In this class, we will explore the visualisation of form as a way to represent, mediate, engage, cultivate, and reproduce frameworks of encounter through their spatial localisation of the viewer. We will pursue this dynamic through a focus on how visual modes render location an immediately compelling and intelligible way of relating to others, exploring the construction of perspective, dimension, elevation, segmentation, aggregation, boundary, surface, scale, and composition. We will examine representation and the compositional work of lines, the design and placement of large-scale historical monuments, the depiction of travel in dreamscapes, accessibility and museum exhibit curation, navigational interface design aesthetics, and other themes. This will provide the grounds for reflection on how seeing itself is often organised as a mechanism for seeing where we are and what kind of space we are in, and knowing this, coming to know what we are, who we are, and how to act in relation to other people and things.

The course will take up one conceptual thematic a week, and work through images, film, multimedia installations, animations, exhibits, and readings (both conceptual and analytical) to understand location’s various configurations and relational implications. Writing assignments will include analytical summaries, analysis of visual forms, and research papers that cite secondary sources. The goal of the course will be to produce a 10-12 page paper based on a visual archive and annotated bibliography that the student will develop over the course of the semester. The hope is that at the end of the course, the student will have developed a critical eye for how things, oneself, and others are emplaced by virtue of how and what one sees, and be able to bring this ability to other and future work.