Visual Communication Arts Major

The course offers an introduction to the history of art and visual culture from antiquity to the Renaissance in an intercultural and interdisciplinary context. It studies all forms of art, such as painting, sculpture, architecture, and printed works within their historical, social, and cultural contexts, as well as their representation in modern media (film, documentary, etc.). The course aims at an international and cross-cultural perspective, as well as introducing students to interdisciplinary modes of analyzing art that respond to developments in the fields of art ecologies and art industries.

The course is the sequence to AHT 102 and offers an introduction to the history of art and visual culture from the High Renaissance to the present day.  It studies early modern painting, sculpture, architecture, and prints within their historical, social, and cultural contexts, as well as photography and new media in the modern and contemporary world. It also introduces students to interdisciplinary modes of analyzing art that respond to developments in the fields of art ecologies and art industries.

This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and theories of communication and media studies as they apply to the ever-increasing intercultural interactions of a contemporary world. In particular, students will learn the basics of intercultural/international communication processes, gaining a foundation for developing intercultural communication competence.

This experimental, introductory course will explore the creative possibilities of media that have often been considered largely mechanical and reproductive processes. Comments on the history of printing will be integrated in lessons on relief and intaglio printing processes (monoprints, linoleum cuts, wood block prints, embossing, drypoint). Visits to museums, exhibits or ateliers may be organized if possible. (This course carries a fee for art supplies.)

This course course in digital photography introduces the beginner to the elements of digital photography. There will be two areas of concentration: 1. Image capture and manipulation using digital imaging technology (cameras and editing software). 2. Photograph design (crafting a photograph that reflects the photographer’s intention using composition, framing, lighting etc.). Throughout the course emphasis will be placed on the artistic value of photographs rather than the technicalities of digital imaging. Photography is one of the various artistic media available for self-expression and much emphasis will be put on precisely that. Students will synthesize these elements to create a portfolio of work that reflects not only their newly developed skills but also an appreciation and understanding of photography as an art medium. The course carries a fee for photography/art supplies.

An introductory course aimed at mastering the rudiments of drawing (light and shadow, perspective, proportions, texture, pattern and design) and investigating the discipline of drawing as a cognitive tool. A variety of media, styles and genre will be explored, such as still life, landscape, figure drawing and abstraction. Studio sessions will be integrated with slide presentations and videos, and visits to museums, exhibits or ateliers may be organized if possible. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

This introductory course explores basic painting techniques and attempts to assist the development of visual awareness through various experiments and media, thus providing a foundation for further art study. With a combination of theory and studio practice, the course investigates the properties of color, line, point, plane and texture in an effort to free students from dead convention and at the same time encourage their creative abilities. The course will incorporate structured exercises on the nature of paint and the rudiments of color theory, while encouraging students to study the painting of past and present artists to develop their own creative identity. Visits to museums, galleries or ateliers may be organized if possible. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

This course introduces students to the technical, conceptual, and aesthetic skills involved in video production through the single camera mode of production. Still the most dominant mode of film and video production, the single camera mode places an emphasis on using the camera to fullest capacity of artistic expression. In addition to the multiple skills and concepts involved with the camera, the course also introduces students to the principles and technologies of lighting, audio recording and mixing, and non-linear digital video editing. Special focus is given to producing content for successful web distribution. This course provides students with an intensive overview of the entire filmmaking process as they work with a production unit to produce a short narrative or documentary film for web distribution. Learning outcomes include understanding how a film is made from conception through distribution, and how to develop a story for maximum audio-visual impact. (Not open to students who have completed VCA 295 or VCA 210 Fundamentals of Digital Video Production.)

This course will investigate the particularities of both documentary and street photography through readings and studio projects. It will shed light on the history of photography; how the visual world communicates, studying the interaction of photography with other visual media; and will pay specific attention to the semiotic potential and challenges of photography. Students will engage in a project that relates to the location of the travel component of the class, documenting a subject of their choice. The Academic Travel destination will be Munich with additional day excursions to Bavaria and Austria.

An introductory course to graphic design software and to the principles and practices of advertising graphics. Once the basics have been learned, the course covers the following aspects of graphic design: the psychology of advertising, the brief from the client and the working relationship between client and designer, font styles and typographic design, the company logo, letterhead, business cards etc., house-styling, company reports, brochures, flyers, book covers, color printing and printing processes. The course requires that initial design concepts be taken from the early stages through to finished art-work, i.e. the quality of finish required for presentation to the client.(This course carries a nominal fee for computer supplies)

Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic printing skills learned in STA 106. More techniques of printmaking may be explored, for example, silkscreen or collagraph. (This course carries a fee for art supplies.)

A more intermediate course where students who have completed STA 107 may take their work further. The course carries a fee for photography/art supplies.

Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 111. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects, exploring various media and investigating problems in drawing and perception. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 115. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects and exploring different media and genre as students work towards finding a personal identity through creative experience. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 117.

In an increasingly digital age, publishing is exploring new visual formats while physical books have experienced a renaissance as a privileged channel of creative expression. This course takes this dual development as a starting point to investigate the historical forms and contemporary opportunities offered by the book medium to editors, writers and artists. Students will be introduced to the history of the printing revolution in the early modern age, the development of typography and the emergence of the modern press. An attention to different publishing models co-existing in the 21^st century introduces a diversity of publishing practices and economic formats, from that of established printing houses to independent editors and self-published artists. The course will consider both material and virtual channels, taking into account the surge of digital technologies and a new appreciation for the book as a material object. Additionally, discussion will consider current debates in critical design as they come to challenge inherited practices in the field of publishing, and offer emancipatory and exploratory paths for present and future development.

Recommended prerequisite: AHT 102 or AHT 103 or CLCS 100 or COM 201.

This course is fundamentally a follow-on from STA 200, Computer Graphics in Advertising. Throughout the semester, students are expected to complete a broad variety of projects, individually and in form of group work, and bring them to a finished state. Possible areas of concentration may include digital branding, interaction design, digital formats, innovative design, campaign design and corporate promotion. (This course carries a nominal fee for computer supplies).

A higher course aimed at further developing the basic printing skills learned in STA 206. Emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects, and more techniques of printmaking may be explored, for example, silkscreen or collagraph. (This course carries a fee for art supplies.)

A more advanced course where students who have completed STA 207 may take their work further. The course carries a fee for photography/art supplies.

A higher course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 211. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects, exploring various media and investigating drawing and perception. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

Continuation of the previous painting courses to more advanced levels. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

An advanced course aimed at further developing the intermediate skills learned in STA 217.

Topics in Visual Communication Arts are advanced courses on specific topics not normally offered and vary each semester. They may require additional pre-requisites or permission of the instructor. Course description and pre-requisites are specified in the session course description.

This course has two primary goals: to introduce students to the history and theoretical writings of various strands of cultural studies, and to acquaint them with some of the intersecting axes - race, class and gender - that energize the field. Close attention will be paid to issues such as the shaping of identity, forms of representation, the production, consumption and distribution of cultural goods, and the construction of knowledge and power in a host of cultural practices and cultural institutions.

The construction of memory is one of the fundamental processes by which the workings of culture can be studied. Every country, every culture and every community has a specific memory culture that finds expression in a congruence of texts: of literature and film, of law and politics, of memorial rituals, and historiography. The aim of this course is to enable students to recognize different forms of the construction, representation and archiving of memory; to analyze processes of individual and collective identity formation through memory; and to understand the power differentials operant in the negotiations and performance of a national memory.

Science fiction narratives may be defined as speculative fictions, ideal allegorical vehicles eliciting theoretical reflection on the state of contemporary culture and society and motivating social reform. As such, the main objective of this course is to consider several major contemporary socio-cultural issues through the unique lens provided by writers and filmmakers of the science-fiction tradition. The issues, allowing for variances from year to year, will include questions regarding gender and Otherness, the hypothesized deterioration of a human-world bond, modern apocalyptic anxieties, genetic engineering, intersections of ideology and communication technologies. Authors and filmmakers may include: Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guinn, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, William Gibson; Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, Andrew Niccol, Jean-Luc Godard, Lana and Andy Wachowski

This course approaches film from an ecocritical perspective to explore how the medium of film articulates relations between the environment and human rights. In recent decades, scholars have increasingly examined how film represents ecological issues and humans' involvement with those issues, particularly with regards to environmental disaster and climate change. The course aims to make students familiar with those debates by examining a variety of film genres -- blockbuster, documentary, animation, among others -- to offer a survey in reading film ecocritically, from a human rights’ perspective. Students will gain experience in analyzing films as texts and in applying ecocritical theory to those films and the ethical issues surrounding them, from production to narrative, and distribution to reception. Screenings, theoretical readings, class discussion, video-making and writing assignments will help students develop a critical awareness of how film tells the story of our complex relation with the environment against the backdrop of contemporary human rights regimes.

This course offers an overview of different masculinities as they have been represented in literature and film for the past couple decades. Students will first explore the recent developments in masculinity studies, particularly focusing on masculinity along intersectional lines. They will reflect upon the intricate ways of defining, theorizing and conceptualizing masculinity in an age that Zygmunt Bauman has defined as liquid. They will read novels such as Tomboy by French writer Nina Bouraoui, Salvation Army by Moroccan writer Abdellah Taïa and watch films such as Death Proof by American film director Quentin Tarentino, Facing Mirrors by Iranian film director Negar Azarbayjani, Boys Don't Cry by American film director Kimberly Peirce.

''Human Rights'' has become a key selling point for organizations, political parties and social movements. And yet what is actually meant by the term often remains vague, and it is difficult to take the critical stance necessary to judge its significance. In this class we interrogate the term with a series of questions: what counts as ''human'' in the discourses surrounding Human Rights? What sorts of rights do individuals in fact have simply by virtue of being human? Do all humans have the same rights? Who gets to decide this? How has the definition changed over the last 200 years? To what extent is the term gendered, determined by class and racialized? And finally: how do different national settings change how we think about and act on ideas of Human Rights? This course will examine these questions by tracing ideas surrounding Human Rights in treatises, literary texts, films, debates and case studies from the Enlightenment to the present. Against the backdrop of foundational texts such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, declarations by the European Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and People's Rights, the Geneva convention and the United Nations Human Rights Commission students will consider literary and filmic works that grapple critically with the terms they lay out. Students will also consider how NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch translate the political rhetoric to apply their own interpretations of Human Rights to their field work.

In this course, the class will work to create a more critical understanding of what race is, what race does, and how contemporary racial meanings are constructed and disseminated. In order to do so, students will explore Critical Race Theory (CRT) and critical theories of race in several contexts. CRT refers to a theory that emerged among legal educators in the US in the 1980s and 1990s. In the last twenty years, a growing number of scholars in fields such as cultural studies, gender studies, history, media studies, politics, postcolonial studies and sociology have integrated and developed the work done by critical race theorists. This course will focus in particular on this interdisciplinary approach to critical race studies. The practice of race will be examined as well as the policies and institutions that shape race in a global context in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Finally, students will consider the intersection of race and other social hierarchies, including gender, sexuality and social class.

This course aims to investigate law's place in culture and culture's place in law. This focus proceeds from the realization that law does not function in a vacuum but exerts a powerful influence on all manner of cultural practice and production, even as its own operation is influenced in turn by various forms of culture. Given this increasing porosity and interpermeability of Law and different forms of culture, the focus of this course is on the mutual influence between law and other discursive practices, such as literature, TV sit-coms and film. In studying a number of prominent legal cases such as Brown v the Board of Education, we will explore the following questions: What are the mechanisms by which popular representations and cultural practices find their way into legal processes and decisions? How does law in turn bleed into and influence cultural processes? Does law act as a buffer against societal assumptions about, and constructions of, gender, age, ability, sexuality and ethnicity, or does it re-enforce and re-inscribe existing social norms?

The cultural debris that results from political and natural catastrophes is made up of narratives that contain both implosion and creation, wreckage and renewal. In that sense disasters mark pivotal turning points in the way we conceptualize and understand human phenomena and cultural processes in a number of disciplinary perspectives from psychoanalysis to literature, from environmental science to religion and from ethics to aesthetics. Students will read the narrative fallout in fiction, science, and film that emanate from distinct disaster zones ranging from the petrified texture of Pompeii to the generative force field of ground zero.

Media pervades our social and private lives. We make it and in turn it makes us. This course offers an introduction to media studies, a field which seeks to understand and use media in complex and intentional ways. The course explores media as content, as an industry and as a social force. In this way, media is understood as both as an artifact (constituted by many parts) and as a set of complex processes (including production, distribution, regulation and consumption). Students will learn key vocabularies and concepts in and approaches to media studies that will help them to define, describe, and critique media artifacts and processes in a variety of written and spoken formats. In addition to equipping students with the skills to understand and critique media, this course encourages and provides students with the building blocks to produce media content. Students who successfully complete this course will be prepared to take advanced courses in media studies.

This course introduces students to theories, concepts, and research in the study of interpersonal communication. From a scholarly perspective, students will gain a fundamental knowledge of how interpersonal communication processes work. In addition, students will develop skill in analyzing the interpersonal communication that surrounds them in their everyday life. (COM 105 recommended)

Mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become an essential part of our everyday social interactions. It was more than a decade ago that researchers started to look into the way the mobile phone penetrates both public and private domains including the body. As mobile ICTs continue to evolve, their impact on our everyday communication requires constant examination. This course takes a city as a site to explore the way human bodies are technologized with mobile ICTs. It will discuss how people see and document their everyday life of the city with mobile ICTs as well as how they are seen with mobile ICTs in the city (e.g., enhanced capacity of the ''natural'' human body such as eyes and brain). In light of the recent development of wearable technologies and sociable robotics, the course will also explore the role that such emerging technologies play now and in the near future. Both seminal and recent work on mobile ICTs, fashion, social robotics, and emotions will provide the theoretical base for the course. Field observations during the academic travel period will be a primary methodological approach to explore relevant issues of the technologized body in the city

The sense of taste, whether it refers to the metaphorical sense of taste (aesthetic discrimination) or the literal sense of taste (gustatory taste), is a fundamental part of human experiences. This Academic Travel course examines various ways that communication processes shape our sense of taste in the contemporary society. It will explore topics such as the taste for food, clothing and accessories, music, and other cultural activities applying key theories and concepts of communication, fashion, and taste. Ultimately, the course seeks to develop an understanding of how interpersonal, intercultural, and mediated communication in our everyday life plays a critical role in the formation of individual taste as well as collective taste. In order to achieve this objective, field observations and site visits will be planned during the Academic Travel period.

This course examines how people, particularly young people, consume media technologies and their contents in contemporary media-saturated life.  Employing essential readings on media consumption, fashion, and identity as the theoretical backbone, students will engage in active site-based research project throughout the course.  By offering an opportunity to undertake a field study in Milan, the course seeks to develop in-depth theoretical knowledge of the intersections of media consumption, fashion, and identity, as well as to cultivate critical reflection of students’ own consumption of media technologies. This course carries an additional fee for transportation and related activities in Milan.

This course examines media in the context of globalization. Most broadly, students will explore what constitutes globalization, how globalization has been facilitated and articulated by media, how media have been shaped by the processes of globalization, and perhaps most significantly, the social implications of these complex and varied processes on politics, international relations, advocacy and cultural flows. In order to map this terrain, students will survey the major theories that constitute this dynamic area of study.

Digital communication has been fundamental in today’s organizational, cultural, and consuming areas. With the continuous technological development, we have been witnessing the surge of digital innovations in recent years. This course examines key dimensions of digital innovations in the current consumer culture such as Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Geographical Referencing System, Review & Ratings algorithm, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, BOT and chatbot. The course explores not only the new brand and media strategies of companies but also self-branding strategies of operators, influencers and users/consumers with a special attention to the creative dimension of consumption experience. In this process, the differences between cross-media communication and trans-media storytelling will be discussed as these two strategies help organizations manage relationships between brand, product and consumers by the means of emerging media. Ultimately, students will develop a greater understanding of media strategies using digital innovations that can be applied in the professional context. (This course also applies as an elective in the Fashion Studies major.)

This course examines the dynamic process of organizational communication. Situating communication as an essential part of ''organizing'' in our everyday life, it seeks to understand how we can participate in the creation and recreation of effective organizations. Students will learn key issues of organizational communication research such as communication channels, networks, organizational climate, interpersonal relationships within organizations, and organizational cultures. They will also learn how to apply the theoretical/conceptual knowledge to their present and future organizational life through case studies and communication audits.

The French New Wave was a major turning-point in the history of French Cinema. It gave birth to a new way of approaching cinematography as a whole. This course centers on New Wave film directors Chabrol, Truffaut, Resnais, Godard and Varda, and examine closely their cinematographic creed, theoretical preoccupations, similarities and differences. Movies will be partially watched outside of class.

Aspects of political, social and cultural history of twentieth century Italy are studied through documentaries and some of the major accomplishments of Italian cinema. Some novels adapted into film are also examined. Most of the films are in Italian (some with English subtitles).

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major accomplishments of Italian cinema from ''neorealism'' through the ''commedia all'italiana'' to the present. Emphasis is placed on film as an artistic, aesthetic and theoretical medium for an exploration and interpretation of issues related to contemporary life. Some of Italy's major film directors will be considered, such as Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Scola. Particular attention is dedicated to the films of Fellini.

This introductory course presents three significant historical periods, based upon the works of their most important composers – from Haydn and Mozart to Mahler and Stravinsky. It explains the various genres from chamber music and symphonic music to opera. Combining guided listening, live performances and technology, the course explores the multitude of styles of the different epochs. It also presents at each stage the cultural and political contexts in which music evolved.

The purpose of the course is to explore and understand the use of classical music in art movies. From Bach to Mahler and from D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey, classical music has been used as leitmotiv and supporting narrative in film. Based on the chronology of music history and the use of classical music in period movies, the course analyzes the way in which specific pieces of music have contributed to some of the greatest films of the past. Musical and film extracts will be viewed and discussed.

The evolution of the music drama from the Renaissance to the twentieth century is the object of this course.Its objective is to familiarize students with opera as a unique art form. It contributes to enlarge the cultural horizon through a historic perspective from its origins to present day, overcoming the largely diffused pre-concept that opera is only for connoisseurs. Based on extensive listenings and discussions, the course emphasizes the musical and theatrical aspects of opera history, as well as its literary, architectural and political context. Students will learn the essential elements needed to attend a performance, the variety of singing voices and the complexity of preparation and staging of an opera. It encourages students to comparative listening of different versions.

Based on classical music milestones, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the course provides the students with the basic elements needed in order to learn active listening and to develop critical and comparative skills. It explains the various genres from symphonic music to opera, offering the students the tools to better understand the various idioms in Western music, and the historical and cultural context of their creation. The use of the ''great works'' will also create a cultural portfolio for students and introduce them to the debates related to the character and purposes of music, as well as to its chronological evolution.

This course explores the direct relationship between significant historical events and their effects on musical creation. The analysis of specific works will offer the opportunity to understand the direct impact politics has on art. Important events throughout the 19th and the 20th century will be presented through the impact they had in music history. A special section is dedicated to censorship and discrimination focusing on music written and performed under totalitarian rule. From the Entartete Musik (degenerate music), discriminated against by the Nazis, to John Adams’ opera Nixon in China, which marked the end of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the course investigates the way in which music was able to follow its own creative path.

Senior projects are to be coordinated with the Program Director and Academic Advisor. The course carries a fee for studio/photography supplies.

Internships are to be coordinated in advance with the Program Director and Academic Advisor.

VCA thesis proposals to be coordinated with the Program Director and Academic Advisor.