Open Universities Australia

Dashboard

Find key dates

Access my LMS

Change my studies

Support

Manage my account

View statements & reports

Request online support

Refer a friend

Architecture & construction

Art & creative design

Business & management

Community services & care

Education & teaching

Engineering

Health & medical science

Humanities & social science

IT & computer science

Law & justice

Media & communication

Psychology & mental health

Science

Search all courses

Explore study online

Undergraduate degrees

Postgraduate courses

University certificates

Pathways and pre-university

Single subjects

Microcredentials

Short courses

Study types

Help me choose a course

Chat with a student advisor

Compare courses

Degrees vs single subjects

Choosing a course

Study online

How OUA works

Key dates

How to enrol

Applying for credit

Study planning

Minimum age requirements

Textbooks & study materials

Computer requirements

International students

Getting started

Student loans

Study allowances

Commonwealth supported places

Fees

Financial options

Study support

Study preparation

Disability support

Elite athletes

Exams

Special Circumstances

Your studies

Advice

13 6736

Study online with La Trobe University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

Visualising "Nature": Landscape, Land Art and Environmental Ethics

Collecting Power: Museums, Colonialism, and Restitution

Icons and Anti-Icons: Ten Works of Art

Visions of Modernity: Art, Film and Visual Cultures

Museums are widely considered the custodians of what our cultures deem most valuable. Yet what is collected, and how, tells us a great deal about the ongoing violence of colonialism. In this subject, you explore the relationship between collecting, conflict and power, and how the role of art in conquest, nation-building and religious conflicts can lead to its destruction or censorship. You will consider several case studies drawn from a Western context, such as the Elgin marbles, Nazi looting and terrorist destruction of cultural heritage, and explore the wider ethical and legal context of collecting, destruction and theft. You will also explore broad cultural responses to redressing this legacy in ‘decolonising’ actions that include the restitution and repatriation of cultural objects and the transformation of institutional practices in response to First Nations advocacy. You will be introduced to the ethical, moral and legal issues involved in the circulation of art around the world to facilitate the development of your global and cross-cultural thinking.

Our understanding of what is ‘nature’ or ‘natural’ is embedded in systems of value that are thoroughly mediated by representations in art and visual culture. In Western philosophical traditions, ‘nature’ has been understood as separate from ‘culture’ and as such more easily cast as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of humans. First Nations peoples have a more relational integrated worldview where human beings are but one component of a complex and ever-changing web of relationships. In this subject, you explore how these ideas are shaped by and reflected in various visual approaches over time, and critically consider the role that visualisations of ‘nature’ play in processes of social change. You focus on: the Western landscape tradition and its transformation at the encounter with Indigenous representations of Country; the influence of land art in its many manifestations on how we conceive of human/nature relations; and the long history and contemporary examples of artistic projects and interventions driven by the desire for environmental justice.

In this subject, you will study ten key works from the 1960s to the early 2000s, to understand how the art and visual culture of the late 20th century paved the way for contemporary practices. Focusing on a selection of artists from around the world, from blockbuster stars to political provocateurs, these artworks will introduce you to the period’s new experimental processes, such as performance, installation, public interventions and video art. Through visual and textual analysis, you will critically engage with the role of art in the emergence of political and theoretical ideas such as feminism and queer theory, environmentalism, postmodernism and postcolonialism. In Icons and Anti-Icons you will gain insight into important theoretical movements, and develop detailed understanding of the practices of influential artists.

How has visual culture changed the way we see the world? What can we learn by looking more closely? In this subject you will be introduced to the study of visual cultures through the radical developments in art, film, design and media that reshaped the world from the 19th century to the 1960s. Focusing on key examples from revolutionary movements such as Surrealism, Dada and Pop, you will engage with a range of mediums and works to develop critical skills in visual analysis and cultural literacy. You will see how the political, social and technological changes of modernity were articulated through new visual forms and reflect on how this has shaped our contemporary image culture. In this subject you will learn how to place visual culture in theoretical, critical and historical contexts. You will apply knowledge in practice during weekly workshops, and test your responses through a range of critical and creative tasks.

La Trobe University Art history Short courses | Open Universities Australia

Course results for La Trobe University Art history Short courses

Need help choosing a course?