MIDTERM ON CHAPTER CAPTIONS , HEADLINES ,DIGITAL JOURNALISM
VISUAL CULTURE & ITS CRITIQUES
Nicholas Mirzoeff
&
W.J.T Mitchell
Introduction
Visual culture is concerned with ‘visualizing’ the existence.
Visual culture is about what we ‘see’ in our daily life, and the images we see, or are shown to us.
Nicholas Mirzoeff on Visual Culture
For Nicholas Mirzoeff:
Visual culture is concerned with visual events in which information, meaning, or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology.
One of the most striking features of the new visual is the visualization of things that are not in themselves visual.
Nicholas Mirzoeff on Visual Culture
More compelling definitions of Nicholas Mirzoeff:
Visual culture does not depend on pictures , but on this modern tendency to picture or to visualize existence.
Visual culture directs our attention away from structured, formal viewing settings like the cinema and art gallery to the centrality of visual experience.
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field. What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field. What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
Liquidation of art
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field. What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
Transforming the history of art into the history of image
Boy with a Pipe,
1905 by Pablo Picasso
Vincent van Gogh - Van Gogh: Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers
Painting, Oil on Canvas- January, 1889 Philadelphia Museum of Art- Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, United - States of America, North America
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field.
What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field.
What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
Image of women in rural Egypt
Women in Egyptian villages
Social construction of women image
Rural women in Egyptian drama
Image of the original
Pepsi
Examples: Print advertisement Pepsi
W.J.T Mitchell – Critiques of visual culture
Four important myths about visual culture:
Visual culture entails the liquidation of art as we have known it.
Visual culture transforms the history of art into a history of images.
We live in a predominantly visual era. Modernity entails the hegemony of vision and visual media.
Visual culture is fundamentally about the social construction of the visual field.
What we see, and the manner in which we come to see it, is not simply part of a natural ability.
Image of the original
Pepsi
How advertising constructs Pepsi
How advertising constructs Pepsi
W.J.T Mitchell – Counter theses
Four counter theses about visual culture:
Visual culture encourages reflection on the difference between art and non-art, visual and verbal signs.
Visual culture is not limited to the study of images or media, but extends to everyday practices of seeing and showing.
There are no visual media. All media are mixed media, with varying ratios of senses and sign-types.
Visual culture is the visual construction of the social, not the social construction of the vision.
W.J.T Mitchell – Counter theses
Four counter theses about visual culture:
Visual culture encourages reflection on the difference between art and non-art, visual and verbal signs.
Visual culture is not limited to the study of images or media, but extends to everyday practices of seeing and showing.
There are no visual media. All media are mixed media, with varying ratios of senses and sign-types.
Visual culture is the visual construction of the social, not the social construction of the vision.
visual sign
verbal sign
Tree
verbal sign
visual sign
W.J.T Mitchell – Counter theses
Four counter theses about visual culture:
Visual culture encourages reflection on the difference between art and non-art, visual and verbal signs.
Visual culture is not limited to the study of images or media, but extends to everyday practices of seeing and showing.
There are no visual media. All media are mixed media, with varying ratios of senses and sign-types.
Visual culture is the visual construction of the social, not the social construction of the vision.
W.J.T Mitchell – Counter theses
Four counter theses about visual culture:
Visual culture encourages reflection on the difference between art and non-art, visual and verbal signs.
Visual culture is not limited to the study of images or media, but extends to everyday practices of seeing and showing.
There are no visual media. All media are mixed media, with varying ratios of senses and sign-types.
Visual culture is the visual construction of the social, not the social construction of the vision.
W.J.T Mitchell – Counter theses
Four counter theses about visual culture:
Visual culture encourages reflection on the difference between art and non-art, visual and verbal signs.
Visual culture is not limited to the study of images or media, but extends to everyday practices of seeing and showing.
There are no visual media. All media are mixed media, with varying ratios of senses and sign-types.
Visual culture is the visual construction of the social, not the social construction of the vision.