Course detail

Aesthetics 4 – Critical Theories of Art and Visual Culture

FaVU-1EST-4Acad. year: 2024/2025

The Aesthetics 1-4 course series offers students a comprehensive overview of the tradition and present of aesthetic thinking in a broader cultural context. The primary focus is on the philosophy of art, but the series also includes an explanation of basic aesthetic categories (aesthetic experience, aesthetic attitude, aesthetic object, aesthetic function, norm, quality, value, taste, beauty, ugliness, the sublime), an introduction to issues of non-art aesthetics (aesthetics of nature, applied art, design, popular and mass culture, aesthetics of the everyday), or topics in the theory of individual art forms, media theory, and visual culture studies. In addition to philosophical conceptions of art and aesthetics, approaches from other humanities disciplines (psychology, sociology, anthropology, visual studies, gender studies, critical race theory) are also considered. Over the course of the four-semester cycle, students will gradually become familiar with the interpretation of the issues from both historical and systematic perspectives.  

Aesthetics 4 focuses on those approaches in philosophy and the humanities from the second half of the 20th century to the present that problematize the basic assumptions of the European tradition of aesthetic thought, including central ideas about the work of art, the author, or aesthetic experience. 

 

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Mgr. Václav Magid

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Entry knowledge

None.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

The following conditions are set for the granting of the examination: 

- active participation in class (75 % participation) or its replacement by written research of the missed material to the extent agreed with the teacher; 

- a short oral presentation on a chosen topic from the material covered during the semester. 

 
Teaching takes place in the classrooms of the FFA BUT in the hours determined by the schedule. Attendance is compulsory (3 unexcused absences allowed). Higher number of absences can be compensated by submitting an alternative assignment after agreement with the teachers.  

Aims

The aim of the course is to provide students with a basic overview of critically oriented approaches in philosophy of art and multidisciplinary reflection on visual culture from the second half of the 20th century to the present, such as the critical theory of Western Marxism, existentialism, poststructuralism, feminist theory, postcolonial thought, and posthumanism.  
Students will gain an orientation in critically oriented approaches to thinking about art, aesthetics, and culture from the second half of the 20th century to the present, such as the critical theory of Western Marxism, existentialism, poststructuralism, feminist theory, postcolonial thought, and posthumanism.  

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Libora OATES-INDRUCHOVÁ (ed.), Dívčí válka s ideologií. Praha: SLON, 1998.
Marita Sturken – Lisa Cartwright, Studia vizuální kultury, Praha: Portál, 2009.
Marta FILIPOVÁ – Matthew RAMPLEY (eds.), Možnosti vizuálních studií: obrazy, texty, interpretace, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Seminář dějin umění 2007.
Nicolas MIRZOEFF, Jak vidět svět, Praha: ArtMap 2018.
Nicolas MIRZOEFF, Úvod do vizuální kultury, Praha: Academia, 2012.
Terry EAGLETON, Idea kultury, Brno: Host 2000
Vincent DESCOMBES, Stejné a jiné, Praha: ISE 1995.

Recommended reading

Alain BADIOU, Manifest afirmacionismu (třetí nástin), http://www.sok.bz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=575&Itemid=28.
Anour ABDEL–MALEK – Chinua ACHEBE – Aimé CÉSAIRE – Achille MBEMBE – Edward W. SAID – Ngũgĩ Wa THIONGʼO, Postkoloniální myšlení II, Praha: tranzit.cz, 2011.
Antonio GRAMSCI, Sešity z vězení, Praha: Československý spisovatel 1959.
Boris BUDEN, Konec postkomunismu. Od společnosti bez naděje k naději bez společnosti, Praha: Rybka Publishers, 2013.
Bruno LATOUR, Nikdy sme neboli moderni, Bratislava: kalligram 2003
Bruno LATOUR, Stopovat a skládat světy s Brunem Latourem. Výbor z textů 1998-2013, Praha: tranzit.cz 2016
Donna HARAWAY, „Kyborgský manifest“, in: Helena BENDOVÁ – Matěj STRNAD (eds.), Společenské vědy a audiovize, Praha: NAMU 2014, s. 607–639.
Donna HARAWAY, „Tentacular Thinking. Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene“, e-flux Journal, 2016, č. 75, http://www.e-flux.com/journal/75/67125/tentacular-thinking-anthropocene-capitalocene-chthulucene/.
Erich FROMM, Člověk a psychoanalýza, Praha: Aurora 1997.
Ernesto LACLAU – Chantal MOUFFE, Hegemonie a socialistická strategie. Za radikálně demokratickou politiku, Praha: Karolinum 2014.
Frantz FANON, Černá kůže, bílé masky, Praha: tranzit, 2011.
Fredric JAMESON, Postmodernismus neboli kulturní logika pozdního kapitalismu, Praha: Rybka 2016.
Gilles DELEUZE – Félix GUATTARI, Tisíc plošin, Praha: Herrmann & synové 2010.
Gilles DELEUZE, „Postscript on the Societies of Control“, October, 1992, č. 59, s. 3–7.
Guy DEBORD, Společnost spektáklu, Praha: Intu 2007.
György LUKÁCS, Umění jako sebepoznání lidstva, Praha: Odeon 1976.
Hakim BEY, Dočasná autonomní zóna, Praha: tranzit.cz 2004.
Herbert MARCUSE, „O afirmativním charakteru kultury“, Divadlo, roč. 19, 1968, č. 3, s. 46–55, č. 4, s. 47–57.
Herbert MARCUSE, Psychoanalýza a politika, Praha: Svoboda 1970
Jacques RANCIÈRE, The Politics of Aesthetics. The Distribution of Sensible, Londýn: COntinuum 2004.
Jean BAUDRILLARD, Amerika, Praha: Dauphin 2000.
Jean BAUDRILLARD, „Simulakra a simulace“, in: Jiří ŠEVČÍK – Pavlína MORGANOVÁ – Terezie NEKVINDOVÁ – Dagmar SVATOŠOVÁ (eds.), České umění 1980–2010. Texty a dokumenty, Praha: AVU 2011, s. 263–265.
Jean-François LYOTARD, O postmodernismu (Postmoderno vysvětlované dětem; Postmoderní situace), Praha: Filosofický ústav AVČR 1993.
Jodi DEAN, Slast a politika. Žižkova politická teorie, Praha: Filosofia 2014.
John BERGER, O pohledu. Praha: Fra 2009.
John BERGER, „Způsoby pohledu“, in: Pavel ZAHRÁDKA (ed.), Estetika na přelomu milénia. Vybrané problémy současné estetiky, Brno: Barrister & Principal 2010, s. 431–443.
Josef FULKA, Psychoanalýza a francouzské myšlení, Praha: Herrmann & synové 2008.
Louis ALTHUSSER, „Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Notes towards an Investigation“, in: Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, New York: Monthly Review Press 1971.
Mark FISHER, Kapitalistický realismus, Praha: Rybka 2010.
Michel FOUCAULT, Dohlížet a trestat. Kniha o zrodu vězení, Praha: Dauphin 2000.
Michel FOUCAULT, Myšlení vnějšku, Praha: Herrmann & synové 2003.
Peter BÜRGER, Teorie avantgardy. Stárnutí moderny, Praha: AVU 2015.
Raymond GEUSS, The Idea of a Critical Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press1981.
Roland BARTHES, Mytologie. Praha: Dokořán 2004.
Rosi BRAIDOTTI, The Posthuman, Polity 2013
Slavoj ŽIŽEK, Nepolapitelný subjekt, Praha: L. Marek 2007
Slavoj ŽIŽEK, The Sublime Object of Ideology, Londýn: Verso 1989.
Susan SONTAGOVÁ, O fotografii. Brno – Praha: Barrister & Principal – Paseka, 2002.
Terry EAGLETON, „Ideologie estetična“, in: Pavel ZAHRÁDKA (ed.), Estetika na přelomu milénia. Vybrané problémy současné estetiky, Brno: Barrister & Principal 2010, s. 301–311.
Theodor W. ADORNO – Max HORKHEIMER, Dialektika osvícenství, Praha: OIKOYMENH 2009.
Theodor W. ADORNO, Estetická teorie, Praha: Panglos 1997.
Tony MYERS, Slavoj Žižek, Praha: Svoboda Servis 2008.
Václav JANOŠČÍK – Lukáš LIKAVČAN – Jiří RŮŽIČKA (eds.), Mysl v terénu. Filosofický realismus v 21. století, Praha: AVU – Display 2017.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme VUM_B Bachelor's 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. Jakub Bulvas Stejskal, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1. Western Marxism and the Critique of Ideology. Lukács, Gramsci, Benjamin, Frankfurt School (Adorno, Marcuse, Fromm), Althusser, Debord, Williams, Eagleton, Geuss 

2. The individual and emancipation at the intersection of humanism and postcolonial critique. Existentialism and Marxism – Sartre. The movement of négritude – Senghor, Césaire, Fanon 

3. Psychoanalysis as a critical theory of society. Freudomarxism. Lacan, Žižek  

4. Feminist philosophy and literary theory of the 1940s – 70s. Feminist appropriation of psychoanalysis. Beauvoir, Kristeva, Cixous, Irigaray, Mitchell, Mulvey. Feminist critique of art history and aesthetic categories – Nochlin, Pollock, Korsmeyer 

5. From structuralism to post-structuralism. Discourse and the production of the subject. Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari. 

6. Critical studies of visual culture and critical media theory. Eco, Sontag, Berger, Hall, Mitchell, Mirzoeff 

7. Postmodernism and the dispute over the emancipatory legacy of modernity. Habermas, Jameson, Lyotard.  

8. The influence of poststructuralism in postcolonial philosophy and cultural theory. Said, Spivak, Bhabha 

9. Postmodern feminist thought and queer theory. Haraway, Butler 

10. Critical social theory after postmodernism. Agamben, Laclau and Mouffe, Žižek, Badiou, Rancière. 

11. Critique of the tradition of critical thought. Latour, speculative realism and new materialism. Critical posthumanism – Haraway, Braidotti 

12. Student presentations and discussions on topics covered during the semester 

13. Student presentations and discussions on topics covered during the semester