Course detail

Image and Language: A Collective Reader

FaVU-2ILCRAcad. year: 2026/2027

The course approaches reading visuals and texts as a collective and situated practice. We will gather and share visuals and texts, read texts out loud, and analyse collections of our visual archives. Rather than treating texts (be it prose, poetry, essays or academic texts) and visuals (be it photos, drawings, sketches, scans, screenshots) as stable references, we will work with them as materials in motion, circulating and shifting meaning through composition on the page. This process-based approach will allow to articulate common concerns and questions as points of departure for composing a collective reader. The reader will function as a shared platform, an archive of everyday through which current themes and changing visual landscapes that occupy our minds will be assembled and made public.

 

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

M.Sc. Denisa Kollarová

Department

Department of Design (KDE)

Entry knowledge

Previous experience with the theory of graphic design or visual culture is not required.

 

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

A credit is awarded on a basis of active participation, including sharing visual and text-based contributions in classes (2 permitted unexcused absences) and taking part in Reader production.

 

Aims

The aim of the course is to experiment with approaches to both analyse and create image-language constellations by collectively sharing and reflecting on the kinds of texts and visual materials we consume in our everyday life. Over the course of one semester, these shared materials will be collaboratively studied, annotated and edited in order to be assembled together and composed into a collective reader-zine format. The course addresses following objectives:

  • To develop ways of thinking with image and language as an active process of analysis, narration, and form making.
  • To support questioning where images and text can transport us, whether conceptually, emotionally or politically.
  • To examine the kinds of texts and visual materials that move us intellectually or affectively in the present moment, and to reflect how they resonate with today’s context.
  • To approach publishing as a mode of collective authorship and shared knowledge production, drawing on readers, zines, and small‑scale publications as cultural, pedagogical and political practices.

Completion of the course will help students strengthen their ability of working with visual language, re-contextualize texts and images, and engage in collective decision-making and editorial negotiation.

 

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Not applicable.

Recommended reading

Baltazar, M.J., Quadros, T., Staal, J. and Amaral, R., 2021. Image in the post-millennium: mediation, process and critical tension. (EN)
Berger, John, and Jean Mohr. 2010. A Seventh Man. New York: Verso. First published 1975. (EN)
Cole, T., 2016. Known and strange things: Essays. Random House. (EN)
Cole, T., 2019. When the camera was a weapon of imperialism.(And when it still is.). The New York Times Magazine, 6, p.14. https://murrowcourses.com/photo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/When-the-Camera-Was-a-Weapon-of-Imperialism.-And-When-It-Still-Is.-The-New-York-Times.pdf (EN)
Didi-Huberman, G. and Lillis, S.B., 2018. Atlas, or the anxious gay science. University of Chicago Press. (EN)
Duncombe, S., 1997. Notes from underground: Zines and the politics of alternative culture. Verso., pp. 6-7, pp.15-17, pp.216-220. (EN)
Fuller, M. and Weizman, E., 2021. Investigative aesthetics: Conflicts and commons in the politics of truth. Verso Books. (EN)
http://www.revolutionreader.com/ (EN)
Rendell, J., 2007. Site-writing: enigma and embellishment. In Critical Architecture (pp. 170-182). Routledge. (EN)
REVOLUTION: A READER compiled and annotated by Lisa Robertson and Matthew Stadler (EN)
Smithson, R.,1971. A Cinematic Atopia. Artforum.Smithson, R., 1967. A tour of the monuments of Passaic, New Jersey. Robert Smithson: the collected writings, 69. https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/tour-monuments-passaic-new-jersey (EN)
Steyerl, H., 2025. Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat. Verso Books. https://artreview.com/hito-steyerls-medium-hot-the-age-of-slop-artificial-intelligence-terry-nguyen-opinion/ (EN)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme DES_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    2 year of study, winter semester, elective
    2 year of study, winter semester, elective
    2 year of study, winter semester, elective
    2 year of study, winter semester, elective
  • Programme ZST-BX Bachelor's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
  • Programme ZST-NX Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
  • Programme VUM_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
    1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Creative seminar

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

M.Sc. Denisa Kollarová

Individual preparation - study of technical texts

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

M.Sc. Denisa Kollarová

Individual preparation for a project work

20 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

M.Sc. Denisa Kollarová