Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Aesthetics

Aesthetics
3
16314
1
First semester
OB
Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English

Teaching staff

Introduction

Aesthetics is presented as a reflection on Beauty and its relationship with perception, taste and visual persuasion. This course proposes a structured journey through practical sessions that explore a specific visual phenomenon (perception, aesthetic categories, style and visual culture) and interrelate it with the philosophical genealogy that gives the field its name and depth —from Classical Antiquity to contemporary turns in language, gender and the simulacrum.

Building on this foundation, which combines classical and contemporary sources from the Western aesthetic tradition, students will explore the evolution of thought on Beauty, ultimately developing their own updated definition of the concept of aesthetics in contemporary society.

Advertising, as befits a course within the Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Public Relations, will provide the common thread throughout this historical-philosophical inquiry into the Beautiful: each conceptual block will establish connections with advertising practice and with discussion questions in a seminar format.

Pre-course requirements

No. 

Objectives

The course aims to enable students to use the basic concepts of Aesthetics as tools for visual analysis and to provide them with as comprehensive an overview as possible of the historical and philosophical reflection on the concept of Beauty. The objectives therefore focus not only on developing students’ critical skills for analysing new forms of language, but also on helping them position themselves professionally by understanding the aesthetic and historical foundations of creative work within advertising culture.

In this regard, the use of the concepts and tools developed by the aesthetic tradition will enable students to gain a more detailed and richer understanding of audiovisual and advertising discourse, and will help them understand the relationships between current and traditional forms of information exchange —that is, to recognise both the continuity and the ruptures that new forms of language and new technologies entail in symbolic and cognitive production.

In terms of its contemporary context, the course provides students with tools to update their cultural knowledge while fostering critical reflection on the aesthetic culture of postmodernity and contemporary visual languages.

Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • CN01 - Explain the foundations of classical and contemporary culture in order to interpret current communication trends and phenomena.
  • CN03 - Identify the key stakeholders, departments and professional roles within advertising and public relations agencies, understanding their functions in the design and implementation of communication campaigns.
  • CN04 - Critically analyse political, social and historical events, as well as national and international institutions.
  • CN07 - Identify emerging trends in digital communication, social media and interactive environments for planning advertising and public relations activities in digital and multi-platform contexts.
  • CP03 - Apply ethical and professional standards in advertising and public relations practice, respecting the fundamental right to equality between women and men, promoting human rights, a culture of peace and democratic values, including the use of inclusive, non-discriminatory and stereotype-free language.
  • CP11 - Apply the principal methodologies of scientific research to the field of advertising and public relations.
  • HB01 - Analyse relevant data obtained from multiple sources using a range of research and documentation methods.

Learning outcomes of the subject

Students will be able to:

  1. Develop a complex understanding of contemporary societies, recognising common cultural expressions in a globalised world, cultural differences, and influences among different social groups.

  2. Keep up to date with innovation and new technologies in order to identify trends.

  3. Understand human beings through philosophical thought and the different ways of communicating and organising society based on moral principles.

  4. Gain a deeper understanding of the psychological processes (cognitive and sociological) that drive people in order to apply this knowledge to professional practice in advertising and public relations.

  5. Recognise artistic avant-gardes, the historical evolution of judgements of taste, and their influence on human communication.

  6. Recognise the legal and institutional framework within which they will carry out their professional activities, including regulations concerning intellectual property and consumer rights.

Syllabus

TOPIC 1: Foundations: Perception and the First Classical Response to Beauty

  1. Introduction to Aesthetics

  2. Perception and Aesthetic Experience

  3. Gestalt and the Canon: From Parts to the Whole

TOPIC 2: Aesthetic Categories and the Experience of Taste

  1. Aesthetic Categories: Beyond Beauty

  2. The Tragic and the Comic: From Aesthetic Categories to the Theory of Artistic Representation

  3. Taste, Transgression and the Spectator

TOPIC 3: Who Decides What Is Beautiful: Spectator, Taste and Judgement

  1. The Emancipated Spectator

  2. Subjective Taste and Taste as Social Class

  3. The Beautiful and the Sublime

TOPIC 4: Institutions, Style and the Scopic Regime

  1. The Institutional Theory of Art: Aesthetic-Artistic Appreciation

  2. Aesthetics as Style: From Period Codes to the Debate on Progress in Art

  3. Visual Culture: The Epochal Eye and the Scopic Regime

TOPIC 5: Contemporary Turns: Language, Gender and Simulacrum

  1. The Linguistic Turn: From Art-as-Essence to Art-as-Sign

  2. Feminist Aesthetics: Body, Gaze and Performativity

  3. From the Lost Aura to the Simulacrum: Final Synthesis

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person



● Continuous assessment (three practical assignments): 45%
● Final project: 55%

For the second examination period, students will be required to retake the outstanding component or components, whether the continuous assessment, the final project, or both.

Bibliography and resources

ALSINA, H., ROMAGUERA, J. Textos y Manifiestos del Cine. Madrid: Cátedra 1989

ARGULLOL, R. Tres miradas sobre el arte. Barcelona: Icaria 1985

AUMONT, J. La estética hoy. Madrid: Cátedra 1997

BAUDRILLARD, J. El complot del arte: ilusión y desilusión estéticas. Amorrortu 2006

BAZIN, A. ¿Qué es el cine?  Madrid: Rialp 1990

CARROLL, N. Una filosofía del arte de masas. Madrid: Machado libros 2002

CASTRO, S. J. En teoría es arte. Una introducción a la estética. Salamanca: Edibesa 2005

ESTRADA, D. Estética. Barcelona: Herder 1988

FOSTER, H. The Anti-aesthetic: essays on postmodern culture. New York: The New Press 1998

GADAMER, H.G. La actualidad de lo bello. Barcelona: Paidós 1991

GIVONE, S. Historia de la estética. Madrid: Tecnos 1990

GRAW, I. ¿Cuánto vale el arte? Buenos Aires: Mardulce 2015

JIMÉNEZ, J. Teoría del arte. Madrid: Tecnos 2002

JIMÉNEZ, J. Imágenes del hombre. Fundamentos de estética. Madrid: Tecnos 2017

LIPOVETSKY, G., Seroy, J. La estetización del mundo. Barcelona: Anagrama 2015

MARCHÁN FIZ, S. La estética en la cultura moderna. Madrid: Alianza 1987

MOLINUEVO, J. L. La experiencia estética moderna. Madrid: Síntesis 1998

PLATÓN. El banquete. Estudio crítico a cargo de Carlos García Gual. Madrid: Alianza 2013

- Fedro. Edición de Emilio Lledó Iñigo. Serie Textos críticos. Madrid: Gredos 2014

PLAZAOLA, J. Introducción a la estética. Madrid: BAC 1973

PUIGDOMÈNECH, Jordi: Lecciones preliminares de Estética. Reflexiones sobre la belleza. Saarbrücken: EAE 2012

SEDLMAYR, H. La revolución en el arte moderno. Madrid: Acantilado 2008 

TARKOVSKI, A. Esculpir en el tiempo. Barcelona: Rialp 1990

VALVERDE, J.M. Breve historia y antología de la estética. Barcelona: Ariel 2000

VILAR. G. Las razones del arte. Madrid: Antonio Machado 2005

VILAR, G. Desartización. Paradojas de un arte sin fin. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca 2010

XIRAU, R. i SOBREVILLA, D. Estética. Madrid: Trotta 2003

ZUNZUNEGUI, Santos. Pensar la imagen. Madrid: Cátedra 1992

VETESSE, A. El arte contemporáneo. Madrid: Rialp 2013.

 

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