Lewis Baltz - Seminars / Workshops / Lectures
PHOTOGRAPHY: From Counter Aesthetics to Information Architecture (3 credits)
Lewis Baltz, MFA
Description: This course examines photography and its influence on society and information. We begin by revisiting the seminal work Society of the Spectacle. We will then suggest that Guy Debord is the philosopher of post-modern warfare. This seminar will discuss information architecture (Jean Nouvel) in terms of 'publicness' and utility of imagery.
Objectives: Students shall come away from this lecture with a greater understanding of Guy Debord and the relationship between aesthetics and information architecture. Students are expected to come to this course having not only doing a very close reading of Guy Debord and a selection of Baltz’s work, but to also bring their own personal research as it relates to the course topic. Students will then participate in the co-creation of a learning environment that enriches and pushes knowledge beyond traditional limitations.
Learning Outcomes: This course develops critical knowledge skills related to the fields of architecture and the aesthetic formation of art and subjectivity. The course aims to create an open learning environment that embraces knowledge as an emancipatory and critical tool in undoing, the very thought of gaze and what it means for aesthetic boundaries. How is knowledge kept prison within an architectural structure? Is there room for breaking oneself outside of the dominant discourse surrounding these academic debates? At the end of the course students will have developed their vocabulary surrounding theoretical debates relevant to any contemporary artistic criticism.
Required Readings:
Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. Black & Red. 2000. Paperback, 132 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0934868077. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Baltz, Lewis Lewis Baltz 55 Series. Phaidon Press Inc. October 2001. Paperback, 128 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0714840394. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Baltz, Lewis. The New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California 2nd Edition. Ram Publications. August 2001. Hardcover, ISBN: 0963078569. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Baltz, Lewis. Lewis Baltz: Maryland 1976. Steidl. August 31, 2010. Paperback, 56 pages, Language English, ISBN: 3865216358. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Baltz, Lewis. Nevada 1977. Steidl Photography International. August 31, 2010. Paperback, 56 pages, Language English, ISBN: 3865217567. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Recommended Readings:
Baltz, Lewis. "Interview" in: American SuburbX 2009.
Baltz, Lewis, Cecilia Pirovano, Stefano Graziani and Antonello Frongia. "The disappearance of reality." in: Ventura Broadcast. 2006. (English).
Baltz, Lewis. ""Subjects and objects of the new technological culture: Interview" in: MediaMente. 1998.
Batz, Lewis, Jean-Pierre Greff and Elisabeth Milon. "Interview with Lewis Baltz: Photography is a Political Technology of the Gaze." in: American SuburbX. 1993.