IGRPH 5300 Advanced Topics: Exhibitions and Publications
Advanced Topics: Exhibitions and Publications is not a degree requirement but is highly recommended as an alternating year, spring, Critical Studies elective. The broad intent of this seminar is to raise students' level of critical thinking about photographs and the ways they are disseminated and consumed. It will combine practical knowledge with history and theory, and will utilize readings, lectures, writing, discussions, visits to exhibitions, guest curators and practical exercises. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to render critical judgments, both written and spoken, about photographs and their presentation and interpretation. They will be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the history, purpose and structure of such exhibiting institutions as museums, galleries, specialized art fairs, international photography festivals, and independent spaces, as well as a similar understanding of publishing, self-publishing and web-based publishing as it relates to the photographic field. The course will draw on such texts as Adrian George's The Curator's Handbook, Terry Barrett's Criticizing Photographs, Jorge Ribalta's Public Photographic Spaces from Pressa to the Family of Man and Alessandra Mauro (ed.) Photoshow: Landmark Exhibitions that Defined the History of Photography, as well as such sources of reviews as The New York Times, Photograph, and The London Review of Books. Students will be expected to conduct independent research, to prepare short classroom presentations on assigned topics, to write two short papers, and to participate in class discussions.