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77906-01 - Course: Ways of Seeing: What Do Pictures Want (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Peter Burleigh (p.burleigh@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This course is intended to get you thinking about images and through practice develop an approach to reading images. We will consider closely how images can be seen to reveal not only their visual properties but also see and be seen to reflect and inflect the social and the political. We will start by following 4 lectures given by John Berger in the TV series "Ways of Seeing". Berger’s 25-minute broadcasts are seminal (1972) in practising how to read paintings in particular, but his tools are not exclusive to fine art and are broadly applicable. A second focus will follow picture theory of WTJ Mitchell, especially his book "What do Pictures Want" (2005), as well as his more recent monograph "Image Science" (2015). Finally, we will read writers who address reading images from their affect to the economy of their circulation: Annette Kuhn, Kathleen Stewart, and Sara Ahmed. Each week there will a shared reading of your own short writing in response to these scholarly inputs. You can expect to write about 200 words per week. Overall, we will also be considering how images themselves seem to have agency and determine the ways they can be seen and circulated. To this end, we follow Mitchell’s question of “what do pictures want?”. |
| Learning objectives | The course is designed to discuss ways to read images, and then in a second step of this reflection to write about images, encouraging the following specific aspects: making a statement of your own position; drawing out a relation between your own ideas and a scholarly environment; developing your position in relation to the scholarly discourse. |
| Bibliography | A list of readings will be offered at the beginning of the course, including John Berger, Annette Kuhn, Kathleen Stewart, Sara Ahmed, WTJ Mitchell. |
| Admission requirements | None |
| Course application | Please register on https://services.unibas.ch by February 6th. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 18.02.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 25.02.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Fasnachtsferien |
| Wednesday 04.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 11.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 18.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 25.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 01.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 08.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 15.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 22.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 29.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 06.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 13.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 20.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Wednesday 27.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 107 |
| Modules |
Modul: Introduction to Academic Communication in English (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Weekly writing assignments of circa 200 words |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |