History of Photography and Pictorial Communication

National and international history of photography

• The history of the technology of photography
• The history of reproduction techniques as applied to photography
• The mass-produced picture
• Photomontage and the "typo-photo" of the inter-war period, and their significance for the development of modern graphic design
• Photography as a communicative and rhetorical medium
• The status of photography as a medium for representation
• The status and potential of the photograph in the "digital era"
• Practical-instrumental pictorial communication

The course will give the students knowledge of the general history of photography, a history of photographic reproduction technology, and the role of photography in modern graphic design. The course also has a hermeneutic approach where the students have to make themselves acquainted with critical theory that questions the properties of the published / mass produced photograph as a communicative medium. The course is also about practical and instrumental pictorial communication for designers.

The student will through process-oriented essay writing based on formative evaluation in an incremental manner have improved:

• his/her analytical skills
• his/her ability for critical reflection
• his/her writing skills
• his/her ability to locate, gather and synthesise information
• his/her ability to critically assess sources and literature
• his/her ability to cite and reference sources and literature appropriately
• his/her skills in editorial handling of text.

• Lectures
• Writing of two essays with formative-iterative assessment.

No compulsory assignments