Class Media Archaeology and Communication

Contemporary societies are marked by the convergence of culture and technique. The experience of the world is being replaced, complemented, and articulated by media technologies, while entirely new mediated domains emerge. This phenomenon begins in the 19th century, with the invention of photography, the gramophone, cinema, as well as other subsequent recording and transmission technologies. From this concept, we are referred to the instrumental domain of the human creative process and its understanding, but also to the place and support where these creations take place. The medium, as a category, is a pivotal concept that, since modernity, has proven to be essential for understanding the present. One of the most prominent thinkers of media, Kittler, states that "media determine our situation".

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What is the medium? Medium and technique; Experience and mediation: effects of mediated perception; Media theory and media archaeology: relationships in history; Genealogy of media and archaeology of visual media: singularity and interconnection; Case studies: modern optical regimes:  Analysis of vision and optical images  Phantasmagoria, luminous media, and spectacle  Change in perception of reality and machinic vision; from phantasmagoria to virtual reality Brief archaeologies of sonic and auditory media On contemporary images: image and Cinematism; telematics of the image. Context and Archive: transmitting, broadcasting, storing; Media as creative instruments: alphabet, photography, cinema; Subjectivity and mediation: the problem of media materiality; Media and Cultural Heritage.

As a theoretical Unit, objectives and competences, are better suited into master classes as the most relevant methodology. Formulating problems, define their limits and exposition are elements that will be of regular use. Hermeneutics and heuristics will also be recurrent methods. Verification and monitoring of learned skills will be done via public discussion of arguments and problems raised in site as exercises. The evaluation has three moments, one qualitative and two quantitative. Quantitative: students' class attendance and their participation in loco; Qualitative: public oral presentation and discussion of a problem in Syllabus. Final essay with at least 3500 words and its public discussion. Assessment weight: attendance: 10%; class presentation: 40%; essay: 50%.  

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