LIBE130 is one of the compulsory elective courses offered within the common core curriculum, which all students from all academic disciplines are required to successfully complete for graduation. As the course is designed to appeal to students from all disciplines, it approaches art history—essentially the history of humanity—by examining technological, sociological, psychological, and economic developments through the lens of art. The primary aim of the course is to help students position their own professional disciplines and cultural backgrounds within a historical and global context, while also fostering a rich understanding of visual general culture. Artworks are critically discussed as visual outcomes of geography, natural resources, and culture, creating awareness of global goals such as gender equality and sustainability, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Successful completion of LIBE130 equips students with a solid academic foundation in aesthetics.
| Course Title | Art and Design |
|---|---|
| Course Code | LIBE 130 |
| Course Content | Art and design are among the most primitive forms of expression through which humans make sense of their living experiences in various environments and actively contribute to these experiences. As a result, the principles, practices, and products of art and design have become the building blocks of the visual and multisensory cultures of both past and present societies. In this context, approaching artworks and design products with a critical perspective, becoming conscious consumers of them, and actively participating in creative processes are among the essential skills for 21st-century citizens. This course offers a holistic perspective on art and design as active components of everyday life. It explores the ongoing, dynamic, and mutually defining relationships between these fields and fundamental areas of societal organization—such as history, politics, economy, industry, and science, though not limited to these. As a core curriculum course, it aims to help students understand, with a critical and analytical lens, the intersections between art and design and their own major fields of study. |
| Course Objective | This course aims to show that the theories, practices and historical narratives of art and design contribute to shaping the aesthetic, ideological and industrial fabric of societies. The course aims to introduce key concepts in the work of key historians, theorists and practitioners of art and design such as Panofsky (art history), Barthes (photography), Margolin (design), Berger (visual culture) and Duchamp (visual arts) - and many more. Finally, the course aims to encourage students to apply the historical, theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in class in written critical analyses and visual and/or multisensory creative outputs. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) |
| Textbook(s) and/or Other Required Material | Honour, H. & Fleming, J. (2009). A World History of Art : A History. London: Laurence King |
| Teaching Methods and Techniques | Seminar, lecture/explanation, oral presentation, peer learning, practicum, field trip, group work, discussion, guest speaker, case study, brainstorming, mapping. |
| Learning Outcomes | Students who successfully complete this course will: - Will be able to outline the main historical narratives and theoretical paradigms of art and design, - Identify important works of art and design objects from the global history of art and design, - Identify the interactions and intersections between art and design on the one hand and humanities, social sciences and life sciences on the other, - Analytically describe aspects of an object such as form, function and user interaction, - will be able to compare different works of art and design products with their predecessors, contemporaries and successors, - Will be able to apply their developing knowledge of concepts and terms in critical discussion and analysis of the contemporary relevance of art and design, - They will be able to use their increased awareness of key issues in art and design in visual practical assignments. |
| ECTS | 5 |
| Week | Topics |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: What is art? How does art work? What is the impulse behind the production of art? |
| 2 | Composition-Photography |
| 3 | Composition-Photography |
| 4 | Paleolithic, mother goddesses; beginning of art; Neolithic; transition to settled life; gender roles, domestication |
| 5 | Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians |
| 6 | Persia and propaganda, semiotics |
| 7 | Ancient Egypt, Minoan |
| 8 | Mycenaean and Hittite art |
| 9 | Review topics for midterm exam |
| 10 | Contributions to Greek art, sculpture and architecture |
| 11 | Presentations |
| 12 | Etruscan, Roman and Byzantine art |
| 13 | Islamic art |
| 14 | Modernism and postmodernism |