2023

Representation Theories

Name: Representation Theories
Code: VIS13592M
6 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours
Scientific Area: Arte Multimédia, Artes Plásticas

Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English
Regime de Frequência: Presencial

Sustainable Development Goals

Learning Goals

Students are meant to gain a critical understanding of how representation has always been a central pillar of art to the present day. The problematic of representation is present both in the artistic practices and in the thought of the creators about the artistic practices that made it or contested it, both in reflection and in aesthetic debates, and also in the context of various disciplines and theories addressing questions concerning the creation of art works and images. It is essential that students can seize and reflect on how the ideas and notions of representation as a construction of pictorial spaces do not refer only to the aesthetic scope, but also to the historical and social dimensions from where emerge specific and diversified conceptions and visions of the world.

Contents

– Notions and concepts of representation;
– Several theories of representation. Rethinking the artistic, anthropological and historiographical perspectives;
– Representation, experience and living – pictorial space in Merleau-Ponty;
– Georges Didi-Huberman: “What we see, what looks at us”;
– Beauty and representation, readings of the Sublime and the “Masterpiece”;
– The survival of the images, according to Aby Warburg;
– Velázquez and Manet: The “Theatre of the world”;
– Imitation, illusion and simulation: figurative representation and expressive recreation;
– Spaces of representation and places of the observer;
– The representation as the “limit” of art, according to Arthur Danto;
– Minimal abstraction and beyond the image.

Teaching Methods

The lectures will focus on the contents, theories and debates of each subject matter in the course. The creative universe and works of key artists will be presented and analyzed. Diverse support materials and media will be used. The lectures will include sessions where students will be asked to analyze and discuss some important texts. The students' constant participation in the classes is encouraged. Assessment will be continuous through the critical analysis of the following works: a research work on a theme of choice, taking into account the syllabus, with a minimum of 15 pages of text (font 12, 1.5 spacing); practical exercises performed in class.
The research work will be worth 50% of the grade and the remaining criteria and parameters the remaining 50%.
Another possibility of evaluation in the curricular unit is the realization of a final examination, to be combined between the teacher and the students.

Teaching Staff

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