Guidelines for the Project Exam
You may want to expand on one of the essay topics or learning activities you have already completed and develop it further. Or you might be intrigued by a theoretical position you have not yet worked on and decide you would like to learn more about it.
Choose a concept that interests or engages you that was developed by one of the theorists studied in VISA 3991 and locate a text in which the theorist explains and discusses it. Then, find an image that, for whatever reason, you want to relate to the concept. For example, you might think that a particular theory provides ways to think about a specific image that are useful and/or valuable. Or you might want to use the image to demonstrate some of the theoretical weaknesses of the concept, such as rigidity or narrowness. Perhaps you find that certain kinds of viewers and viewing are marginalized or unaccounted for in a certain philosophical position. (We have seen charges such as these levelled against Foucault and Mulvey, to cite just two examples.)
Discuss the idea as thoroughly as you can. During this process, it will be important to be self-critical: to question your own assumptions and to try and include other perspectives. For research, you will want to consider how the concept you have chosen has been interpreted and understood by its supporters and detractors. You could think, too, about how the theory you have selected has been used and/or misused in visual studies. Argue with yourself over this and assess whether its potential has been realized or not.
All of your research for this piece does not have to be the conventional kind (e.g. library, Internet). Looking, thinking, experimenting, talking-any means of interacting with the representation, the article, and your own writing-also qualifies. However, you need to keep in mind that the object of the paper is to explore the relationship between the theoretical model you have decided to investigate and the visual representation of your choice.