
Of particular concern will be the study of emerging craft trends in the post-war
period, the role of the Crafts Council of Australia and the impact of the
Australia Council from the early 1970s onwards. There will also be the
opportunity to examine the role design has played in manufacturing industry
and in the media. Some study of pre-war design and craft will be included.
Staff: Assoc Prof JH Holmes (Coordinator)
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Assess: 2,000-word essay, tutorial presentation with associated 1,500-word
tutorial paper
Courses: F3E
Fashioning the Body
Enrolment code: FST207/307
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Unit description: Focuses on the body as a site of cultural transformation. The
first part of the unit – ‘the body as art’ – investigates the various ways in which
the body has been moulded and adorned in accordance with culturally defined
ideals, and covers such topics as facial decoration, hairstyling, tattooing,
scarification, the slender body, the muscular body, and male and female dress.
In the second part – ‘the body in art’ – students explore how changing
conceptions of the body have been expressed in the works of artists. Topics
covered here include the portrait, the male and female nude, the depiction of
black bodies and body art.
Staff: Dr L Negrin
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC251/351, HAF213/313
Assess: 2,500-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
2,000-word tutorial paper (40%)
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Majors: Cultural Studies, Women’s Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Feminist Aesthetics
Enrolment code: FST209/309
Offered: Not offered in 2001
Unit description: While the work of women artists has been largely invisible
in traditional art history, images of women have abounded. The unit discusses
feminist critiques of mainstream art history and examines how women have
been portrayed both in high art and in popular culture. It also discusses the
various attempts which have been made to produce an alternative image of
women.
Staff: Dr L Negrin
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC252/352, HAF211/311
Assess: 2,500-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
2,000-word tutorial paper (40%)
Majors: Cultural Studies, Women’s Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
‘Follow the White Rabbit’: Fairy Tale, Fable and
Cyber Fiction
Enrolment code: FST210/310
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Special note: films subject to availability
Unit description: ‘I put a spell on you’, the song goes, ‘because you’re mine’.
Even if the sequence of actions doesn’t quite make sense, the idea is clear – I
possess you through a subtle force: enchantment. This unit looks at these ‘spells
of enchantment’ in post-war cinema. It will examine the way in which fable,
fairy-tale and science fiction are used in the creation of narratives and screen
roles in cinema. Depending on the availability of films, the unit looks at the use
of dream and fantasy to create ‘metafiction’ such as The Neverending Story or
The Last Action Hero and the genres of cyberpunk and VR or
computer-game-inspired narratives. It will also consider the nature of
enchantment in non-Western films such as Chinese Ghost Story and Wicked City.
Staff: Mr EJ Colless
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly; regular film
screenings (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC271/371
Assess: submission of academic and practical work responding to exercises in
narrative and role relevant to the screenings list
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Fantasy Decor
Enrolment code: FST212/312
Offered: in-c, sem 1
Special note: not offered in Tasmania in 2001; FST212 is being offered
semester 1, Off-shore in 2001
Unit description: Decor – the decoration of social spaces – is a vital yet often
ignored aspect of the history of art and design. This unit will present an
overview of its most extreme examples, including the delirious rococo interiors
of 18th-century Europe, the ruinously expensive 19th-century palaces built by
Bavaria’s mad King Ludwig, and 20th-century dreamscapes like Disneyland
and virtual fantasy worlds. Often dismissed as ‘excessive’, or simply ‘tasteless’,
all these types of decor are also radically imaginative in their transformations of
space and appearance. They have inspired writing which is similarly playful,
labyrinthine, and seductive, like Vivant Denon’s erotic, libertine story No
Tomorrow and Umberto Eco’s writing on the ‘hyper-reality’ of Disneyland.
Through study of this visual and written material, we will consider questions
like: What is natural and what is artificial?
Staff: tba
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Mutual excl: HAC273/373
Assess: 2,000-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
1,500-word tutorial paper (40%)
Majors: Cultural Studies
Courses: F3E R3A
Contemporary Art of the Asia-Pacific Region
Enrolment code: FST213/313
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Unit description: Introduces students to the diversity and cultural
significance of the visual arts in the Asia-Pacific region during the past two
decades. In particular the unit focuses on the critical debate which as emerged
in association with survey exhibitions such as the Asia-Pacific Triennial of
Contemporary Art (Brisbane) and others in South-East Asia, Japan, China and
the Indian sub-continent. Topics, such as art and politics, art of the diaspora,
and globalisation and national identity, are considered. Through illustrated
lectures and materials, students can expect to be introduced to the art and ideas
of a large number of contemporary artists working within the region.
Staff: Assoc Prof JH Holmes
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1-hr Art Forum, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% level 100 Art Theory
Assess: 2,000-word essay (60%), tutorial presentation with associated
1,500-word tutorial paper (40%)
Courses: F3E