F1322 Art and Communication, Serguey Daniel; Vadim Bass

This course treats art as the sphere of communication. The main goal of the course is to provide the students with the analytical instruments giving them the ability to read various messages translated by the painting or the building. The course consists of two modules, delivered by Prof. Daniel and Bass, and dealing respectively with painting (by examples of Russian icon and Old Masters) and architecture (mainly by examples of architecture of 20th century).

Module 1. Old Masters and art education: an analytical approach.

Basic to the structure of painting is a system of hidden lines: verticals, horizontals, diagonals, curves, etc. Invisible to the eye, they determine the degree of tension in the relation of a part to the whole. The representation has a plastic quality inasmuch as it possesses inner unity, each of its elements existing, and being perceived, in terms of its interrelation with the others and its degree of integration with them. The elements, whatever they may be, must have a certain pliancy of form, otherwise they could not possibly fit into the whole. This justifies the practice of Old Masters who made conscious use of distortion to integrate each part into the structure, making it subservient to the general effect. The stronger the tension in the part-whole relation, the greater the power of expression achieved in a picture. That is what transforms a representation into an image. The plastic interpretation of form is akin to the poetic use of a word. It was not fortuitous that the most precise definition of plastic quality should have been given by a poet: Rilke, in one of his letters on the art of Cezanne, said that in his pictures each of the points seems to be aware of all the others.

Module 2. Architecture as communication.

The main objective of the module is the analysis of architecture as a field of communicative interaction. The course examines various aspects of communication through the medium of architecture, "language" of architecture, spatial means of implementation of ideologies and the organization of specific lifestyles.
The course deals with both architecture of the past and contemporary architectural practice. Along with the traditional art history issues, the course will also address matters relating to social and cultural problems of architecture. The course treats architecture as not only an artistic phenomenon, but also as a field in which various forces interact: forces like those of the State and society, of professional and other social groups. Sociocultural issues will be explored by studying architectural monuments and analyzing visual elements, style, and form. Architecture here acts as a sphere for the representation for power, culture, and politics; and an instrument for the embodiment of ideologies, concepts, and strategies.
The course is a series of case studies on topical subjects of architectural communication. Each class includes a problem statement using broad architectural material, as well as discussion including discussion of selected texts. The introductory lecture will discuss approaches to the problem of architectural communication embodied in the most important theoretical monuments - from Vitruvius to post-modern texts.

Learning outcomes

As a result the students are expected to be well-informed about issues of artistic and architectural communication, about various aspects of such a communication, about the mechanisms of representation in art and architecture as well as the ways of expression of different ideologies etc. They should be able to read and interpret the structure and the language of a work of art and architecture.

Teaching and evaluation methods
Students have to attend the classes, take part in the seminars and discussions, and write the term paper. The requirements are:
- participation in the seminars and discussions and regular class attendance
- mid-term colloquium + final term paper: an essay (min. 5 pages) based on analysis of a selected piece of Classical art or of selected subject of architectural communication . The term papers are to be submitted by the last lecture class.