Click each program below to explore all DVS courses
Art History Courses (FAH) | FAH200s | FAH300s | FAH400s
Studio Art Courses (FAS) | FAS200s | FAS300s | FAS400s
Cinema Studies Courses (CIN) | CIN200s | CIN300s | CIN400s
Visual Culture and Communication Courses (VCC) | VCC200s | VCC300s | VCC400s
Visual Studies Courses (VST)
NB: The Full Course Calendar shows all the courses on the books in the Department of Visual Studies. A selection of these courses are offered each year. To see the courses being offered this year, visit Current Course Offerings.
Art History Courses (FAH)
FAH101H5 Introduction to Art History (HUM)
(Formerly FAH202H5) An overview of western art from the ancient world through the 20th century, as well as an introduction to the discipline of art history and its methodologies. Emphasis on representative monuments and key approaches to interpretation. [24L, 12T, 12P]
Exclusion: FAH101H1 or FAH102H1 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5 or VPHA46
FAH205H5 Art in Antiquity (HUM)
This course offers a survey of the arts of antiquity. Emphasis is placed on major works of sculpture, painting and architecture. Decorative arts are also treated. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH207H1 or VPHB52
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
FAH215H5 Early Medieval Art and Architecture (HUM)
An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Mediterranean World from the third until the 11th century. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: (FAH102Y5 or FAH261H1 or FAH267H5 or FAH271H5) or VPHB53
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH216H5 Later Medieval Art and Architecture (HUM)
An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Mediterranean World from the 11th through the 15th century. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH102Y5 or FAH261H1 or FAH267H5 or FAH271H5 or VPHB53
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH274H5 Renaissance Art and Architecture (HUM)
A selective survey of the major art centres, types of artistic production, personalities and trends in Italy and the North, from the early 15th century to the mid-16th. The creation and diffusion of art are addressed through an understanding of historical techniques (media), cultural determinants such as patronage, and significant works of art. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH230H1 or VPHB74H3
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
FAH275H5 Introduction to Indigenous Art in Canada (HUM)
This survey course will introduce students to the advanced technological and innovative material contributions of Indigenous cultural knowledge towards the reshaping of Canadian Culture, Identity and Art today; beginning with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations. Specificity of place, nation, geographical territory, the intervention of colonial government policy and social movements will be reviewed as they relate to the creation and collection of Indigenous art and established art markets. Object and image making, new technologies, performance art, ceremony, land, hunting, activism, social engagement and community arts will be covered, as will fashion, dance, song and storytelling. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH279H5 Baroque Art and Architecture (HUM)
An introduction to art and society in Europe, ca. 1600 to ca. 1800 CE. Tensions between the Catholic Church and Protestantism; the rise of powerful, competing courts; the growth of increasingly complex urban centres; and the entry of the 'wider public' into the art market all create new roles for representation in Europe. Developments in painting, prints, sculpture, architecture, urban planning and festivals are considered. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH231H1 or VPHB64
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
FAH281H5 An Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture (HUM)
This course surveys art and architecture of the Islamic worlds, beginning with the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. It examines works of art ranging from the monumental (palaces, mosques, shrines) to the portable (textiles, jewelry, books), spanning the Islamic world from Spain to Central and East Asia. A range of materials and artistic techniques will be considered, as will several religious and secular contexts and different patterns in patronage and workshop production. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH202H5
FAH282H5 Gardens, Homes, and Palaces in the Muslim World (HUM)
How did Muslims live in the pre-modern world and how did they interact with their surrounding environment? This course introduces examples of homes, palaces and gardens dating from the 8th to the 18th centuries. The course includes examples from the Arab world, Turkey, Iran and South Asia. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH285H5 Art and Religion (HUM)
An introduction to the art of the major world religions (examples will mostly be taken from Christianity, Hinduism and Islam but may also extend to Judaism, Buddhism and religions of indigenous peoples), examining debates within these traditions around the status of the image as well as the relationship of religious images with the secular notion of 'art.' [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
FAH287H5 European Art of the 19th Century (HUM,EXP,INTLO)
Surveys major developments in European art and architecture from the late 18th through the end of the 19th century, including Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Orientalism, Realism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Symbolism. Artistic responses to political change, urbanisation, capitalism, colonialism, the Academy and the Salon will be explored as well as changing constructions of gender, race, class and national identities through visual media. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH208H1 or FAH282H1 or FAH245H1
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
FAH288H5 European and North American Art of the Earlier 20th Century (HUM)
Surveys principal developments in modern art and architecture from the late 19th century through 1945. Topics covered include key movements, such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Suprematism, de Stijl, Dada and Surrealism, and key concepts, such as the avant-garde, abstraction, the readymade, the unconscious and the primitive. Readings include manifestos and other writings by artists as well as art historical texts. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH246H1 or VPHB58
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5
FAH289H5 Art Since 1945 (HUM)
Examines many divergent international art movements and controversies in painting, sculpture, video, installation art, performance and other new forms, from 1945 to the present. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH246H1 or VPHB58
Recommended Preparation: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH288H5
FAH290H5 Topics in Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.[24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH291H5 History of Photography (HUM)
Examines the history of photography in Euro-American visual culture and explores how this medium of mass communication has transformed our perceptions and conceptions of art, society and culture over the past two centuries. Reviews key imagemakers and areas of production concluding with the impact of digital imaging. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH252H5 or FAH391H5
Recommended Preparation: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5)
FAH292H5 Canadian Art (HUM)
This course examines the history of art produced in Canada, from the pre-contact period to today. Diverse visual traditions and their intersections will be studied, as will the changing roles of art in Canadian society. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH248H5: Canadian Painting 1665-1960 (formerly FAH286H1) or VPHB60H3: Canadian Visual Art
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH295H5 Topics in Art History (HUM)
An examination of a topic in art history. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: FAH101H5
FAH299Y5 Research Opportunity Program (HUM)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FAH301H5 History and Practices of Visual Resource Collecting (HUM)
This course investigates the theoretical and philosophical bases and practical realities of digitizing the visual arts in the context of scholarly research, collection development, publishing, information studies and education in the global environment. Students will examine the historical development and impact of digitization on image collecting as well as current practices and issues facing professionals. A practical, hands-on approach will be an essential part of the course. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and 1.0 credits in FAH/VCC at the 200 level or permission of instructor
FAH310H5 Curating Matters: Contexts and Issues in Contemporary Curatorial Practice (HUM)
This course will introduce students to the major critical texts, theories and debates circulating in the burgeoning international field of contemporary curatorial studies. The course will include lectures, case studies, practice-related assignments, encounters with artists and art professionals and student presentations that are intended to raise issues and engage debate about contemporary exhibition practices and account for theoretical perspectives and historical context. One objective of this course is to trouble preconceptions of the role of the curator in order to observe the complexity of curatorial models across and beyond art institutions. The class will address the implications of shifting cultural, social and political contexts for artistic and curatorial practice and their sites. [24S]
Exclusion: VPSB73 or VIS320H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH289H5 and 0.5 additional credit in FAH/VCC
Recommended Preparation: FAH288H5 and FAH289H5 and FAH388H5
FAH315H5 Photomontage: History, Theory, and Practice (HUM)
This course investigates the history, theory and practice of photomontage from its roots in combination printing in the mid-19th century to its key role in the modernist 'isms of art' in Europe and North America including Dada, Surrealism, Constructivism and the Bauhaus to the rise of digital photomontage in the current Photoshop era. It explores a range of practices and applications of photomontage in avant-garde art, commercial advertising, mass media, humorous satire, propaganda and political activism.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or VCC101H5) and FAH291H5.
FAH322H5 Romanesque Sculpture (HUM)
A study of architectural sculpture in 11th- and 12th-century France and neighbouring countries: origins; sources of form and style; social, religious and functional contexts of selected monuments; also historiography. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH215H5 or FAH216H5) or permission of instructor
FAH329H5 Early Christian Art and Architecture (HUM)
Examines art and architecture during the emergence of Christianity in the West until circa 600, focusing primarily on Italy. Assesses the connections between polytheistic, imperial Roman art and new Christian traditions in a variety of media, including mosaics, metalwork, wall painting and sculpture. Also considers the role of primary texts in the interpretation of Early Christian art. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH215H5 or FAH216H5) or permission of instructor
FAH332H5 Studies in Baroque Painting (HUM)
Thematically organized treatment of major figures (Caravaggio, Carracci, Poussin) in the context of art theory and viewer response. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH274H5 or FAH279H5)
FAH337H5 Court Art and Patronage in the Middle Ages (HUM)
Art and architecture of royal and imperial families from circa 800-1400 in western Europe, including Norman, Capetian, Plantagenet and Hohenstaufen dynasties. Topics include the role of courts in the development and diffusion of new styles, and monuments as expressions of piety, chivalry and political propaganda. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH316H1 or FAH327H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH216H5 or FAH217H5)
May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Architecture (St. George).
FAH343H5 Pilgrimage (HUM)
Examines the experience of pilgrimage from an interdisciplinary perspective, with focus on major Christian and Islamic shrines in the Middle Ages. Considers monuments associated with sites such as Santiago, Jerusalem and Mecca, as well as objects collected by pilgrims. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH316H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH216H5
May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Religion (U of T Mississauga), Christianity & Culture (St. George), and Architecture (St. George).
FAH351H5 Gothic Architecture (HUM)
Study of origins, architecture and decoration of the Gothic Cathedral in the Ile-de-France, treating function and symbolism, intellectual and social contexts, and initial diffusion of the style to other countries. Considers post-medieval Gothic as well. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH328H1 or VPHC42
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH216H5 or FAH217H5)
FAH353H5 The sculptor-architect GianLorenzo Bernini (HUM)
Topics in the sculpture, architecture, methods and biographical legacy of the principal 17th-century artist of the Roman baroque, GianLorenzo Bernini. Focus of the course changes from year to year.[24S]
Exclusion: FAH352H5
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH274H5 or FAH279H5).
May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Religion (U of T Mississauga), Christianity & Culture (St. George), and Architecture (St. George).
FAH356H5 Colonial Latin American Art and Architecture (HUM)
This lecture course will examine processes of cultural transfer and transformation in the planning of cities, churches and viceregal palaces from the early days of contact through the Baroque in the Viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru and in Brasil. The persistence of indigenous beliefs and forms will be tracked in painting, sculpture, and architecture alongside the emergence of unique genres (i.e., castas, feather paintings), building types and forms based on the particular makeup of a colonial society. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: FAH274H5 and FAH279H5 and HIS290H5 and LAS200Y1 and HIS291Y1
FAH360H5 Art and Visual Culture of the 18thCentury (HUM)
This course examines European painting, sculpture, architecture, landscape architecture, print culture, decorative arts, exhibition strategies and art criticism of the 18th century. Key artists and writers to be studied from the age of enlightenment and revolution include Blake, Burke, David, Diderot, Fragonard, Girodet, Goya, Hogarth, Reynolds, Vigée-Lebrun, Watteau, Winckelmann, Boullée, Ledoux and Wright of Derby. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and at least 1.5 credits in FAH at the 200 level
Recommended Preparation: FAH279H5 and FAH287H5
FAH375H5 All Our Relations: Indigenous Land Stewardship and Art (HUM,EXP)
This class embraces land- and earth-based skills as tools in the production and maintenance of revitalization efforts in Indigenous culture and knowledge. Throughout the course students will lead the development, production and maintenance of a Community Medicine Garden initiative to be located in the heart of the UTM campus. Topics include environmental liberation, food sovereignty, kinship, gardening as resistance, matriarchy, land stewardship, landscaping with regional indigenous plants, Indigenous feminisms, place-based knowledge and knowledge sharing. Activities will include film screenings, community feasts, public readings, drumming circles and guests speakers with Traditional Indigenous knowledge carriers, artists, environmental activists and local grassroots community-based partners. [24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and FAH275H5
FAH380H5 New Genres in Contemporary Art (HUM)
A study of artistic genres in contemporary art, including video, performance, installation, site-specificity and digital media. Such new genres will be studied as alternative modes of artistic practice collaborative, ephemeral, institutionally critical and discursive, and as a means to address questions and issues such as public space, community, networks of information, and global capitalism and activism. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5)
Recommended Preparation: FAH289H5
FAH382H5 Artists and Craftsmen from the Muslim World (HUM)
What do we know about the pre-modern artists of the Muslim world? This course explores the lives or artist from the Muslim world and what we know about their education, status, styles, techniques and influences. The course includes examples of a calligrapher, a painter, a metalworker, a ceramicist and an architect. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH395H5 - Topics course: Artists and Craftsmen from the Muslim World
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and FAH281H5 or FAH282H5
FAH383H5 Cities in the Early modern Muslim World: Istanbul, Isfahan and Delhi (HUM)
This course explores the three major cities of the pre-modern Muslim empires: Istanbul under the Ottomans, Isfahan under the Safavids, and Delhi under the Mughals. The course addresses the urban formation, architectural style and visual symbolism of these cities. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH395H5 Topics course: Cities in the Early modern Muslim World: Istanbul, Isfahan and Delhi
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH281H5 or FAH282H5)
FAH385H5 Modern and Contemporary Art of India (HUM)
This course traces a chronology of South Asian art from its genealogies in late colonial image-making traditions from the 1850s to the present, situating modernist 'high' art in terms of its conversation with the broader field of cultural practice in modern India: cinema, vernacular bazaar prints, rural and tribal craft traditions, practices of popular devotion and 'classical' artistic traditions. It investigates the theoretical and political concerns animating South Asian cultural practices and their criticism (nationalism, Marxism, secularism, anti-fundamentalism, Islam, feminism, postcolonialism, issues of diaspora and globalization), and addresses the key question of how to approach practices of modernism and postmodernism in the postcolony. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH364H1 or FAH365H1 or FAH392H5 - Topic: Contemporary South Asian Art
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and VCC201H5 and (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: VCC302H5
FAH388H5 Theory in Art History (HUM)
Investigates the historical development of the Western discipline of art history through the theories that have shaped it; topics covered include formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, the social history of art, feminism, post-colonialism, queer studies and deconstruction. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH351H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and at least 1.0 credits in FAH/VCC.
FAH390H5 Topics in Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and FAH287H5 or (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) or permission of instructor
FAH392H5 Topics in Modern Art/Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287 or FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) or permission of instructor
FAH393H5 Topics in Ancient Greco-Roman Art (HUM)
An examination of a topic in the art and architecture of classical antiquity. Topics vary from year to year; the area of study and content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH203H5 or FAH204H5 or FAH205H5) or permission of instructor
FAH394H5 Topics in Early Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in early modern (Renaissance and/or Baroque) art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to approximately 30 students.[24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH287 or FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) or permission of instructor
FAH395H5 Topics in Islamic Art and Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in Islamic art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287 or FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) or permission of instructor
FAH396H5 Topics in Medieval Art and Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in medieval art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH215H5 or FAH216H5) or permission of instructor
FAH399Y5 Research Opportunity Program (ROP) (HUM)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year or beyond to work on the research project of a professor in art history/theory in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
Exclusion: FAH299Y5
FAH415H5 Theory and Criticism of Photography (HUM)
Introduces a variety of approaches for interpreting, criticizing, evaluating and theorizing photographs and photography in general. Examines how the thinking of photography is revisioned via major theoretical models. [24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH291H5 or FAH391H5) and a minimum of 0.5 at the 300/400 level in FAH.
FAH423H5 Topics in the Art of the Medieval Mediterranean (HUM)
Examines the art and architecture of the Mediterranean basin, including Western Christian, Byzantine, Islamic and Jewish art, from the first century through the 15th. Considers their points of convergence as well as their distinct differences and priorities. Organized around key works of scholarship that have defined the emerging field of Mediterranean studies, along with primary sources. Considers works in all media, from monumental arts to textiles, metalwork, manuscripts, and ceramics. Also makes use of local museum holdings. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5), FAH216H5 and at least 1.0 credit in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level.
Recommended Preparation: FAH105H5 and FAH267H5
FAH424H5 Medieval Collecting and Display (HUM)
This course examines collections of medieval art assembled during the Middle Ages and today. It considers the formation of collections within religious and secular institutions of the Middle Ages (treasuries), and the ways in which objects entered such collections through diplomacy, war, dowries, wills and new commissions. It examines how the collections expressed historical memory, family ties, religious ideas and political ideologies, and how the objects were displayed. The course also examines collections of medieval art in the GTA, including those at the Aga Khan Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto Art Centre. A variety of methodologies will be explored, including Digital Humanities. [24S]
Exclusion: None
Prerequisite: FAH215H5 or FAH216H5 and at least 1.0 credit in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level.
FAH434H5 Art and Architecture of Medieval Rome (HUM)
This seminar examines the art and architecture of Rome from the first century CE through the 14th. It focuses on the city's art and image in the wake of Christianization and its often ambivalent attitudes toward its classical past. Works in all media, from large-scale churches, wall paintings and icons will be considered, along with liturgical arts and manuscripts. Medieval texts will figure prominently as well. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH216H5 or FAH217H5 or FAH205H5) and 0.5 at the 300/400 level in Medieval Art or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: FAH267H5 or FAH343H5
FAH435H5 Women and Art in the Middle Ages (HUM)
An interdisciplinary study, including feminist analysis, of the roles of women in the Middle Ages, their representation in medieval art, and their impact on varying aspects of the art as subject, object, patron or artist. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH425H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH216H5 or FAH217H5) and at least 0.5 FAH at the 300/400 level.
FAH441H5 Reformation and Counter-Reformation Art (HUM)
Considers reformation tracts against images and iconoclastic outbreaks in Northern Europe and the response of the Counter-Reformation with new iconographies, historical accuracy in narrative, Early Christian revival in architecture and image-based devotional practices. [24S]
Exclusion: FAH439H1
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH274H5 or FAH279H5) and 0.5 300/400-level course in Renaissance or Baroque Art or permission of instructor
May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Religion (U of T Mississauga) and Christianity & Culture (St. George).
FAH449H5 Renaissance Narrative Painting (HUM)
A study of Italian Renaissance istoria or narrative painting in light of Alberti's art theory, devotional modes (Fra Angelico), the eyewitness account (Carpaccio), narrative cycles (Piero della Francesca), etc. The course will examine wide range of 15th-century Italian painting and will include readings in contemporary narrative theory. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH274H5 and 0.5 credit in FAH at the 300/400 level or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: FAH267H5 or FAH271H5
FAH451H5 Curating Now: Turning Concepts into Curatorial Projects (HUM,EXP)
Students will research and develop a curatorial project proposal in the form of an exhibition, a public installation, a public event, a performance, a website, etc., as the culminating assignment for the course. The emphasis of the course will be on the application of knowledge gained in FAH310 and consideration of the multi-level preparatory stages entailed in the mounting of a curatorial project, placing particular emphasis on conceptualization and methodology, and on the premise that curatorial practice is an intellectual endeavour that manifests its ideas in form. Students will learn how to turn a concept into a project proposal and become equipped to develop innovative solutions to future challenges in curatorial practice.[36S]
Exclusion: FAH480H or VIS320H5
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH310H5
Recommended Preparation: Intended for advanced students with high standing in the Art History or Art & Art History Program.
FAH451H5 may be counted toward either the FAH or the FAS requirements in the Art and Art History program.
FAH453H5 The Archive and the Formless (HUM)
This course is a study of 20th-century and contemporary art history that draws upon philosophies of the archive (as the formalization of knowledge in terms of origins and ends) and the formless (as a deconstructive force of these very same knowledge formations). Through close readings of key texts by Georges Bataille, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben, an understanding of the complex interrelations between the archive and the formless, and their bearing upon 20th-century and contemporary art history is developed. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) and at least 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300-400 level, or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: FAH388H5
FAH454H5 Contemporary Jewish Art (HUM)
This course examines the significance of the visual arts for the study of contemporary Jewish culture, for the construction of Jewish identities, and as an example of Jewish secularization. It does so through a survey of contemporary Jewish artistic production and visual expression with numerous and comparative examples drawn from producers in North America, Europe and Israel. In addition, the course is attuned to the social and political dimensions and implications of contemporary Jewish art making. It will be organized thematically and cover a range of topics from the challenges faced by visual artists grappling with the Second Commandment and its prohibition of images to the continuing impact of the idea of diaspora on contemporary Jewish artists. The course will also situate its subject matter in relation to larger debates about the emergence of postmodern subjectivities and the place (or displacement) of religion and religious themes in contemporary art in general. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH288H5 and FAH289H5, and at least 1.0 credit in FAH or VCC at the 300/400 level.
FAH455H5 Photography and Humour (HUM)
What makes a photograph funny? What are the ways in which photography as a visual and narrative medium induces laughter and provides amusement? This course explores such questions by focusing on major photographic genres and humorists (e.g., Weegee, Parr, Heartfield, Fontcuberta) and by analyzing key historical and contemporary images that mock conventional assumptions about the nature of photography and its claims to truth, identity and reference. The course will be structured as a seminar featuring directed discussion and class presentations. [24S]
Exclusion: None
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or VCC101H5) and (FAH291 or FAH391) and 1.0 credit in FAH or VCC at the 300/400 level or permission of instructor
FAH457H5 Exile and Modern Art(HUM)
Investigates the role of exile, expatriation and alienation in art of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Considering the idea of psychological and/or physical displacement as key to the condition of modernity and the formation of artistic modernisms, the course analyzes artistic strategies of representing, coping with and/or enacting displacement and alienation (of the artist, the viewer, the object) in the work of Gauguin, Dada artists, Pollock, Morimura, Hatoum, Wodiczko, Whiteread, and others. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5) and a minimum of 0.5 in FAH/VCC at the 300 level, or permission of instructor
FAH460H5 Art and Animation (HUM)
This seminar examines the age-old dream of creating animate art, from lifelike paintings and moving statues to automata and androids. In addition to tracing historical shifts in the way Western culture has imagined its artificial counterparts through works of literature, fine arts and film, a major focus of the course will be the effect these creations have on conceptions of the human. Readings include Castle, Dick, Freud, Hawthorne, Hoffman, Shelley, Stafford, Ovid and Villiers de I'lsle-Adam. [24S]
Prerequisite: Must be a third- or fourth-year student currently enrolled in one of the following programs: Art History, Art & Art History, Visual Culture and Communication or literature studies (English, French, Italian, German). Preference will be given to students in Art History, Art & Art History and Visual Culture and Communication.
Recommended Preparation: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5)
FAH465H5 Icon, Artwork, Fetish (HUM)
This seminar explores the conceptual categories of icon, artwork and fetish in order to think about the frames of value, desire and power within which images circulate, and the ongoing relationships between art, religion and commerce. Readings drawn from critical theory, art history, anthropology, religious studies, film studies and psychoanalysis will prepare students to research case studies on the transcultural and transdisciplinary careers of particular objects/images of their choosing. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) and 1.0 credit in FAH or VCC at the 300/400 level or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: (VCC302H5 or VCC304H5) and FAH388H5
FAH470H5 The History of Art History (HUM)
An introduction for advanced students in art history to the historiography and institutional history of the discipline of art history. This reading-intensive course will focus on major figures and key texts from the 19th century to the present, including Burckhardt, Wölfflin, Riegl, Warburg, Panofsky, Hauser, Baxandall, Schapiro, Alpers, Clarke, Nochlin, and others. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5), 1.5 in FAH at the 200 level and at least 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300 level or permission of instructor
Recommended Preparation: FAH388H5
FAH472H5 Early Modern Mobile Objects (HUM)
This course concerns the global circulation of objects or things in the early modern world (circa 1500-1700) when new trade routes brought about an unprecedented mobilization of artifacts of visual culture, foodstuffs and other goods. We will be concerned with the manifold appearances of uprooted objects, new arrangements, and the invisible layers of skill, materials, and manufacture that resulted from heightened exchange. Objects of study will range broadly: porcelain, tableware and foodstuffs, screens and silver, naturalia and their elaborate mounts, miniatures, prints and books, paintings (Dutch Still Life, Las Meninas) which put the world of things on display.[24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 and FAH274H5) or FAH279H5 and 1.0 credit in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level or permission of instructor
FAH473H5 The Nature of Landscape (HUM)
This seminar takes a historical and comparative view of 'landscape' as the representation of land, situating it within European ideas about 'nature' and its relationship to ideas about who we are as humans. It compares Western landscape painting traditions with visual forms from other traditions that could be seen as “landscapes,” but might be based on very different ideas. These include Indigenous art from Canada, as well as East and South Asian forms. Understanding these multiple traditions equips students for a more globally oriented, historically informed and critical approach to modern and contemporary art concerned with the environment and our existence in the geological age lately dubbed the Anthropocene. The seminar readings provide the basis for final research papers pertaining to the broad theme of landscape or eco-aesthetics in modern or contemporary art, as well as in other image practices across a range of global traditions.
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5) and 1.0 credit in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level.
FAH475H5 Topics in Contemporary Indigenous Art (HUM)
A senior research and creation seminar exploring topics that advance conversations in Contemporary Indigenous art. This course will look at a selection of influential Canadian and International Indigenous Art projects by living artists as case studies. Topic will vary with faculty research interests; the course may cover such matters as environmental justice, accountability in accomplice-building between Indigenous and non-indigenous artists, and the influence of social movements in shaping local and international conversations on Indigenous Art and culture from Alcatraz and Idle No More to Standing Rock. May include a practical workshop component. May include a research, curatorial or art project.[24S]
Prerequisite: FAH101H5 and FAH275H5 and FAH375H5
FAH479H5 Studies in Curatorial Practice (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH credits including FAH310H and permission of instructor
FAH480H5 Studies in Ancient Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: (FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH481H5 Studies in Ancient Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH482H5 Studies in Medieval Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH483H5 Studies in Medieval Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH484H5 Studies in Renaissance Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH485H5 Studies in Renaissance Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH486H5 Studies in Baroque Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH487H5 Studies in Baroque Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH488H5 Studies in Modern Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH489H5 Studies in Modern Art (HUM)
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
Prerequisite: Six FAH courses including a 300+ level half course and permission of instructor
FAH490H5 Topics in Ancient Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in ancient art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Exclusion: None. Although equivalent courses are on the books at St. George it is highly unlikely that a topics course would have any significant overlap.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH203H5 or FAH204H5 or FAH205H5) and 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level
FAH491H5 Topics in Medieval Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in Medieval art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Exclusion: None. Although equivalent courses are on the books at St. George it is highly unlikely that a topics course would have any significant overlap.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH267H5 or FAH271H5) and 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level
FAH492H5 Topics in Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in modern art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5) and at least 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level, or permission of instructor
FAH493H5 Topics in Early Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in early modern (Renaissance and/or Baroque) art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Exclusion: None. Although equivalent courses are on the books at St. George it is highly unlikely that a topics course would have any significant overlap.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH274H5 or FAH279H5) and 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level
FAH494H5 Topics in Contemporary Art and Theory (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in contemporary art and/or theory. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Exclusion: None. Although equivalent courses are on the books at St. George it is highly unlikely that a topics course would have any significant overlap.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH288H5 or FAH289H5) and 1.0 in FAH or VCC at the 300/400 level
Recommended Preparation: FAH288H5 and FAH289H5 and FAH388H5
FAH495H5 Topics in Islamic Art and Architecture (HUM)
An examination of a topic in Islamic art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 20 students.[24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5) and at least 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level, or permission of instructor
FAH496H5 Topics in Modern Art and Architecture (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in modern art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and (FAH287H5 or FAH288H5) and at least 1.0 in FAH/VCC at the 300/400 level, or permission of instructor
FAH498H5 Topics in Curatorial Studies (HUM)
An in-depth examination of a topic in Curatorial Studies. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. [24S]
FAH498H5 may be counted toward the Curatorial Studies Certificate.
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5 or FAH202H5) and FAH289H5 and FAH310H5 and 0.5 additional credit in FAH/VCC
Recommended Preparation: FAH288H5
Studio Art Courses (FAS)
FAS143H5 Drawing I (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students experiment with a variety of traditional and unconventional materials to investigate figurative drawing, observational drawing, conceptual drawing, and methods of rendering illusionistic space. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS205H1 or VPSA70
FAS145H5 Painting I (HUM,EXP)
Students explore techniques and subject matter of 20th-century painting in relation to contemporary painting practices. Students apply both observational and conceptual approaches through experimentation with painting's formal elements, traditional and non-traditional painting materials, collage and abstraction. [72P]
Exclusion: FAS230Y1 or VIS201H1 or VPSA61
FAS147H5 Photography I (HUM,EXP)
Students build skills using a manual-operation camera, processing B&W film, creating silver-based photographic prints in the darkroom, and in acquiring basic digital processing and printing techniques in colour photography. Students apply their use of photography as a tool for artistic expression and as a medium for communication through discussion, analysis and interpretation. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS217H1 or VIS218H or VPSB67
FAS232H5 Print Media I (HUM,EXP)
Students learn relief and intaglio processes by exploring and experimenting with the materials and techniques demonstrated in class, and integrating them with formal and contextual concerns. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS203H1 or VIS303H1
FAS234H5 Print Media II (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the basics of screen printing using hand-drawn and cut stencil imagery. Students are encouraged to link ideas with screen printing methods most suited to their goals. Students integrate digital and photo-based imagery using software, digital photos and scans. Focus is placed upon individual development through exploration and production. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS206H1 or VIS207H1 or VIS309H1
Prerequisite or Corequisite: FAS232H5 or permission of instructor
FAS236H5 Design I (HUM,EXP)
Students develop an awareness of applied design thinking and theories. Students use design techniques and tools to address a range of design issues through a variety of approaches and media. Students broaden their conception of design and its application in other design and art-related disciplines through creative experimentation. The fundamental principles of design and concept development are explored by students through projects involving typography, images, colour, layout and design software for print and the Web. [72P]
Exclusion: FAS146H5
FAS243H5 Drawing II (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students experiment with a variety of traditional and experimental materials to investigate figurative drawing, zines and independent studio research. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS205H1 or VIS211H1 or VIS305H1 or VPSB74
Prerequisite: FAS143H5 or permission of instructor
FAS245H5 Painting II (HUM,EXP)
Students complete problem-based paintings, each over a three-week period, in response to illustrated discussion/lectures on Canadian and international contemporary painting practices. Students write visiting artist reviews and are introduced to in-depth peer critiques, a range of painting media and techniques and portfolio documentation. [72P]
Exclusion: FAS230Y1 or VIS201H1 or VIS301H1 or VPSB62
Prerequisite: FAS145H5 or permission of instructor
FAS246H5 Design II (HUM,EXP)
Students continue to develop their investigation of design thinking, theories, techniques and tools. Students study different design strategies and problem solving with practical assignments. Diverse assignments encourage students to articulate a critical awareness of the values associated with their choice of imagery, formal elements and methods of construction. [72P]
Prerequisite: FAS146H5 or FAS236H5 or permission of instructor
FAS247H5 Photography II (HUM,EXP)
Students explore historical and contemporary uses of the medium that emphasize technical, aesthetic and conceptual considerations. Students utilize a variety of printing methods, including fibre-based printing, sequencing and other techniques that further develop the creative aspects of the medium. Use of the video camera and basic video editing are also introduced. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS318H1 or VPSB75
Prerequisite: FAS147H5 or permission of instructor
FAS248H5 Sculpture I (HUM,EXP)
Students delve into basic sculptural processes such as casting, mold-making and construction in both traditional and non-traditional materials. Students explore formal and conceptual concerns relative to contemporary sculpture practices that include considerations of representation, abstraction, form and space, scale and installation. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS204H1 or VIS306H1 or VPSA71
FAS258H5 Sculpture II (HUM,EXP)
Students create a strong individualized methodology for developing ideas from initial research, sketches and models, through material and process exploration to a final artwork. Students begin by building an armature and modelling from life with clay in order to develop their powers of observation and hand-skills. Using mold making and woodworking techniques, students apply the sculptural aspects of space and time at the scale of the human body. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS204H1
Prerequisite: FAS248H5
FAS330Y5 Experimentation in Past and Present Techniques (HUM,EXP)
This course is a practical investigation of techniques in art that have both historical precedents and contemporary applications. Media covered may include some of the following: mosaic, bas-relief in wood, encaustic, metalpoint drawing and fresco. Students collaborate to create a mural for a public site. [144P]
Exclusion:
Prerequisite: Any FAS200 level course and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS334Y5 Print Media III (HUM,EXP)
Students use lithography, digital printing, screen printing, relief printing and etching to establish a personalized approach to print media. Students conduct independent research and technical explorations leading to sophisticated and resolved work. Students present a biographical overview of contemporary and historical print makers to further contextualize their own work, and to become aware of how the medium of print is evolving. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS309H1
Prerequisite: FAS234H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS343Y5 Drawing III (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students work with a variety of traditional and unconventional drawing materials and processes to develop a portfolio of artworks. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS305H1 or VPSC55
Prerequisite: FAS243H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS345Y5 Painting III (HUM,EXP)
Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in painting that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students compose an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, write gallery and visiting artist reviews, prepare a contemporary Canadian or international artist presentation, and document their artwork. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS305H1 or VPSC54
Prerequisite: FAS245H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS346Y5 Design III (HUM,EXP)
Students develop the skills necessary to create real-world art and design-related projects. Students create full or partial design mockups, work in teams and submit proposals to design competitions within or outside the school. Students explore contemporary art and design via simulated workplace assignments, visual presentation, field trips, guest critics, discussion and critique. [144P]
Prerequisite: FAS246H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS347Y5 Photography III (HUM,EXP)
Students develop a critically informed photography practice by integrating the history and theory of photography with their production of original work in either an analogue or digital format. Students work with digital imaging technologies, production of digital prints, video, as well as the use of strobe lighting. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS318H1
Prerequisite: FAS247H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS348Y5 Sculpture III (HUM,EXP)
Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in sculpture that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students compose an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, write visiting artist reviews and responses to assigned readings, prepare a contemporary Canadian or international artist presentation, and document their artwork. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS306H or VPSB63
Prerequisite: FAS258H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS349Y5 Video, Sound and Performance (HUM,EXP)
This studio-based course investigates issues of identity, gender, activism, and the body within public and private space. Fieldwork will be emphasized: the locus of the classroom becomes part of a critical inquiry of everyday life or specific public events. Assignments take into consideration the temporal nature of performance, video, sound and interactivity. Students are exposed to a range of interdisciplinary and trans-media approaches such as digital video production and projection, multi-track sound editing, installations and interventions, and online interactivity. Through readings, presentations, discussions, workshops, topical assignments and critiques, students develop a body of work that investigates experimental time-based processes. [144P]
Prerequisite: FAS143H5 and FAS145H5 and FAS147H5 and FAS232H5 and FAS236H5 and FAS248H5, and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC/VST and permission of instructor
FAS359Y5 Video and Sound (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the use of sound and video to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of time-based artwork. Students work with analogue and digital editing processes, live sound performance, site-specific soundworks, single-channel video, video installation and will develop a professional portfolio website. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS302H1
Prerequisite: FAS143H5 and FAS145H5 and FAS147H5 and FAS232H5 and FAS236H5 and FAS248H5, and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC/VST and permission of instructor
FAS369Y5 Performance-Based Art (HUM,EXP)
(not being offered in 2021-22)
Students integrate history, theory and production to develop critically informed performance practices with documentation in video and still photography. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS303H1
Prerequisite: FAS143H5 and FAS145H5 and FAS147H5 and FAS232H5 and FAS236H5 and FAS248H5, and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC/VST and permission of instructor
FAS434Y5 Individual Investigations in Print Media (HUM,EXP)
Students conduct independent research and develop a body of work using print medium(s) of their choice. Students present information on their educational and professional goals after graduation, write an artist's statement about their work, review and discuss articles and videos, and mount a group exhibition of their work. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS311H1 or VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite: FAS334Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS443Y5 Individual Investigations in Drawing (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students work with a variety of traditional and unconventional drawing materials and processes to develop a professional website portfolio. Students participate in peer critiques, and write reflective essays and artist statements. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS305H1
Prerequisite: FAS343Y5 or FAS349Y5 or FAS359Y5 or FAS369Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS445Y5 Individual Investigations in Painting (HUM,EXP)
Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in painting that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students write an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, prepare a Canadian and international MFA program presentation, and document their artwork. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite: FAS345Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS446Y5 Individual Investigations in Design (HUM,EXP)
Students learn to integrate professional art and design strategies, and to research, coordinate and fully realize their own long-term projects. Students work collaboratively on large projects as well as work on mandatory and optional assignments from a range of possible assignments. [144P]
Prerequisite: FAS346Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS447Y5 Individual Investigations in Photography (HUM,EXP)
Students develop a critically informed photography practice by integrating the history and theory of photography with their production of original work in either an analogue or digital format. Students prepare a presentation comparing two Canadian and/or international MFA programs, in addition to preparing responses to readings and technical assignments. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite: FAS347Y5 or FAS349Y5 or FAS359Y5 or FAS369Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS448Y5 Individual Investigations in Sculpture (HUM,EXP)
Students produce a coherent body of self-directed artwork based on independent research and written proposals. In-progress and completed artworks are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students write an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, prepare a Canadian and international MFA program presentation, and document their artwork. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite: FAS348Y5 or FAS349Y5 or FAS359Y5 or FAS369Y5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of instructor
FAS450Y5 Advanced Project (HUM,EXP)
In this directed study, students undertake two semesters of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration. [144P]
Exclusion: VIS311H1 or VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite: 1.0 FAS 400-level course and FAS451H5 and FAS452H5 and 1.5 credits in FAH/VCC and permission of the Department.
FAS451H5 Advanced Project (HUM,EXP)
In this directed study, students undertake a semester-long period of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS311H1 or VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite or Corequisite: 1.0 FAS 400-level course, Permission of the Department
FAS452H5 Advanced Project (HUM,EXP)
In this directed study, students undertake a semester-long period of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration. [72P]
Exclusion: VIS311H1 or VIS401H1 or VIS402H1 or VIS403H1 or VIS404H1
Prerequisite or Corequisite: 1.0 FAS 400-level course, Permission of the Department.
FAS453H5 Art Education Practice (HUM,EXP)
Students investigate the principles of educational theory and practice for teaching the visual arts to learners including children, adolescents and adults, within a variety of educational settings [24S, 12P]
Prerequisite: For Art and Art History majors/specialists: 4.0 FAS courses and 1.5 FAH/VCC credits, Permission of the Department.
For Art History majors/specialists: 1.0 credits in FAH at the 300/400 level and Permission of the Department.
FAS454H5 Professional Practice (HUM,EXP)
Students explore the requirements of establishing a career as a practicing visual artist. Topics covered include portfolio development, finding and securing artist residency and exhibition opportunities, ways to support yourself as an artist, grant writing, photo documentation, peer group support, marketing and bookkeeping. [24S, 12P]
Prerequisite: For Art and Art History majors/specialists: 4.0 FAS courses and 1.5 FAH/VCC credits, Permission of the Department.
For Art History majors/specialists: 1.0 credits in FAH at the 300/400 level, Permission of the Department.
FAS455H5 Teaching Art in the School and Community (HUM,EXP)
In this practicum course, students gain hands-on teaching experience in a setting of their choice and interact with administrators, teachers and community leaders. [15S, 24P]
Exclusion: None
Prerequisite: For Art and Art History majors/specialists: 4.0 FAS courses, 1.5 FAH/VCC credits and Permission of the Department.
Corequisite: None
Recommended Preparation: FAS453H5
For Art History majors/specialists: 1.0 credit in FAH at the 300/400 level and Permission of the Department.
Cinema Studies Courses (CIN)
CIN101H5 An Introduction to Cinema Studies (HUM)
Introduction to film analysis, concepts of film style and narrative. Topics include documentary, avant-garde, genres, authorship, ideology and representation. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Exclusion: INI115Y1 or NEW115Y1 or VIC115Y1 or ERI201H5 or ERI202H5 or CIN202H5 or CIN205Y5 or CIN105H1 or ENGB70H3
CIN102H5 Modernity and the Moving Image (HUM)
Looking at a few periods of intense technological change — for example, with the invention of photography, and the introduction of sound, of colour, of television — we will consider the ways in which artists, filmmakers, studios and media conglomerates have responded to such changes and to accompanying ideas about the role that moving technology plays in our conception of history and the future. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Prerequisite: CIN101H5
CIN203H5 The Films of Alfred Hitchcock (HUM)
The establishment of film as a serious art form is coincident with the earliest critical writing on Alfred Hitchcock that emerged in the 1950s. Since then, Hitchcock has remained one of the most important filmmakers of all time, spawning not only a massive body of critical scholarship but also legions of imitators. This course will serve as an introduction to both the films (such as Psycho and North by Northwest) and related issues: questions of suspense, authorship, morality and spectatorship. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 or CIN202H5
CIN204H5 The Films of Martin Scorsese (HUM)
This course will examine the films of Martin Scorsese, one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. Scorsese's films will be understood in relation to questions about imitation and originality, genre, violence, male hysteria and also as meditations on the history of film itself. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 or CIN202H5
CIN205H5 Canadian Auteurs (HUM)
This course will offer a comparative study of a selection of major contemporary Canadian filmmakers, including Denys Arcand, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Sara Polley, Denis Villeneuve, Ruba Nadda, Denis Côté, Guy Maddin, Michael Snow and Joyce Wieland. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 or CIN202H5
CIN206H5 Auteurs (HUM)
This course will look closely at the work of a single director. Emphasis will be given to the aesthetic, historical, cultural and philosophical contexts that inform the director's work. We will also tend closely to the style and central preoccupations of the director under examination.[24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5
CIN207H5 East Asian Cinema (HUM)
This course is an introduction to East Asian cinema from the 1960s to the present, including films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea. With an emphasis on formal aesthetic analysis of short and feature-length films, we will examine film waves, genres, film festivals and interconnected film industries. Throughout the course, we will consider not only the production, exhibition and reception spaces of East Asian cinema but also critically examine its definitions and borders. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5
CIN208H5 The Films of Abbas Kiarostami: Being and Movement (HUM)
This course will survey the work of the Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, and will do so with an especial interest in the way that Kiarostami’s films raise important questions about tradition, judgment and the fluidity of self and world. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5
CIN215H5 Bollywood in Context (HUM)
India has arguably the most popular and prolific film industry in the world. This course contextualizes the relatively recent 'Bollywood' phenomenon within the history of Indian commercial cinema and key aspects of modern Indian culture, emphasizing the popular cinema's role in constructing historically changing ideas of national and gendered identity. It also challenges the assumptions of film theories developed in relation to Hollywood or European cinema by introducing film theory concepts that address South Asian image-cultures (such as darshan, frontality, melodrama and interruption). [24L, 12T, 36P]
Exclusion: VCC390H5 - Topic: Bollywood, CIN302H5
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) and (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5)
CIN250H5 Introduction to the Fundamentals of Cinematic Language (HUM,EXP)
This hands-on studio-based course will examine fundamentals of cinematic language and production. Students will work individually and in teams to create a series of works that focus on aesthetics and skill development. 24L, 12T, 24P
CIN290H5 Topics in Cinema Studies (HUM)
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur or other focus. See the Department of Visual Studies website at www.utm.utoronto.ca/dvs for the current topic. [24L, 12T, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5
CIN301H5 Topics in Cinema Studies (HUM)
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur or other focus. Students should contact the program director for the current topic. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) or at least 1.0 credits in courses that count toward Cinema Studies programs.
CIN302H5 Topics in Cinema Studies (HUM)
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur or other focus. Students should contact the program director for the current topic. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) or at least 1.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN303H5 Global Auteurs (HUM)
This course is devoted to three major international filmmakers: Michael Haneke (Austria), Olivier Assayas (France) and Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan). While different in many important respects, these filmmakers are nevertheless linked by their tendency to make international films that are themselves meditations on national identity in an increasingly globalized world. Screenings will include Caché, Code Unknown, Carlos, Demonlover, The Flight of the Red Balloon, and Goodbye South, Goodbye, to name just a few. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) or (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5)
CIN304H5 The Violent Image (HUM)
It is commonly believed that violent images produce violent, or desensitized people. In this class, we will examine the multiple forms of violence in film, television and videogames as well as the variety of discourses about violence and images. Rather than confirming the moral logic of condemnation of the violent image, we will ask instead what good a violent image might do. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5 or CIN205Y5) or at least 1.0 credit in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN305H5 Taiwan New Wave in Our Time (HUM)
The film In Our Time (1982), which combined short works by four directors (Edward Yang, Jim Tao, Ke Yizheng, and Zhang Yi), is regarded as the beginning of Taiwan New Cinema, generally considered to have ended in the late 1980s. Figures such as Hou Hsiao Hsien, Wang Tung, Chu Tien-wen, Wu Nien-Jen, Hung Hung, Hsiao Yeh, Tsai Chin and Sylvia Chang played key roles, as directors, screenwriters, producers and/or actors. From examining films within the era to their impact on contemporary global cinema, this course asks: how may a film be transnationally and transgenerationally re-animated for shifting eras and constellations of viewers? This course speculates that the time of the Taiwan New Wave is still beckoning, even from beyond the contested shores of Taiwan. 24L, 24P
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 or at least 1.0 credit in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN306H5 The Comedic Image (HUM)
Comedies routinely depend on the performance of the unthinkable in the ordinary. Our laughter follows from the saying or doing of the unsayable and the undoable. Comedy is in this way both a form of bad manners and also a uniquely philosophical genre, insofar as saying the unsayable means that we are able to recognize more than what we see or typically say. This course will survey the history of comedy and its relation to thought, perception and social values. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) or at least 1.0 credits in courses that count toward the Cinema Studies minor.
CIN307H5 Movement (HUM)
Since the advent of cinema, filmmakers and film theorists have repeatedly attempted to define film as a unique art form on the basis of its most defining characteristic: movement. Painters can represent movement, but film is movement itself. Not surprisingly, many filmmakers who are recognized as significant artists are most easily identified by the distinctive style of their camera movement. This class will be devoted to a consideration of the nature, meaning and styles of movement in film. [24L, 36P]
Recommended Preparation: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) or (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5)
CIN308H5 East and Southeast Asian Cinemas of Migration (HUM)
Migration, voluntary and involuntary, has intensified in an unprecedented manner in recent history. More than ever, it is critical to examine forms of proximity, hospitality and regionality. Including films by migrants, films about the migrant experience, and the migratory routes of cinema itself, this course addresses the ethics, politics and praxis of mobility and displacement. How, through East and Southeast Asian cinemas, could we envision counter-bodies and counter-strategies with which we may collectively imagine and inhabit the world? 24L, 24P
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 or at least 1.0 credit in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN309H5 Colour and the Moving image (HUM)
Considering philosophical, scientific and historical discourses about colour, this course explores a variety of ways of analyzing colour style in film and video art. As we begin to come to terms with the perceptual instability of colour as a positive phenomenon, we will consider how and why dominant histories of film style have been written, especially as the taming of colour has been central to an ongoing categorical distinction between narrative cinema and the avant-garde, morality and hedonism. [24L, 24P]
Exclusion: CIN301H5 topics course "Colour".
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 and at least 1.0 credit in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN310H5 Melodrama (HUM)
Film and Televisual melodramas regularly enact a conflict between personal desire and social expectation. This course will cover a range of films and television melodramas and consider the social contexts in which these works emerge, and often as critiques of the very cultures to which they belong or reject. [24L, 36P]
Exclusion: CIN301H5 Topics course Melodrama.
Recommended Preparation: CIN101H5 and at least 1.0 credit in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN399Y5 Research Opportunity Program (HUM)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year or beyond to work on the research project of a professor in Cinema Studies in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time.
CIN400H5 Topics in Cinema Studies (HUM)
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur or other focus. Students should contact the department for the current topic. [24S, 36P]
Prerequisite: CIN101H5 or at least 2.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN401H5 Topics in Cinema Studies (HUM)
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur or other focus. Students should contact the department for the current topic. [24S, 36P]
Prerequisite: CIN101H5 or at least 2.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN402H5 Avant-Garde Film and Video (HUM)
This course will look at alternative forms of filmmaking and television production. If there is a defining feature of avant-garde film and video, it is a general resistance to the thematic and stylistic norms of mainstream production and popular culture as way of seeing for all. Thus, in this course, we will be looking at both highly personal and sometimes autobiographical works of art. [24S, 36P]
Prerequisite: (CIN101H5 or CIN202H5) and 1.0 credits at the 300 level in CIN or permission of instructor
CIN403H5 Queerscapes, Screenscapes, Escapes: Gender and Sexuality Across East and Southeast Asian Cinemas (HUM)
"Queerness is not yet here." José Esteban Muñoz begins Cruising Utopia with the provocation that queerness is a mode of desire that allows for an escape from the conditions of the present. How does queer studies contribute to the building of and the continued hope for a more just world? Through cinema, theory and philosophy, this course makes the claim that investigating queerness in the world marks a critical move away from restrictive modes of identification and holds open life's horizons of possibility. Course texts emphasize queer cinemas of Asia and their transnational connections. [24S, 24P]
Prerequisite: CIN101H5 or at least 2.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN404H5 Film Noir and the Problem of Style (HUM)
By way of an introduction to some of the key instances of film noir, this course is concerned with what we will call the paradox of style; namely, that style can indicate both what is specific and also what is general, what is unique and what is repeatable. We will look at the way in which this paradox is amplified by issues of gender, genre, fashion and power that seem to concern so many films in this tradition. [24S, 30P]
Exclusion: CIN401H5 topics course "Film Noir and the Problem of Style".
Prerequisite: CIN101H5 or at least 2.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
CIN405H5 Cinema and Emotion (HUM)
This interdisciplinary course looks at such difficult emotions as shame, jealousy, forgiveness and love, and how film complicates our understanding of them. [24S, 30P]
Exclusion: CIN401H5 topic: Difficult Emotions, Moving Images
Prerequisite: CIN101H5 or at least 2.0 credits in courses that count towards Cinema Studies programs.
Visual Culture and Communication Courses (VCC)
VCC101H5 Introduction to Visual Culture (HUM)
(Formerly CCT201H5/VCC201H5)
Introduces the ways in which we use and understand images across the realms of art, advertising, mass media and science, with examples drawn from painting, photography, film, television and new media. Presents a diverse range of recent approaches to visual analysis and key theories of visual culture. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: FAH201H5 or CCT201H5 or VCC201H5
Recommended Preparation: CCT109H5 or (FAH101H5 or FAH202H5)
VCC205H5 Monsters (HUM)
This course examines monster movies and television shows alongside readings from monster literature, comics and critical essays. It considers the social significance of the monster in order to learn something about how the threat of the monster relates to historical anxieties concerning mass-media technologies, social deviance and the hybrid forms of visual media culture that we typically associate with the era of 21st-century convergence culture but define the genre of monster media from its ancient beginnings. [24L, 12T, 24P]
Exclusion: VCC340H5
Recommended Preparation: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC207H5 Urban Sites and Sounds (HUM)
Introduces students to histories and theories of urban spaces emphasizing the modern city. Drawing from history, architecture, geography and media studies, the course explores how urban change is evident in the spaces, forms and sounds of the modern city. Case studies of specific urban environments depending on instructor's research emphasis. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC236H5 North American Consumer Culture: 1890-Present (HUM)
Examines the history and theoretical treatments of mass consumerism in North American society. We will look at the relationship between the market and cultural politics, cultural production and mass consumption. Specific topics include the shift from mass production to mass consumption; the growth of department stores; the rise of advertising; the relationship of race, class, and gender to consumer capitalism; the development of product brands; and the emergence of global marketing. [24L, 12T]
Exclusion: HIS336H5 or VCC336H5
Recommended Preparation: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC290H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An examination of a topic in Visual Culture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends on the instructor. This will be a lecture course. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC292H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24L, 12T]
Recommended Preparation: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC304H5 Visual Culture and the Politics of Identity (HUM)
Examines the ways in which social-cultural identities are constructed by, and at times disrupt, various visual technologies, logics and representational strategies. Issues and problems to be addressed include nationality, stereotyping, invisibility and surveillance. Course materials will be drawn from modern and contemporary art and visual culture, and will also include readings from the fields of feminism, race studies, queer theory and performance studies. [24L]
Prerequisite: CCT200H5 or VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC306H5 Visual Culture and Colonialism (HUM)
Many of our most popular and influential image technologies, visual forms, and ways of thinking about images first developed in the second half of the 19th century: the heyday of European colonialism. This course re-examines the visual culture of modernity in the light of this deeply colonial genealogy, through forms such as photography, colour printing, film, exhibitions, postcards, maps, scientific illustrations and the body as image. [24L]
Exclusion: VCC302H5
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC308H5 Activism in Visual and Media Culture (HUM)
This course will examine political and social activism in visual and media culture focusing on the role that visual representation has played in social movements and how artists/activists have employed visual media to achieve specific ends that challenge and resist dominant visual representations and political formations. [24L]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H
VCC309H5 Society and Spectacle (HUM)
Spectacles have been vehicles of social and political power at varying historical moments and locations. Since Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle was published in 1967 the term has been deployed as a critical concept for thinking about visual culture. This course takes up a number of historical case studies in order to locate and situate phenomena associated with spectacle and spectacular visual entertainments. Topics may include the role of images in mediating contemporary social relations and the connection between spectacle and violence. [24L]
Exclusion: VCC209H5
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC334H5 Media Realities (HUM)
This course examines the relationship between mass media technologies and the idea of 'reality' with an emphasis on the electronic and digital forms that dominate the discourse of 'reality' in contemporary media culture, television and the Internet. It will explore such questions as: How do shifting aesthetic conventions of realism, 'reality' programming, and documentary inflect both theoretical and historical understandings of what constitutes reality? And how do our ideas of media technology inform these conventions and the understandings they produce? [24L, 24P]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC338H5 Picturing the Suburbs (HUM)
This course considers how images of suburbia circulate between two interrelated but often counter-posed realms of visual culture: the popular genres of film, television, and new media entertainment and the iconography of "high" art practices such as painting, photography and avant-garde film. In the process it addresses such fundamental issues as the relation between art and mass production, the aesthetics of private and public space, and the role that visual media play in constructing the socio-political space of the built environment. [24L, 24P]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC360H5 South Asian Visual Culture (HUM)
Popular imagery from the Indian subcontinent is now increasingly visible in the global arena, particularly via the West's discovery of 'Bollywood.' But what have these images meant to South Asians themselves, what are their histories, what traditions and practices do they draw on? This course introduces key concepts for understanding South Asian visual culture and its multifaceted postcolonial modernity. Images examined include popular prints, film, photography, comic books, urban environments, advertisements, crafts, art, propaganda, rituals, television and the internet. [24L]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC390H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24L]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC392H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24L]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
VCC399Y5 Research Opportunity Program (ROP) (HUM)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for third or higher year students who have developed some knowledge of visual culture and communication to work on the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
Exclusion: CCT299Y5 or CCT399Y5
Prerequisite: (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and a minimum of 10.0 credits.
VCC400H5 Advanced Project (HUM)
This course is designed to serve as a capstone course for VCC specialists. Students engage with advanced readings in the field and refine skills in critical analysis of selected topics in VCC. A major focus is the design and implementation of an advanced research project selected in consultation with an instructor. [24S]
Exclusion: CCT400H5 or HSC400H5
Prerequisite: (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and completion of 13.0 credits. Open only to VCC specialists.
VCC405H5 Individual Project (HUM)
A research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member. Students will carry out a research project on a selected topic related to VCC. Students must obtain signed permission from the faculty member they would like to have as their supervisor.
Prerequisite: Completion of 13.0 credits and CCT400H5
Enrolment is limited
VCC406H5 Post-Colonialism and the Image (HUM)
How has the legacy of modern colonialism across the globe impacted how we see images, how we think about them, and how we make them? And how do images perpetuate or overturn the legacy of colonial power relations? This course introduces students to the key concepts and debates in post-colonial theory as they relate to visual studies. [24S]
Prerequisite: (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and VCC306H5
Recommended Preparation: VCC304H5
VCC407H5 Architectures of Vision (HUM)
Based upon Michel Foucault's work on modern architectures of surveillance, control and discipline, this course examines such modern and contemporary architectural-visual formations as the museum, domestic interior, cinema and the residential and commercial skyscraper. Ways in which these sites have come to define notions of citizenship, privacy and publicity and community will be of particular focus and concern. [24S]
Prerequisite: 13.0 credits including a minimum of 1.0 VCC credit and (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5).
Recommended Preparation: FAH289H5 and VCC304H5
VCC409H5 Capital, Spectacle, War (HUM)
This course investigates the conjunction of contemporary global capitalism, spectacle and militarized neo-liberal governmentality in order to develop a critical understanding of the inter-related forces that constitute the most current and politically and ethically pressing events in the world today. These may include the war on terror, the disaster film genre, technologies of surveillance, politics of humiliation and scandal, and theological and financial speculation and visions of the future. Readings will draw upon both historical and in many cases the latest work in political theory, cinema and new media studies, critical philosophy and religious studies. [24S]
Prerequisite: (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and VCC309H5 and at least 1.0 credit in VCC
VCC410H5 The Collective Afterlife of Things (HUM)
This fourth-year interdisciplinary seminar provides students with an opportunity to examine theories of art and artistic practice in the context of contemporary visual culture, environmental devastation, global warming, climate injustice and species extinction. Readings are drawn from eco-criticism and philosophy, visual studies and political theory, accompanied by contemporary art, film, literature in order to critically examine the concepts of 'collective,' 'afterlife,' and 'things.'
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 and a minimum of 1.0 credit in VCC at the 300//400 level.
VCC411H5 Real Space to Cyberspace (HUM)
This course examines the re-conception of traditional understandings of architecture and space — public and private — brought about by digital technologies. Notions of space affect our conceptions of political, social and inner life; this course investigates the impact of hyperspace and virtual reality on real and imagined space in a global context. [24S]
Prerequisite: (FAH101H5 or FAH105H5) and (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and at least 1.0 credit in VCC.
VCC415H5 Theory and Criticism of New Media (HUM)
Introduces a variety of approaches for interpreting, criticizing, evaluating and theorizing digital media with a particular emphasis on visual cultural phenomena including augmented reality and virtual reality. Examines how the thinking of new media is conditioned and altered via major theoretical models. [24S]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 and a minimum of 1.0 credit in VCC at 300/400 level
VCC420H5 The Visual Culture of Automobility (HUM)
Cars are the quintessential mass-produced commodities, and as such are central to the spread of capitalism and to the forms, spaces, affects and imaginaries of modernity, postmodernity and beyond. Drawing on anthropology, geography, architectural theory and cinema studies as well as visual studies, art history and critical theory, this seminar examines the visual cultures of automobility over a range of historical periods and cultural contexts. [24S]
Exclusion: VCC490H5 topics course - The Visual Culture of Automobility.
Prerequisite: 13.0 credits including (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and a minimum of 1.0 VCC credit at the 300/400 level
VCC425H5 Art and Media Culture (HUM)
Explores intersections of art, pop culture and mass media in Europe and North America between the Second World War and 1970. Reviews how the definition of art moved into an expanded field of media culture. [24S]
Prerequisite: 13.0 credits including (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and a minimum of 1.0 VCC credit.
Recommended Preparation: FAH289H5 and VCC308H5
VCC427H5 Participatory Media (HUM)
In order to explore the complex social and political issues surrounding the discourse of democratic participation in today's 'new media' culture, this course provides a historical and theoretical survey of 'old' media technologies that embrace the aesthetics of participation, running from popular theatre forms (including vaudeville and Chautauqua) to call-in radio shows, avant-garde and novelty films, activist video art, and the audience-based talk and game shows of '50s television that most directly prefigure the participatory genres of contemporary media programming. [24S,24P]
Prerequisite: (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and at least 1.0 credit in VCC
VCC490H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24S]
Prerequisite: 13.0 credits including (VCC101H5 or VCC201H5) and a minimum of 1.0 VCC credit.
VCC492H5 Topics in Visual Culture and Communication (HUM)
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. [24L]
Prerequisite: VCC101H5 or VCC201H5
Visual Studies Courses (VST)
VST410H5 Internship in Visual Studies (HUM, EXP)
This internship course provides an opportunity for students to gain practical experience at an institution or business closely related to the arts and to visual studies. This is especially tailored for mature and self-disciplined students in their final year of study, who are ready to apply knowledge acquired in previous courses and are planning a career in the arts and cultural sector. Students registered in any DVS program are eligible to apply. Students work closely with the DVS internship coordinator to establish suitability. Regular updates and a final report and presentation will be required. The final grade for the course will be based on these, along with the assessment of the employer. [24S]
Prerequisite: Minimum completion of 5.5 credits in DVS Programs and 8.0 additional credits and minimum CGPA 2.5 and and permission of internship coordinator.
Download VST410 Handbook