German visual culture: Images and imagination

The unit engages with the rich history of visual cultures in Germany, especially text-image relations in art, literature, film, and digital media: from the invention of print in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg in 1452 to today. The unit will focus on various significant hybrid forms of text-image combinations, from the early emblem books to texts in paintings; from text-image montages in literature (incl. Photo-Novel, Graphic Novel, Comic Books) to film, theatre, and on digital platforms.

The unit will address questions and develop skills to deal with contemporary challenges by looking at past and present forms of visual culture: How do we look at things? Is what we see informed or limited by what we know? How can we evaluate visual information compared to written information? How do we write about images? Do images impact on the way we write about the world?