Course detail
Image and Language: A Collective Reader
FaVU-2ILCRAcad. year: 2026/2027
The course approaches reading visuals and texts as a collective and situated practice. We will gather and share visuals and texts, read texts out loud, and analyse collections of our visual archives. Rather than treating texts (be it prose, poetry, essays or academic texts) and visuals (be it photos, drawings, sketches, scans, screenshots) as stable references, we will work with them as materials in motion, circulating and shifting meaning through composition on the page. This process-based approach will allow to articulate common concerns and questions as points of departure for composing a collective reader. The reader will function as a shared platform, an archive of everyday through which current themes and changing visual landscapes that occupy our minds will be assembled and made public.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Department
Entry knowledge
Previous experience with the theory of graphic design or visual culture is not required.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
A credit is awarded on a basis of active participation, including sharing visual and text-based contributions in classes (2 permitted unexcused absences) and taking part in Reader production.
Aims
The aim of the course is to experiment with approaches to both analyse and create image-language constellations by collectively sharing and reflecting on the kinds of texts and visual materials we consume in our everyday life. Over the course of one semester, these shared materials will be collaboratively studied, annotated and edited in order to be assembled together and composed into a collective reader-zine format. The course addresses following objectives:
- To develop ways of thinking with image and language as an active process of analysis, narration, and form making.
- To support questioning where images and text can transport us, whether conceptually, emotionally or politically.
- To examine the kinds of texts and visual materials that move us intellectually or affectively in the present moment, and to reflect how they resonate with today’s context.
- To approach publishing as a mode of collective authorship and shared knowledge production, drawing on readers, zines, and small‑scale publications as cultural, pedagogical and political practices.
Completion of the course will help students strengthen their ability of working with visual language, re-contextualize texts and images, and engage in collective decision-making and editorial negotiation.
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Recommended reading
Berger, John, and Jean Mohr. 2010. A Seventh Man. New York: Verso. First published 1975. (EN)
Cole, T., 2016. Known and strange things: Essays. Random House. (EN)
Cole, T., 2019. When the camera was a weapon of imperialism.(And when it still is.). The New York Times Magazine, 6, p.14. https://murrowcourses.com/photo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/When-the-Camera-Was-a-Weapon-of-Imperialism.-And-When-It-Still-Is.-The-New-York-Times.pdf (EN)
Didi-Huberman, G. and Lillis, S.B., 2018. Atlas, or the anxious gay science. University of Chicago Press. (EN)
Duncombe, S., 1997. Notes from underground: Zines and the politics of alternative culture. Verso., pp. 6-7, pp.15-17, pp.216-220. (EN)
Fuller, M. and Weizman, E., 2021. Investigative aesthetics: Conflicts and commons in the politics of truth. Verso Books. (EN)
Rendell, J., 2007. Site-writing: enigma and embellishment. In Critical Architecture (pp. 170-182). Routledge. (EN)
REVOLUTION: A READER compiled and annotated by Lisa Robertson and Matthew Stadler, http://www.revolutionreader.com/ (EN)
Smithson, R.,1971. A Cinematic Atopia. Artforum.Smithson, R., 1967. A tour of the monuments of Passaic, New Jersey. Robert Smithson: the collected writings, 69. https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/tour-monuments-passaic-new-jersey (EN)
Steyerl, H., 2025. Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat. Verso Books. https://artreview.com/hito-steyerls-medium-hot-the-age-of-slop-artificial-intelligence-terry-nguyen-opinion/ (EN)
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme DES_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective - Programme ZST-BX Bachelor's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
- Programme ZST-NX Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
- Programme VUM_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
Type of course unit
Individual preparation - study of technical texts
Teacher / Lecturer
Individual preparation for a project work
Teacher / Lecturer