The Senses in Culture and Society

Course goals

After successful completion of this course, you will have:

• knowledge and understanding of the art and cultural history and theory of the different senses, from the visual to the multisensory;
• knowledge and understanding of how to analyse cultural phenomena from a sensory theoretical perspective;
• critical awareness about the commodification of the senses;
• a skill set enabling you to think, act, and communicate at an academic level and in line with academic standards of conduct ('academic integrity').

After completing the course, you will be able to:

• explore a broad theoretical field (sensory history and theory) and critically evaluate different interpretations of issues having to do with the history and theory of the senses and formulate your own viewpoint;
• work in accordance with academic standards.

Content

In this course, we question Western ocular centrism and the modernist segmentation of our sensory functions and sensorial experiences. Students will be familiarized with philosophical, artistic, and scientific ideas that question the supremacy of the eye, the modernist hierarchy of the senses, and the division of our sensory functions. Through lectures, guest lectures, museum visits, experiments, discussions and the intensive study of texts students will learn to be more attentive to how our sensorium functions. They will learn to analyse contemporary art, film, fashion, design, consumer goods, environments etc. from a multisensorial perspective, and they will learn to take the interrelations that exists between the different senses into account in their scientific work.    

If there are excursions to museums or cities, or other art institutions, these may incur additional costs. If this presents a concern for you, feel free to get in touch with the course coordinator.

Additional information

This course is part of the minor Visual and sensual cultures.

Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final and may still be modified until the 3rd Wednesday in September.