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Iconoscapes: Journeying through representations and realities of Northern territories
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:
Iconoscapes: Journeying through representations and realities of Northern territories
Credits:
20
Course code:
65 603
Level of study:
Master
Teaching semester:
2017 Spring
Language of instruction:
English
Required prerequisite knowledge
A completed Bachelor in Landscape Architecture or Architecture from university or university college.
Course content
The course explores sites in a territory that unfold to reveal further sites of interest – it is, in a sense, about exploring landscapes within landscapes. The course ventures into past, present and future territories through the lens of different visual media, that is: still and moving imagery – from paintings to film. By exploring the diverse media tools available to landscape architects, the course will critically assess the merits and downfalls of looking at the territory from the traditional/historic fixed point through to moving, sequential scenes that we are more familiar with today. But are these images being used as a tool of showing how a place intends to be conveyed or how they actually are? Have we become spectators more than participants? The course will address these questions and will essentially question the landscape architect’s position on how landscapes should be or can be represented in northern contexts.
Using the image as a tool when approaching a territory allows us to engage with the tangible and intangible components of a particular site. Instead of maintaining a distanced view of the territory, the course will keep engagement in focus. By delving into the material components and conditions that shape a territory we can understand and reveal the dynamic processes at play when working with the appropriate tools. By applying and interweaving the appropriate tools to the design process a wealth of material can emerge from just one point of the territory. Students will be asked to creatively respond to the complexities of the image and to transition from encounter to engagement through the use of media tools in a design process.
Learning outcome
a. Knowledge:
• Students will learn of the historic and cultural processes that inform the way landscape and territories are intended to be viewed. These theoretical aspects of the course will be presented through literature, films and lectures. The knowledge will be applied to various assignments on the course where students will learn of the application of theory to design.
• Knowledge pertaining to the representation, depiction and description of territories over time will be explored throughout the course.
• Students will be introduced to the broad spectrum of techniques adopted by artists, film-makers and landscape architects in the representation of landscape/territory. Critical thinking of representation techniques will be encouraged throughout the course in informal discussions and formal critiques.
• The course will explore methods on how to reveal and include materiality in an image or moving image to inform and strengthen the design process that can be applied to professional advancement of the students work or as tools for experimentation.
b. Skills:
• Students will be introduced to the evolution of the image pertaining to landscapes and territories.
• Students will learn of the various methods and techniques in which landscapes and territories have been historically represented and to speculate how they should be represented in the future.
• Students will develop skills on how to use sound, images and/or film during different phases of the design process and assess the strengths and weaknesses of such methods.
• Ability to work independently and in groups throughout the studio.
• Students will learn how to apply theory relating to territorial representation to their own work.
• This course will ask students to look at a territory from a range of scales. This will develop competence in applying appropriate scales and tools to the site being studied.
• Students will be taught the importance of successful communication of their own work through the way they represent their work. The way students’ work is conveyed and received by others is an important aspect that students must consider in their work output.
c. General competence:
• A good and well-informed knowledge of the use of images representing landscapes and territories with the ability to be critical of approaches and methods used.
• A knowledge of the methods and skills adopted by artists/landscape architects representing landscapes/territories.
• Abilities to refine large quantities of research information into concise and appropriate means.
• Communicate studio work effectively, through visual and oral presentations, to both landscape architects and other professionals related to heritage.
Working and learning activities
• Lectures including those from external sources e.g. UiT, Polar Institute input, local art museums
• Studio work – individual and group work
• Study trip during the semester
| Presence required |
|---|
| Not required |
| Form of assessment | Grouping | Grading scale | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project assignment | Individual | Pass / fail | This course is assessed as Passed/Failed based on at least 80% participation. Project evaluation. Project will be developed in the course of the studio, and presented in written and visual form. Final evaluation by an external examiner. |
| Comment |
|---|
| media studies eg editing sound and video |