Art 1A Visual Literacy Reading Schedule: Summer Session A (2026)
*Weekly writing assignments should be 2-4 pages and they are due each in lecture Wednesday by 2:00PM (unless otherwise stated. Check due dates VERY carefully). All assignments must be submitted to your TA.
WEEK 1 (June 22 & 24): Course Introduction & Representation and Intertextuality.
The first lecture, on Monday, June 22 is via Zoom (no pass code, sign in as an attendee): https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/83111992304
Do the following:
1) Purchase your course reader (Associated Students), John Berger's Ways of Seeing (campus bookstore or Amazon) Your copy of Your Brain on Art is on reserve at the library, and you can download an electronic copy.
2) Fill out the field trip Liability Waivers:
MANDATORY LIABILITY WAIVERS (PLEASE FILL OUT ALL OF THEM TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR ALL OF THE FIELD TRIPS):
Representation and Intertextuality Reading Assignments:
• Carl Matheson: The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony and the Meaning of Life
• Kelly L. Richardson. “Simpsons Did It!”: South Park and the Intertextuality of Contemporary Animation
• Joanna Woods-Marsden. "Cindy Sherman’s Reworking of Raphael’s ‘Fornarina’ and Caravaggio’s ‘Bacchus.’
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• Michel Foucault. This is Not a Pipe (Excerpt)
• Scott McCloud, The Vocabulary of Comics (Excerpt)
• Harmonia Rosales, Chronicles of Ori, Book I, pp. 5-28.
Writing Assignment (Due: Wednesday, June 24 by 2:00PM in lecture): This is a 2-part assignment:
1) Write a 2-page summary about the significant ideas addressed in Joanna Woods-Marsden's "Cindy Sherman's Reworking of Raphael's 'Fornarina' and Caravaggio's 'Bacchus'" If you haven't purchased your reader yet, download here from the library.
2) Write a 2-page summary of Kelly L. Richardson's "Simpsons Did It!": South Park and the Intertextuality of Contemporary Animation. If you haven't purchased your reader, download here from the library.
WEEK 2 (June 29 & July 1): Understanding Mediation: Photography and Cinema. In-Class Writing & Research Workshops on Monday, June 29
• John Berger: Ways of Seeing
• Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
• Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message
• Neil Postman: The Judgment of Thamus
• Susan Magsamen and Ivy Moss.Your Brain on Art
Writing Assignment (Due: Wednesday, July 1 by 2:00PM in lecture): This is a 2-part assignment:
1) Write a 2-page summary of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Read Chapter 1 of John Berger's Ways of Seeing to help you understand the ideas being advanced by Benjamin.
2) Write a 1-2 page summary of the important ideas addressed in Chapter 1 (pages 3-24): "The Anatomy of the Arts" from Your Brain on Art, and write about the most significant ideas advanced in this chapter.
WEEK 3 (July 6 & 8): No on-campus lectures on July 6 & 8 in lieu of the LACMA trip on Saturday, July 11. Section is scheduled on Monday, July 6.
Writing Assignment (Due: Monday, July 6 by 4:30PM in section: This is a 2-part assignment.
1) Write the first 3 pages of your research paper about the work of Do Ho Suh. You may refer to the Artist Talk we saw in class, but should also do some light research since we will be viewing Do Ho Suh's work at LACMA.
2) Read Chapter 5 (pages 135-164) and write a 1- page summary of the chapter: "Amplifying Learning" from Your Brain on Art.
WEEK 4 (July 13 & 15): Do Ho Suh Research Paper Due on Wednesday, July 15 by 2:00. Fictional and Documentary Space: Blurring the Difference.
• Edward Branigan: Fiction
• Vivian Sobchack: On the Death of a Rabbit in Fictional Space
• Susan Magsamen and Ivy Moss. Your Brain on Art
Writing Assignment (Due: Wednesday, July 15 by 2:00PM): Formal research paper about Do Ho Suh's art is due in lecture. Bring a hard copy.
WEEK 5 (July 20 & 22): No on-campus lectures July 20 & 22 in lieu Getty Center Field Trip on Saturday, July 25. Section scheduled on Monday, July 20.
Writing Assignment (Due: Monday, July 20 by 4:30PM in section): LACMA Response Paper: This is a 4-part assignment:
1) Write a 1-2-page response to the LACMA SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu exhibition.
2) Write a 1-2-page response to the LACMA Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures exhibition.
3) Write a 1-2-page response to the LACMA Fútbol Is Life: Animated Sportraits by Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr. exhibition.
4) Write a 1-2-page response to any of the exhibitions in the Geffen Galleries at LACMA, including Do Ho Suh's work.
Alternative Assignment for the SBMA. If you did not go to LACMA, then you must go to The Getty for the second field trip. (Due: Monday, July 20 by 4:30PM in section). This is a 5-part assignment:
- Write a 1-2-page response to the SBMA: Perceptual Shifts: Photographs from the Collection exhibition.
- Write a 1-2-page response to the SBMA: RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY: Internet Art exhibition.
- Write a 1-page response to the SBMA: Remixed: Entwined Histories & New Forms exhibition.
- Write a 1-page response discussing other works of art or exhibitions that you particularly enjoyed at the SBMA.
Nota Bene: The museum trip is all-day immersive experience, and therefore the museum field trip is in lieu of both of the Art 1A lectures that week (section attendance is as scheduled that week). If you do not go to the museum that week, or do the writing assignment, then you will receive two absences for the missed lectures that week, and you won't be able to do your written assignment. Take a selfie at the museum, and works of art that were of interest to you, and include it in your paper as proof of attendance.
WEEK 6 (July 27 & 29): Art in the Age of the Internet. Artist Talk.
• Jeff Scheible: Longing to Connect: Cinema’s Year of OS Romance
• Katrina Sluis, Julian Stallabrass and Christiane Paul. The Canon After the Internet
• Lauren Cornell. Self-Portraiture in the First-Person Age
• Gloria Sutton. CTRL ALT DELETE: The Problematics of Post-Internet Art
• Jeffrey De Blois. Hybrid Bodies
Writing Assignment (Due: Wednesday, July 29 by 2:00PM in lecture): Getty Response Paper. This is a 4-part assignment:
- Write a 1-2-page response to the Getty: Odilon Redon: Otherworldly Visions exhibition.
- Write a 1-2-page response to the Getty: Stendahl’s World: Marketing Ancient Mexico and Modern Art in Los Angeles exhibition (in the Getty Research Institute building).
- Write a 1-page response to another Getty exhibition of your choosing.
- Write a 1-page response discussing other works of art or exhibitions that you particularly enjoyed at the Getty. You may also discuss the gardens and architecture.
Alternative Assignment for the SBMA. If you did not go to the Getty Center, then you must have gone to LACMA for the first field trip. Only one alternative field trip to the SBMA in lieu of one LA museum field trip is allowed. (Due: Monday, July 20 by 4:30PM in section). This is a 5-part assignment:
- Write a 1-2-page response to the SBMA: Perceptual Shifts: Photographs from the Collection exhibition.
- Write a 1-2-page response to the SBMA: RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY: Internet Art exhibition.
- Write a 1-page response to the SBMA: Remixed: Entwined Histories & New Forms exhibition.
- Write a 1-page response discussing other works of art or exhibitions that you particularly enjoyed at the SBMA.
Nota Bene: The museum trip is all-day immersive experience, and therefore the museum field trip is in lieu of both of the Art 1A lectures that week (section attendance is as scheduled that week). If you do not go to the museum that week, or do the writing assignment, then you will receive two absences for the missed lectures that week, and you won't be able to do your written assignment that week. Take a selfie at the museum, and works of art that were of interest to you, and include it in your paper as proof of attendance.
