2020-2021 / LROM0151-1

Visual semiotics

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Bachelor in history of art and archaeology : general5 crédits 
 Master in ancient and modern languages and literatures (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : German, Dutch and English (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in linguistics (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general (120 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general (60 ECTS)5 crédits 

Lecturer

Maria Giulia Dondero

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

  • Theories of visual signification: semiotics of the Paris School (Algirdas Julien Greimas, Jacques Fontanille) and Visual Rhetoric of the Groupe µ.
  • Methodologies for the Analysis of Visual grammar. Plastic categories: topology, form, colour, texture; semi-symbolisme. Rhetoric categories: mereology. Discursive categories: enunciation (utterance).
  • Relations between enunciation and visual meta-language. 
  • Autography and Allography by N. Goodman: the problem of support and inscription in relation with L. Hjelmslev's Theory (purport, substance, form).
  • Analysis of artistic, advertising, documentary and scientific images.
  • Visual Genres: The Portrait and the Still Life

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • Initiating students into theoretical and methodological issues of visual semiotics.
  • Giving students the tools to analyse and interpret visual languages in different fields of use (artistic, scientific, advertising).

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Duration and period: 30 hours teaching in the 1st term.
Location and times of teaching: Salle Wittert, Mondays from 4pm to 6.30pm. 

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

Recommended or required readings

Required readings:
Maria Giulia Dondero, Les Langages de l'image. De la peinture aux Big Visual Data, Paris, Editions Hermann, 2020. 
On Enunciation in Visual Language :  Hamid Reza Shairi & Jacques Fontanille,  « Approche sémiotique du regard photographique : deux empreintes de l'Iran contemporain », Actes sémiotiques, 73-74-75, 2001, URL : http://www.unilim.fr/pages_perso/jacques.fontanille/articles_pdf/visuel/semiotiqueregarddanslesphotosorientales.pdf, 2001.
On the relation between support and inscription: Jacques Fontanille, "Du support matériel au support formel" , in Arabyan & Klock-Fontanille (eds). L'Écriture entre support et surface, Paris : L'Harmattan, pp. 183-200. URL : http://www.unilim.fr/pages_perso/jacques.fontanille/articles_pdf/visuel/Ecritssupportsconclusion.pdf.
On the plastic-figurative analysis of image: Algirdas Julien Greimas, "Sémiotique figurative et sémiotique plastique", Actes sémiotiques, Documents, VI, 60, 1984. https://www.unilim.fr/actes-semiotiques/5507&file=1
On the statutes of images: Maria Giulia Dondero, « Les aventures du corps et de l'identité dans la photographie de mode », Actes sémiotiques, 117, 2014. URL: http://epublications.unilim.fr/revues/as/4979 et http://hdl.handle.net/2268/153052 

Assessment methods and criteria

Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.

Assessment consists of a written exam. The exam includes seven open questions and the analysis of a visual discourse (photographic, pictorial). The focus is not upon the ability to reproduce the minute details of this subject, but about the understanding and application of theories and methodologies. Corrected copies can be consulted by students in the lecturer's office.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Some authors of articles will be invited to give presentations.

Contacts

Lecturer Maria Giulia Dondero, Department for Roman Languages and Literature 3-5 Place Cockerill, 4000 Liège, tel. 04.366.5946.
Secretariat: Tel. 04 366 56 50