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2	Visual Research Summary of Visual Methodologies book Examples of visual research
3	Basic Theme for Most Visual Culture Theories Old view Greek “mimesis” and Renaissance “painting an open window.” Vasari: “. . . painting is simply the imitation of all living things of nature, with their colours and design just as they are in life.” New view Since images (and much of what we see) is man-made, they need to be interpreted, just like text Images never “transparent” window into nature Even photo not “a message without a code.” [Barthes 1981]
4	"Images are perceived (subject..." Images are perceived (subject of next week’s lectures) How should they be explored and interpreted?
5	What is Visual Research? You’ve found an image or set of images that interest you. How do you begin to analyze them? To fine out why they are interesting to you? discover what they mean? First: learn everything you can about them (library, interviews, Web, personal viewing, etc.) Choose appropriate method, based on focus of your research… (this is where VM book comes in) What are the main methods? What are their pros and cons? How do you “do” them?
6	Visual Methodologies—Framework Evaluating your approach Does it take images seriously (goal of Power of Images lectures)? Does it consider the social context in which the image was made and is viewed? Does it consider your own “ways of seeing”? Methodology characteristics What are main sites of research? Production of image (how it is made) Image itself (what it looks like) Audience (how it is seen) What are key “modalities” of interest? Technological (tools used) Compositional (formal design strategies) Social (economic, political, social relations, institutions and practices, cultural settings, etc.)
7	"“But the most exciting" “But the most exciting, startling and perceptive critics of visual images don’t in the end depend entirely on a sound methodology, I think. They also depend on the pleasure, thrills, fascination, wonder, fear or revulsion of the person looking at the images and then writing about them. Successful interpretation depends on a passionate engagement with what you see. Use your methodology to discipline your passion, not to deaden it.” p4 [Rose 2001]
8	The Methodologies Covered The Good Eye (~ connoisseurship, Art Historical) Content Analysis (quantities explorations) Semiology (semiotics-”reading images”) Psychoanalysis (role of the unconscious) Discourse Analysis (social, economic, political context)
9	Connoisseurship or Compositional Interpretation (The Good Eye) 1/2 “How do you describe what an image looks like?”p33 [Rose 2001] Looks chiefly at the image itself (vs. why made or who is looking) Art history (knowledge of genres, first-hand experience of works, identifying styles, establishing sources, judging quality).
10	Connoisseurship or Compositional Interpretation (The Good Eye) 2/2 Detailed vocabulary for describing the appearance of an image (covered more in art and design lectures) Some terms: content, color, iconography, methods of spatial organization (including perspective), expressive content
11	Content Analysis Quantitative analysis of large groups of images vs. focus on single image (or small group of images) Examples Looking at 500 random ad images in women's magazine over the past 50 years to analyze changes in skirt length Lutz and Collins Reading National Geographic, an analysis of frequency with which Nat’l Geographic shows Westerns in Non-Western settings from 1950 to 1985. “Good Eye” approach more seemingly subjective, Content Analysis on surface more objective.
12	Some of the Coding Categories (Lutz and Collins) World location Number of photograph including Westerns in an article Smiling in photograph Gender of adults depicted Age of those depicted Aggressive activity or military personnel Ritual focus Group size Skin color Dress style (“Western” or local) Male nudity Female nudity And more
13	Pros and Cons of Content Analysis Pros Can document subtle things not obvious upon casual inspection Prevents bias in choice of images Cons May be bias in choice of codings or interpretation of them Usually benefits from mixture with other methods, such as interviews (not necessarily a bad thing…)
14	Content Analysis and Computation This example not in Visual Methodologies Dartmouth — set of computer algorithms to verify or refute the authenticity of artwork via statistical analysis http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65794,00.html?tw=wn_story_related Found four different artists contributed to Madonna and Child With Saints, credited to the Italian Renaissance master Pietro Perugino.
15	“Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art” David Stork, Scientific American, December 2004. A theory put forward by artist David Hockney posits (in his book Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters) that as early as 1425 some painters secretly used optical devices—mirrors and lenses—in the creation of their works. Among the paintings used as evidence for the theory are two by Jan van Eyck from the first half of the 15th century. Scientific analysis of both paintings, including the use of computer-vision techniques and infrared reflectography, raises questions about the theory.
16	Example from Stork article
17	Semiology/Semiotics The Theory of Signs?
18	Many Tools and Many Theorists contributed Althusser, Barthes, Benjamin, Berger, Brecht, Foucault, Freud, Gramsci, Lacan, Levi-Strauss, Marx, Sassure, and many more Linguistics, philosophy, political theory, psychology, etc.
19	Some Key Concepts Sign: The basic unit of language (visual or otherwise) Signifier: the visual thing you see (e.g., letters in a word, a woman in a photo) Signified: concept or object (what the sign implies). We interpret the letters “cow” to mean a big farm animal. We may also interpret a photo of a woman in a car ad to mean something beyond “a woman happened to be near the car.” Referent: the actual object depicted (e.g., the real woman/actress who was in the ad) Code: Conventionalized ways of making meaning (e.g., highway signs, advertising, etc. all have established codes)
20	Sign, Referent, and Code 1/2
21	Sign, Referent, and Code 2/2
22	Entertaining Example "Marge Simpson in: 'Screaming Yellow Honkers'" 1015 AABF10 Original Airdate: 2/21/99 Homer buys a Canyonero, a giant all-terrain vehicle. At first he's excited about his new car, but when he discovers that the F-Series was made primarily for women, he gives it to Marge. Marge takes to the vehicle by becoming a more reckless, aggressive driver. While racing about town, she is busted for an illegal maneuver and must go to traffic school. But the classes turn out to be useless--Marge accidentally crashes the Canyonero into a prison and sets off a crime wave. When her license is revoked, Marge can only drive again when the police beg her to use the Canyonero to round up some stampeding rhinos who've escaped from the zoo. Marge saves the day, but wrecks the car as a result. Guest Star: Hank Williams, Jr. as the Canyonero jingle singer
23	Example—Chinese Lions in Japanese SUV Ad Signifier: the Chinese lions Signified: traditional Chinese authority Bowing down to Toyota “Prado” offensive to Chinese audiences
24	Psychoanalysis Why we’re not covering it “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” [Freud]
25	Discourse Analysis, Foucault Looks at not just single image or group of images, but whole environment in which meanings and power relationships are produced Includes not just the conventionalized “language” (as in signs) of a particular content area/topic, but the whole social context All the elements studied relate to each other (intertextuality) Examples: medical discourse (doctors, nurses, managed care, hospitals, whole language of anatomy and other medical concepts and terms), and art discourse (texts, museums, galleries, auction houses, etc.) Our sense of self made through the operations of discourse Why do we act the way we do and not some other way? Discourse in any area is not fixed, is constantly changing
26	Lightweight example—Artpad.com
27	Other Methods No explicit method (or not-always-justified personal connoisseurship): “I don’t know art, but I know what I like.” “The meanings of pictures are obvious.” Audiencing: Interviews and Ethnology. More focused on viewers of image than on makers. Science of Mind Vision Science: Cog Sci, Perceptual Psychology, etc. (from fMRI and neurophysiology to experiments, interviews) Ecological, evolutionary approach (Gibson, Pinker)
28	References [Rose 2001] Gillian Rose. Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials. SAGE Publications, ISBN: 076196665X. [Barthes 1981] Roland Barthes. Camera lucida: Reflections on photography; 1st American edition, Hill and Wang, ISBN: 0809033402.