Methods in Visual/Interpretive Research: Art-based

This course examines theories that are used as a means to explore and interpret the works and practices inherent in the fields of the visual arts. These methodologies are aimed at finding the meanings of images or visual objects that live in society's culture. We will begin by discussing four aspects of the methods for researching images, namely the production of the image, the image itself, its distribution and its audience, and then we will proceed to the first stage of the research - the compositional analysis that investigates the ways the image is represented and executed. We will expand the discussion to content and discourse analyzes in order to examine the interrelationships between the image and its socio-cultural environment, and we will focus on theories that interpret works from comprehensive perspectives. These theories deal with the fields of iconography, visual and social semiotics, psychoanalysis, gender studies, post-colonial studies, sociology and anthropology of art. We will also discuss the limitations of Western methodology, especially when applied to non-Western cultural phenomena. We will learn how theoretical concepts are used as active tools in professional practice, and how to apply theory in research writing.