AH/US 340 VISUAL CULTURE AND THE URBAN LANDSCAPE IES Abroad Berlin DESCRIPTION: This interdisciplinary course analyzes Berlin as a model case for the relations between urban planning, architecture, visual arts, politics and life style. Berlin's function as capital of six successive German states (Prussia, Second Empire, Weimar Republic, Third Reich, GDR, FRG) and cultural showcase of antagonist systems during the Cold War shaped the metropolis as well as the devastations of WW II and practical needs. Under the conditions of globalization the tensions between a strong sense of public utility and personal profit are increasing. The city that attracts people and ideas from the East and from the West has many faces most notably perceptible in art and architecture. The program will be focused on interdependencies between ideologies, aesthetical expression and the city as a living space, integrating historical and contemporary aspects. An excursion to Warsaw and Wroclaw (the formerly German Breslau in Poland), will provide a comparative perspective both on the question how these two cities have been defined by their cultural and built environments under specific conditions of a centralized planning and appropriation by natives and immigrants. Students will gain insight about the interaction between the levels of state controlled-/aided, commercial and subversive culture such as street art. Beyond the main object of understanding art and its role in the community they also learn about the backgrounds of preservation and demolition of artistic relicts of the past. CREDITS: 3 credits CONTACT HOURS: 45 hours LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: English PREREQUISITES: none ADDITIONAL COST: none METHOD OF PRESENTATION: Lecture with slides, video, field study: guided tours to relevant locations in town with student statements, in class discussion, Moodle will be used to enhance students' learning experiences. REQUIRED WORK AND FORM OF ASSESSMENT: Course participation 10% Midterm exam 35% Case study assignment (1,500 words total) 15% Final/term project: paper (essay, 6-10 pages) or visual project with a concise written introduction (1 page), drawings, photos, videos 30% Final project presentation 10% Late paper submission leads to a deduction of the grade for the assignment of 5% per day. Course Participation This includes responses to teachers questions according to the subject and the readings, active participation in discussions by expedient questions and statements, additional contributions basing on personal experience. For further information see Grading Rubric for Student Participation in Moodle.
Short presentations at excursions (speaking outside on location, 5 Minutes, not reading from a sheet, some pictures on paper or tablet/laptop welcome) are a good opportunity to improve this element: Session 17/18: Presentation about the main architectural and historical features of some places in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood. Locations: Zionskirche Prater, Kastanienallee Hirschgarten Water tower Synagogue Rykestraße Session 19: Juxtaposition of two halves of a politically divided city. Choose a city that is cut in two parts by a permanent front line or border. Research for an appropriate city (every continent eligible) is part of the task. A comparison to the Berlin situation would be welcome. Interesting in our context would be the visual representation of that border (walls, checkpoints, memorials, murals) and design differences in both urban areas (houses, fashion, advertising), related to the society. Midterm Exam A written exam in class: Five to six complexes, with one to three questions each. It includes following challenges: Explaining terms learned in class, comparing historical pictures (provided by the teacher during exam) and bringing the shown buildings/pieces of art/design in their historical context, giving a critical account of the discourse and adding examples for the argumentation. Discussing relations between different topics of visual culture on the basis of a given example. Case Study Assignment Academic paper of about 1,500 words related to one of the topics discussed in class by applying your knowledge to a specific selfchosen subject related to Berlin or another city. If your paper is being focused at the IES field study trip to Poland (preliminary research or follow-up), it fulfills the requirement for a travel assignment (one travel assignment is requested for each student in the semester). For specification and literature see: Moodle, Case study assignment. Pictures are welcome but not necessary. It s recommended to submit your paper early as possible in Moodle after the Midterm, deadline is the Sunday after return from Poland to Berlin, 6.00 p.m. Final/Term Project You may choose: 1) Academic Essay of about 2,500-3,000 words (see Moodle: Essay Writing ), pictures from the Internet allowed, with sources. 2) Visual project (drawings, photo essay, videos created by yourself) with a concise written introduction of 1-2 pages, describing the background and your ambition. The term paper/final project is due at the evening 6 p.m. before session 22 (look at the schedule) via Moodle. Format for written essays: PDF. For pictures also jpg and Powerpoint possible. File size (except video) is limited to 20 MB. If you are having technical difficulties submitting the file in Moodle, please send by e-mail. Late submissions will have to be sent to the teacher by e-mail and will result in a lowered grade. Final Project Presentation At the last session, no. 22, you have to give a summary on your project in a 3-5 minutes presentation in in front of the class (not reading from a sheet). Pictures, PDF- or Powerpoint-slides shown in class are welcome. LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the course students will have gained knowledge about the relations between heritage politics, economics, planning theory and visual art under different historical conditions. They will know how to analyze typical elements of urban styles and be able to apply this skill worldwide. The course is aiming at developing students' competencies on the analytic side as well as encouraging them to express a creative approach to the subject. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Regular class attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences will negatively affect the grade for participation. According to the IES Abroad Berlin regulations excessive absenteeism will negatively affect the final grade. Field trips are part of class.
CONTENT: Week Content Assignments and Readings Week 1 Session 1: Introduction. Visual Culture and its constituents. Invasions and walls spacial and historical settings of Berlin An Introduction to Visual Culture, pp. 1-31 The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape, Introduction, pp. 1-6 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Session 2: The Bauhaus concept: The designation of the visual arts and their integration under the primacy of architecture. Acceptance of the Bauhaus ideas after the war in the East and the West, their impact on the cityscape of Berlin, their value for the future. Session 3: Doctrines of early Modernism in the international context. Traditionalism and Modernism in Berlin: Understanding of different social models and their shifting representation in space, function, and design a conflict with changing political trenches: Stone versus glass, Stalinism versus International Style, Kreuzberg versus Marzahn. Session 4: Art in public spaces. Sculpture, murals, memorials and their positioning between decoration, indoctrination and self-adulation. Soviet Russian influence in East Germany. Interventional art as a critical commentary in Berlin and Paris. Session 5: How to deal with monuments of an unbeloved past: Policy of demolition and replacement. The simulated history: Reconstruction, identity, education and entertainment Examples from Berlin, Turkey and the USA. Session 6: The vanishing future and the upcoming past. Baroque, Classizism and revivals. Course related field study trip through district Mitte: Unter den Linden, Forum Fridericianum, Stadtschloss and Palast der Republik sites, Bauakademie (corresponding to sessions 2/3/5). Session 7/8: Visit to sites and buildings connected to the Nazi-regime (Reichspropagandaministerium, Reichsluftfahrtministerium, site of the former Reichskanzlei), Academy of Arts and the Holocaust (Peter Eisenman s Holocaust-Memorial, Topographie des Terrors site of the former Gestapo headquarter) (corresponding to sessions 3/5). The Bauhaus, pp. 9-12/103-115/123-135 The Modern Urban Landscape, pp. 98-118 Architecture in the Age of Stalin, pp. XIX-XXV Art, Space and the City, pp. 1-3, 5-18, 62-83 Hold it! pp. 224-226 Visual Culture and Tourism, pp. 85-90 Berlin: The Buildings of Europe, pp. 7-25 Ost-Berlin und seine Bauten, pp. 16/44/70/ 102/158/176 The Ghosts of Berlin, pp. 126-173
Week 5 Session 9: Purposive constructions of images? The city in fine arts and photography from the Middle ages until modern times. Paris dreams, jokes and weird secrets: New understandings of the city since the eras of Impressionism and Surrealism Session 10: High and Low: The role of Street Art/Graffiti, fashion, underground comics, advertising and their area of conflict with avant-garde and established art. How minority cultures become part of the mainstream. The role of underground culture in a dictatorship (former East Germany) City Gorged With Dreams, pp. 144-167 High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, pp. 14-21/68-99 After Subculture, pp. 30-35 Consultation for Midterm Slideshows and summaries, provided in Moodle Week 6 Session 11: Midterm Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Session 12: Course related field study trip to the Weiße Stadt ( White City ), a modernist neighborhood from the late 1920s. Bauhaus inspired architecture, landscape planning. A visit in a painters studio (corresponding sessions 3/5/15). Session 13/14: Course related field study trip: Visit to the former Kunsthaus Tacheles ; walk through Kreuzberg, a neighborhood of the early 1900s changed by youth culture. Visit to the graffiti-shop Overkill in Kreuzberg, and the former industrial area, now subcultural hot spot RAW temple in Friedrichshain (corresponding to session 5/10/15). Session 15: Who pays the piper? Paris as an archetype: Between Bohème and Salon. Public and private funding of the arts. The Living and working conditions for artists in former East- and West-Berlin and now. Session 16: Comfort, sensation and indoctrination: How street furniture and advertising participate in the change of the urban style. Paint the city green: Guerrilla gardening. Briefing for the final projects. Session 17/18: Course related field study trip: Walk through Prenzlauer Berg: A new culture in old tenements from subculture to gentrification. The smallest museum in the city. The Hirschhöfe. A memorial for the first concentration camp (corresponding to sessions 2/3/4/5/10/16). Housing Estates in the Berlin Modern Style, pp. V- XIII, 22-25, 44-48. Berlin Street Art, pp. 7-9/11-13/16/45/90/94/ 99/104 Berlin Art Now, pp. 6-9/50-58 Urban Landscape Architecture, p. 7 David Tracey: Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto, Gabriola Island (Canada) 2007, pp. 1-15, 185-186, 202-203 Optional presentations by students
Week 11 Session 19: Course related field study trip: The Berlin Wall strip as urban waste, boom area and Land Art object. Berlin Wall memorials and preservation (corresponding with session 4/5). Student presentations: Comparison Berlin and another divided city. Consultation for Final projects The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape, pp. 7-39 Week 13 Week 14 Session 20/21: Course related field study trip: City transportation as a screen: art, advertising and subversion in the subway. Subway styles in an international comparison (corresponding to sessions 4/16). Session 22: Presentation of final projects Art, Space and the City, pp. 132-149 COURSE-RELATED TRIPS: Berlin Mitte (architectural styles, monument policy, reconstruction) Nazi-architecture and memorials for the victims The Weiße Stadt, a Bauhaus influenced neighborhood (UNESCO world heritage) from 1929 Graffiti Kreuzberg Prenzlauer Berg The Berlin Wall Subway REQUIRED READINGS: (in order of appearance in the reader) Nicholas Mirzoeff: An Introduction to Visual Culture (London/New York: Routledge 2005) Brian Ladd, The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997) Frank Withford: The Bauhaus (London: Thames and Hudson 1984) Edward C. Relph: The Modern Urban Landscape: 1880 to the present (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1987 Vladimir Paperny: Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two (Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press 2002) Malcolm Miles: Art, Space and the City: Public Art and Urban Futures (Oxford: Routledge Chapman & Hall 1997) Hold It! The Art & Architecture of Public Space: Bricolage Resistance Resources Aesthetics (Berlin: Jovis 2009) David Crouch/Nina Lubbren (eds.): Visual Culture and Tourism (Oxford: Berg Publishers 2003) Derek Fraser: Berlin: The Buildings of Europe (Manchester: Manchester University Press 1997) Eva-Maria Barkhofen (ed.)/andreas Butter/Benedikt Goebel: Ost-Berlin und seine Bauten (Tübingen/Berlin: Wasmuth 2006), engl./germ. Ian Walker, City Gorged With Dreams: Surrealism and Documentary Photography in Interwar Paris (Manchester: Manchester University Press 2002) Housing estates in the Berlin Modern Style, World Heritage Nomination 2006 Kirk Varnedoe: High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture (New York: Museum of Modern Art 1990) David Tracey: Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto (Gabriola Island, Canada: New Soc Pr 2007) Lorenc Bonet (ed.): Urban Landscape Architecture (Gloucester: Rockport Publishers 2007), p. 7 Andy Bennett/Keith Kahn-Harris (ed.): After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture (Basinstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2004) Kai Jakob: Street Art in Berlin (Berlin: Jaron Verlag GmbH 2008) Ulf Meyer zu Künigdorf (Editor): Berlin Art Now (Germany: Abrams 2007 )
RECOMMENDED READINGS: (in IES library) Martin Kieren: New Architecture Berlin 1990-2000 (Berlin: Jovis 1998) Benjamin Wolbergs: Urban Illustration: Street Art City Guide Berlin: pp. 321-329 Dick Hebdige: Subculture: The Meaning of Style (New Accents) (London/New York; Routledge 1981), p. 1-19/92-96/100-127 Sven Zimmermann: Berlin Street Art (München: Prestel 2005)