Urban Legends: Melbourne Intensive

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

Fieldtrips are an essential part of this subject.
NOTE: There is a quota for this subject of 230 students.

102 hours total committment.

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Stidents who have completed Face, Place, Race: Images of Australia with the code 670-312 or AUST30007 are not permitted to enrol in this subject.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and the Disability Liaison Unit: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Combining visits to museums, galleries and key city sites, and with lectures by specialist academics and industry professionals, this interdisciplinary subject offers an exciting look at Australian visual culture and the cultures of the city. Taught intensively over two weeks ‘Urban Legends’ examines the role of visual images and exhibiting practices in the development of Australian culture and identity, as well as the place of the 'creative industries' in contemporary urban life. Students will learn to analyse the cultural meanings of 'places', both real and imagined: the city, the suburbs, the bush, and the beach, as well as ethnic precincts such as Chinatown and Melbourne's laneways and urban development. We will also look at Australian monuments and public exhibitions to see how they interpret Australian urban identity and issues of race, cross-cultural interactions, gender and belonging. Students engage with the diversity of visual culture from the traditional visual forms of painting and photography, to film, street art and the power of visual culture in everyday life.

Students who successfully complete this subject should be able to:

• Use visual evidence to think critically and analyse complex issues about Australian culture, society and identity.
• Understand the historical, cultural and media contexts of visual representations of Australian life and cities.
• Employ techniques of visual analysis with reference to a wide range of media.

A 750 - 1000 word Map Exercise: Walking the City 20%, 1000 word Exhibition Review 20%, 2000 word research essay 50% (due after completion of classes) and class attendance 10%.

Hurdle requirement: students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day; after five working days, no late assessment will be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader will be made available online through the LMS site.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• be able to use visual evidence in critical thinking and analysis of complex issues.
• develop the ability to research in depth primary materials of a visual nature relating to such issues.
• be able to present their views orally in tutorial discussion, and to communicate their ideas intelligibly and economically through essay writing.

Strict enrolment deadlines apply to subjects taught during the Winter Recess. The subject dates and HECS/course fee census date for this subject change each year. Check your enrolment record for the correct census date for this subject.