DU2322 Pictorial semiotics. Principles of reading images

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Miroslav Haľák, Ph.D. (lecturer), prof. PhDr. Ladislav Kesner, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Ladislav Kesner, Ph.D.
Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Friday 10:00–13:40 K31, except Fri 1. 3., except Fri 15. 3. ; and Fri 8. 3. 10:00–13:40 C33, Fri 22. 3. 10:00–13:40 C33
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
What is the significance for art history of terms such as sign, symbol, iconic, causality, impulse, code, cipher, reference, object, etc.? How is it possible that even the most banal visual signs in online communication have such a mobilizing power? Is there an overuse of sensitive codes in virtual environments and is the image inflationarily devalued by social networks? Image semiotics is an effective method of analyzing an artwork because it allows to precisely name the individual subcomponents of an image composition and, based on their qualitative and quantitative categorization, to contribute to a more extensive and detailed interpretation of the artwork in the narrow sense, but also of visual communication in the broader sense. The aim of the course will be to draw attention to the often incorrect use of terms such as sign, symbol or iconic, even in the specialized language of art history, and to provide an overview of the production and interpretation of specific sign models in visual culture. The aim will also be to use recent examples of mass disseminated and shared visual messages to highlight the importance of semiotics in the research of phenomena in the sphere of the so-called digital humanities.
Learning outcomes
Ability to analyze the individual sign levels of a work of art, as well as other visual stymulus.
Practical application of the method of image semiotics in common practice in the field of art history. Sensitization to the misuse of signs in common visual communication in mass media and social networks.
Interpretive skills in defining the formal and content of a work based on the identification of its sign qualities.
Syllabus
  • Character history and the human ability to decipher maximally reduced information units
  • Binary and trinary models of sign functioning (F. Saussure and Ch. S. Peirce)
  • Trichotomy: sign - object - interpreter
  • Ikon
  • Index
  • Symbol
  • Supercharacter and character operations
  • Virtual Semiosis
  • Pictorial semiotics in  contemporary communication trends
Literature
  • ECO, Umberto. Teorie sémiotiky. Translated by Marek Sedláček. Vydání třetí - v Argu dr. Praha: Argo, 2022, 426 stran. ISBN 9788025737453. info
  • ECO, Umberto. Od stromu k labyrintu : historické studie o znaku a interpretaci. Translated by Zora Obstová. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo, 2012, 646 s. ISBN 9788025703052. info
  • BACON, Roger. O znacích. Edited by Martin Pokorný. 1. vyd. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2010, 325 s. ISBN 9788072983155. info
  • USPENSKIJ, Boris Andrejevič. Poetika kompozice. Translated by Bruno Solařík. Vydání první. Brno: Host, 2008, 280 stran. ISBN 9788072942688. info
  • MUKAŘOVSKÝ, Jan. Umělecké dílo jako znak : z univerzitních přednášek 1936-1939. Edited by Milan Jankovič. Praha: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 2008, 137 s. ISBN 9788085778625. info
  • SAUSSURE, Ferdinand de. Kurs obecné lingvistiky. Edited by Tullio De Mauro, Translated by František Čermák. Vyd. 3., upr., V nakl. Acade. Praha: Academia, 2007, 487 s. ISBN 9788020015686. info
  • LOTMAN, Jurij Michajlovič. Text a kultúra. Bratislava: Archa, 1994, 100 s. ISBN 80-7115-066-5. info
  • PEIRCE, Charles Sanders. The essential Peirce : selected philosophical writings. Edited by Nathan Houser - Christian J. W. Kloesel. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992, xli, 399. ISBN 0253207215. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
final essay
Language of instruction
Slovak
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
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