Enrolments for 2019 have closed.
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Visual Countercultures: Graffiti, Kitsch and Conceptual Art
Undergraduate | MAQ-MECX223 | 2019
Course information for 2019 intake
View information for 2020 course intakeReframe your understanding of high and 'low' art by examining countercultures. Zoom in on the political influences of camp, kitsch and bad taste art. Critique the concept of value in visual art forms. Consider how graffiti and public spaces interact
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed,
- No prior study
- Duration
- -
HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Visual Countercultures: Graffiti, Kitsch and Conceptual Art
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students will have developed the following skills:
- Demonstrate critical skills, informed by cultural theories, that will enable students to re-evaluate those practices of everyday life that are too often dismissed as worthless or ephemeral.
- Develop analytical skills that will enable students to examine and critique the presuppositions that constitute those hierarchies of value that classify, judge and position cultural objects and practices.
- Develop research skills that will enable students to present theorised, contextualised and informed accounts of key issues and problems in the context of subcultural and counter-visual practices.
- Demonstrate communication skills in order effectively and creatively to present research.
- Employ cultural literacy skills that will educate students on the importance of issues of cultural difference and ethical relations across diverse social and political contexts.
- Introduction; 'Crimes of Style'
- The Cultural Politics of Graffiti
- Graffiti as a 'Contentious Form of Political Participation'
- Kitsch, Bad Taste & Distinction
- Kitsch, Mechanical Reproduction & Modernity
- Workshop
- The Politics of Kitsch
- Gigantism and Miniaturism
- Kitsch/Art
- Queer as Kitsch
- Celebrity Trash
This subject was previously known as CLT220 Graffiti, Kitsch and Trash: Crimes of Style.
This subject introduces students to a range of theories that question traditional hierarchies of value and that enable a critical re-evaluation of the practices of everyday life. This subject theorises key topics such as: countercultures; oppositional cultures and post-subcultures; the politics of high versus popular and low culture; and counter-cultural practices in global and local contexts. The following practices, sites and objects are examined: graffiti, hip hop and crimes of style; graffiti and the cultural politics of public space; graffiti as a form of political activism and dissent; the relation between kitsch and high art; the politics of kitsch in the context of colonialism and Indigeneity; the cultural politics of tourist sites; gigantism and miniaturism; queer culture, camp and kitsch; and celebrity kitsch.
- Assignment 1 (15%)
- Assignment 2 (20%)
- Assignment 3 (20%)
- Assignment 4 (45%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
MAQ-CLT220 (Not currently available)
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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