Wars of images

The course will focus on the role of images as historical forces able to articulate and orient the field in which our vision of the world takes shape, so as to single out their impact on the epistemic, political and social sphere. By combining the methodologies and conceptual frameworks of media theory, aesthetics, and visual culture, the course will address the philosophical and biopolitical implications of the contemporary mediascape and in particular of AI-enabled technologies. Presenting key debates and methodological approaches as well as through the in-depth analysis of selected case studies, the course will provide students with a set of tools for examining the role of images and media technologies in shaping cultural hegemony, reframing subjective and intersubjective identities, and influencing public opinion on social and political issues, taking into account the complex set of discursive and bodily practices that underpin our relationship to images in the era of algorithmic media. Students will achieve the capacity to critically read contemporary phenomena as part of a broader history of images and media technologies and to identify the conflicts that, at different epochs, images and media have entailed.

By the end of the course, students will be able to master and discuss some of the fundamental notions of aesthetics, visual culture, and media theory and to put them into practice for the critical analysis of media and visual and audio-visual documents, in order to identify emerging issues and social and political implications. Having developed the ability to understand the dynamics of power, conflict, and resistance that images and media bear, they will be able to recognise and examine the multi-layered manifestations of social agency expressed in both contemporary mediality and historical processes. By leveraging the set of competences acquired, they will be able to independently assess the complex impact of visual media, especially driven by AI technologies, on global complex dynamics and develop original interpretations.