LVIS
3002

The Performative Image: Photography and Performance

Eugene Lang College Lib Arts: The Arts

Liberal Arts
Undergraduate Course
Degree Students
The Performative Image
Spring 2024
Taught By: Camilo Godoy
Section: A

CRN: 14437

Credits: 4

Since the invention of photography in the 1800’s, the performative possibilities of making photographs and posing for them has been a conceptual strategy. This course is designed at the intersection of photography and its deep relationship to performance. Together, we will explore not only what photographs represent but what they mean and do. This upper-level course will introduce students to various theories of performativity alongside readings on the history of photography and performance. We will consider the relation, and difference, between performance and performativity. We will closely study the photographic practice of Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, George Platt Lynes, Barbara Morgan, Toyo Miyatake, Claude Cahun, Roy DeCarava, Tee Corinne, Jimmy DeSana, Carrie Mae Weems, Nikki S. Lee, Lyle Ashton Harris, Justin J Wee, Martine Gutierrez, and Texas Isaiah, among many others. Students will be required to read critical theory and art history, engage in weekly discussions, practice close visual analysis, engage in writing and photographic exercises, visit galleries and museums, and make a final project. Both photography and performance have the ability to not only document but to also create worlds. As such, we will engage with scholarship drawn from a range of fields, including queer, feminist, postcolonial, indigenous, disability, trans, and black studies to open up new terrains for the usefulness of photography and performance.

College: Eugene Lang College Lib Arts (LC)

Department: The Arts (ART)

Campus: New York City (GV)

Course Format: Seminar (R)

Modality: In-Person

Max Enrollment: 18

Add/Drop Deadline: February 4, 2024 (Sunday)

Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 16, 2024 (Tuesday)

Seats Available: No

Status: Closed*

* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 2:08am EDT 3/19/2024

Meeting Info:
Days: Monday, Wednesday
Times: 4:00pm - 5:40pm
Building: Johnson/Kaplan 66 West 12th
Room: 602
Date Range: 1/22/2024 - 5/13/2024