VISST-300-09 CAUGHT LOOKING Voyeurism and Surveillance in Photography, Art, and Video

Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected]

VISST-300-09 CAUGHT LOOKING

Voyeurism and Surveillance in Photography, Art, and Video

Fall 2013

Course Description:

It is usual for most normal people to linger to

some extent over the intermediate aim of looking

that has a sexual tinge to it; indeed, this offers

them a possibility of directing some proportion of

their libido on to higher artistic aims. On the

other hand, this pleasure in looking becomes a

perversion (a) if it is restricted exclusively to

the genitals, or (b) if it is connected with the

overriding of disgust (as in the case of voyeurs

…), or (c) if, instead of being preparatory to the

normal sexual aim, it supplants it.

--Sigmund Freud

(1905)

This class surveys the major themes of voyeurism and

surveillance in the history of photography, art, and video.

Through close observation and theoretical readings to give

us context, we will grapple with photography's role in

Bobka, Photography Seminar, Fall 2012/ Page1

Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected] and intensifying the libidinal pleasures of

looking. In a parallel consideration, we will also study

how photography and art function in a contemporary world

populated by societies under surveillance. We shall

consider the intertwined topics of voyeurism, visual

fetishism, pornography, picturing death and violence,

celebrity stalking, online exhibitionism, and our subjection

to constant visual monitoring on closed circuit cameras

(CCTV).



Practical Matters:

CCA's Learning Resource Center provides writing and softwarecoaching as well as academic coaching to enrolled students who seek assistance with their academic requirements. CCA’s Learning Resource Center is located in Irwin Hall (room 213)on the Oakland campus and in the Student Affairs Office at 80 Carolina on the San Francisco campus. Schedule online. Orcall Virginia C. Jardim, Coordinator of Learning Resources, [email protected], 510.594.3756, Oakland campus, Irwin Hall 213.

If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of the course, please meet with me. I would like us to discuss ways to ensure your full participation inthe course. If you determine that formal, disability-relatedaccommodations are necessary, it is required that before classes start or during the first few weeks of the semester you contact and schedule an appointment with Suzanne Raffeld, director of Access and Wellness Services at (510) 594-3775 or [email protected]. For more information go to http://www.cca.edu/students/resources/disability CCA provides an excellent counseling service: professional, confidential counseling is available free of charge to all students. Counseling can help students cope with personal issues and assist them in meeting the challenges of a creative academic environment. To make an appointment with acounselor, contact Student Affairs in Oakland at 510.594.3666 or in San Francisco at 415.703.9570.

For Class:


mailto:[email protected]

Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected] Class Conduct: Please bring paper copy of readings to class. Sorry, notetaking on a latop is not allowed. Cellphones should always be turned off. Texting during class is prohibited.

Course Readings: All readings will be available on a coursewebsite. To access readings go to https://moodle.cca.edu/ and login. If you have any problems, contact [email protected].

Notes:


mailto:[email protected]

https://moodle.cca.edu/


Objectives/Learning Outcomes: deepening students’ knowledge of photography on

historical, theoretical, and critical levels, particularly around issues of the artist’s relation to image making that engages visual technology to multiply the intensity of pleasure or control;

enabling students to articulate that knowledge both in written and verbal form;

improving students’ applied critical thinking skills by expecting students to develop independent thoughts and concepts (as artists, historians, and critics) as they relate historical, philosophical, and cultural phenomenato key contemporary questions about photographic production and critical perception;

developing public speaking and presentation skills, including a familiarity with the use of visual documentation (e.g., slides, PowerPoint presentation, drawings, photographs and video, as well as other artifacts) to illustrate presentation points.

Requirements:

Students are evaluated on their performance of the following:

Consistent attendance (physical and mental) Evidence of thoughtful reading of assigned articles Participation in class discussion (or lack thereof) Leading class discussions on assigned meetings as part

of a group Meeting with Professor regarding research topic A paper proposal, outline, and bibliography



30-minute in-class presentation 12-page (3,300-3,600 words) research paper written on a

topic they choose from the topics covered in the course.



Definitions:

Continuous and Consistent class attendance and punctuality are requirements of the course. Since in-class discussion is the substance of the seminar, there is no substitute for your attentive presence in class. Three absences result in a failing grade of F in the class. If necessary, please contact me regarding illness or missed class.

Evidence of thoughtful reading of assigned articles: an important requirement for this seminar is intensive and careful reading of assigned texts. All students are responsible for completing all reading assignments. The class meets for a three-hour period, so outside reading, writing and study time should be around 6-9 hours on average. As you are expected to ruminate over the material, you need to take notes on readings.

Participation: another important requirement for this seminar is informed and active engagement in class discussions. You areexpected to come to class prepared to share and discuss your thoughts as well as comment on ideas raised by the Professor and other members of the class.

Leading class discussion of readings with other students: Class discussion will include Professor’s lecture and discussion led by 2-3 student presenters each week. Students must work in tandem with other members of the classto formulate observations and questions, worked out before class, which derive from their understanding of the central themes and most pressing issues of the readings. This work is then presented to the class. Students observations and questions, worked out before class, are submitted to the Professor at the end of that class.



Mandatory meeting with Professor regarding research topic: In preparation for submission of your prospectus, a mandatory meeting with the Professor is required. The professor conducts office hours for these meetings in the OaklandLibrary on scheduled Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The Professor will also be available additional hours in SF and OAK by appointment.



Proposal, Outline, and Bibliography: In preparation for the 12-page final paper on a topic of your choice drawn from thetopics covered in the course, a two-page proposal is due on the sixth week of class (October 9). It should include:

A definition of your topic and an explanation of why you have chosen it.

An identification of the questions you will try to answer in your paper. The more specific you make your questions, the more clearly they will suggest to you ways of narrowing the scope of your topic (which you will inevitably have to do) and approaching the research.

An outline of your research strategy. Where will you seek answers to your questions? You should include a bibliographical essay covering the literature on your topic.

Students whose proposals do not meet these criteria and/or are subject to extensive requests for revisions will be asked to follow the professor’s suggestions and resubmit theassignment to receive a grade.

Presentation: A solo, in-class, illustrated presentation lasting 30-minutes on your paper topic during the last five weeks of the semester. This presentation will encapsulate the work you are doing for your paper whether your research is finished or not.

Term Paper: A 12-page (3,300-3,600 words) longer, research-based essay is due on the penultimate day of class (Wednesday, December 4). Essays will be graded and returnedin the last class of the semester.



**Further, more specific directions on how to complete the proposal, the outline, the bibliography, the presentation, and the paper are forthcoming.



Breakdown of Grade:

Consistent attendance (physical and mental) 10%

Evidence of thoughtful reading of assigned articles 10%

Participation in class discussion 5%

Leading class discussions 10%

Proposal 20%

Outline and Bibliography 10%

Presentation 15%

Paper 20%

Two extra Credit assignments will be offered in the form of a vocabulary journal. Students may choose only one of them to do. Bonus Points: 10.

Main Texts:Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2010)CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002). Website: <http://ctrlspace.zkm.de/e/>

These books are available in the SF library.All course readings are available on the Moodle page for Caught Looking.



Schedule of Class topics

*Syllabus is a proposed line of inquiry and is subject to change.

1 Wednesday, September 4

In class writing exercise. Introductions. Syllabus, overview of class topics, parameters, schedules. Review of Moodle.

Topic: Photography and Voyeurism

Philoctetes Roundtable Video (10/11/08): “From Looking to Voyeurism,” Mary Ann Doane, Katherine Frank, Dany Nobus, Saul Robbins, Sarah Stanbury. See Philoctetes.org.

Jean-Michel Hirt, “Voyeurism,” International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, http://www.enotes.com/psychoanalysis-encyclopedia/voyeurism

Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, trans. James Strachey (New York: Basic Books, 1962; 1975), 19-23.

Lorie Novak, “Photographic Interference,” Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis, ed. Geoffrey Batchen, et. al. (London: Reaktion Books, 2012).

See Also:

CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002). Website: http://ctrlspace.zkm.de/e/Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2010)


http://ctrlspace.zkm.de/e/

Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected]: Photographs from the Kinsey Institute (Santa Fe: Arena Editions,2000).




Topic: Photography, Voyeurism, and the Fetish

Jonathan Metzl, “From Scopophilia to Survivor: A brief history of voyeurism,” Textual Practice 18 (3) (2004): 415-34.

Sigmund Freud, “Fetishism,” from The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, ed. and trans. by James Strachey (London: Hogarth Press, 1953-1974).

Abigail Solomon-Godeau, “The Legs of the Countess,” October 39 (Winter 1986): 65-108.


Class sign-up for presentation dates.

Topic: The Camera on the Street

Simon Baker, “Up Periscope! Photography and the Surreptitious Image,” Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,2010), 205-211.

Geoffrey Batchen, “Guilty Pleasures,” CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne, and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).

See also:Colin Westerbeck and Joel Meyerowitz, Bystander: a history of street photography (Boston: Little Brown, 1994)

The Man in the Crowd: The Uneasy Streets of Garry Winogrand (San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 1999)


Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected] Simpson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 2007).

Charles Wylie, “Streets of Paradox: The Photographs of Philip-Lorca diCorcia,” Art On Paper 3, no. 4 (March/April 1999): 43-5.



4 Wednesday, September 25 (office hours in library tba)Topic: Death on Display

Andrea D. Fitzpatrick, “The Movement of Vulnerability: Images of Falling and September 11,” Art Journal 66.4 (Winter 2007): 84-102.

Tom Junod, “The Falling Man,” Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis, ed. Geoffrey Batchen, et. al. (London: Reaktion Books,2012), 167-75.

Christine Harold and Kevin Michael DeLuca, "Behold the Corpse: Violent Images and the Case of Emmett Till," Rhetoric & Public Affairs Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 2005): 263-286.

See Also:Andrea D. Fitzpatrick, “Reconsidering the Dead in Andres Serrano’s The Morgue: Identity, Agency, Subjectivity,” for Visual Arts and Medical Representation issue of Revue d’art canadienne/Canadian Art Review (RACAR) 33 (2008): 28-42.

Dora Apel and Shawn Michelle Smith, Lynching Photographs (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).

5 Wednesday, October 2 (office hours in library tba)Topic: Witnessing Violence

David Campbell, “Horrific Blindness: Images of Death in Contemporary Media,” Journal for Cultural Research 8(1) (January 2004): 55-74.

Peggy Phelan, “Atrocity and Action: The Performative Force of the Abu Ghraib Photographs,” Picturing Atrocity: Photography in


Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected], ed. Geoffrey Batchen, et. al. (London: Reaktion Books,2012), 51-61.

John Taylor, “Chapter 2: Caught Looking,” Body Horror: Photojournalism, Catastrophe and War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), 13-28.

Thierry de Duve, “Art in the Face of Radical Evil,” October 125 (Summer 2008): 3-23.

See also: Anthony W. Lee and Richard Meyer, Weegee and Naked City (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).

Sebastião Salgado, Sahel, The End of the Road (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).



6 Wednesday, October 9 GUEST SPEAKER

Proposals due.

Topic: Total Transparency?

Collateral Murder (Video released by Wikileaks April 5, 2010)

Wikileaks Video Reported on Democracy Now with Julian Assange interview, Tuesday, April 6, 2010.

Raffi Khatchadourian, “No Secrets, Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency,” The New Yorker, June 7, 2010.

Virilio, Paul. “The Visual Crash,” CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).

7 Wednesday, October 16 (midterm period)

Topic: Surveillance: The Eye of Power

Andrea Mubi Brighenti, “Artveillance: At the Crossroads of Art and Surveillance,” Surveillance and Society: Special Issue on Surveillance, Performance and New Media Art 7(2) (2010): 175-86.

Michel Foucault, “The Eye of Power, A Conversation with Jean-Pierre Baru and Michelle Perrot (1974),” Power/knowledge: selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, trans. Colin Gordon, et.al. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980),146-165.

8 Wednesday, October 23 (midterm period)



Topic: Rise of the Cyberdata-double

Kevin D. Haggerty and Richard V. Ericson. “The Surveillant Assemblage,” British Journal of Sociology 51 (4) (2000): 605-622.

Petra Gördüren, “On the Trail of the Ego: Sophie Calle's Pursuits,“ <http://hosting.zkm.de/ctrlspace/e/texts/10>

(cont.)



See various selections:CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002). Website: <http://ctrlspace.zkm.de/e/>

9 Wednesday, October 30

Outline and Narrative Bibliography Due.

Topic: Celebrity

Ursula Frohne, “Screen Tests: Media Narcissism, Theatricality, and the Internalized Observer,” CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, eds. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).

Richard B. Woodward, “Dare to Be Famous: Self-Exploitation,”Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2010), 229-239.

Carol Squiers, “Class Struggle: The Invention of Paparazzi Photography and the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales,” Over Exposed, ed. Carol Squiers (New York: The New Press, 1999), 269-304.

10 Wednesday, November 6

Topic: Exhibitionism

Victor Burgin, “Jenni’s Room: Exhibitionism and Solitude,” Critical Inquiry Vol. 27, No. 1 (Autumn 2000): 77-89.


Professor Vivian Bobka GC6, SF CampusWednesday, 12:00-3:00pm [email protected] Senft, Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks (NewYork: Peter Lang Publishers, 2008).




Student Presentations


Student Presentations


No Class (week of Thanksgiving holiday)

14 Wednesday, December 4

Student PresentationsPaper due.

15 Wednesday, December 11 Student PresentationsLast Class


VISST-300-09 CAUGHT LOOKING Voyeurism and Surveillance in Photography, Art, and Video

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Transcript of VISST-300-09 CAUGHT LOOKING Voyeurism and Surveillance in Photography, Art, and Video