Image and the City - Detailseite

ECTS Points: 5

Language requirements: min. English B2

Capital of Cool, City of Tolerance and (affordable) Hub of Creativity – Berlin’s image is a very alluring one. The images of Berlin circulating in all kinds of media are just as interesting, but also surprisingly diversified. If this is true for contemporary Berlin it proves to be so even more in regard of its 20^th century history: historic moments like the fall of the Berlin Wall are always also represented in images. But what does those images actually tell us? What do they mean and what do they want us to see?

This seminar is meant to be an expedition into Berlins and Germanys visual culture. We are going to have a closer look on some of these images – ranging from iconic photographs to music video clips to official marketing campaigns – and reflect their symbolic meaning and varying interpretations, their impact on Berlin's self-concept, identity, on its cultural scene and even on its economic value. Basic concepts developed in the context of the Visual Culture Studies are introduced, with aspects of Art History, Film Studies, Metropolitan Studies, Tourism Studies and Social Science.

To link content and form participants are asked to do a Visual Study Journal, documenting their learning aims, developments and achievements throughout the whole semester in a visual way (how to do so will be issued in class; no previous knowledge required). At the end of the seminar this Visual Study Journal will be presented in a student organized exhibition.

Introductive Literature:

Elkins, James: Visual Studies. A skeptical Introduction. New York 2003.

Hariman, Robert; Lucaites, John Louis: No Caption Needed. Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. Chicago/London 2007.

Further Literature:

Bell, Daniel; De-Shalit, Avner: The Spirit of the Cities. Why the Identity of a City matters in a global Age. Princeton 2011.

Biskup, Thomas; Schalenberg, Marc (Hg.): Selling Berlin - Imagebildung und Stadtmarketing von der preußischen Residenz bis zur Bundeshauptstadt, Stuttgart 2008.

Colomb, Claire: Staging the new Berlin. Place Marketing and the politics of urban reinvention post-1989. London 2012.

Elkins, James: Visual Studies. A skeptical Introduction. New York 2003.

Hariman, Robert; Lucaites, John Louis: No Caption Needed. Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. Chicago/London 2007.

Lynch, Kevin: The Image of the City. Cambridge 1960.

Pugh, Emily: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in Divided Berlin. Pittsburgh 2004.

This seminar carries 5 ECTS.

For international incoming students and HU students.

Language requirements English B2 minimum.

NO registration via Agnes.

Application via Berlin Perspectives ONLY: BP Module application

Internationale Programmstudierende / International exchange students.

HU-Studierende im ÜWP.