Sensorium: Perceptual Ecologies

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

96 Hours

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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/

This interdisciplinary subjects focuses on making connections between traditionally distinct knowledge domains surrounding the human body and its perceptual faculties. Using the arts as a lens through which to explore a range of discourses from the sciences, medicine, law, philosophy and religious and mystical traditions, students will explore various dimensions and understandings of the of the human body and its systems of perception. Particular emphasis will be placed on how artists negotiate cultural diversity and protocols about sexual difference, clothing, ritual and customs. As with other subjects in this course students will actively engage in the translation and transformation of their research through their art practices.

This subject aims to provide students with an overview of the range of beliefs, attitudes and protocols surrounding the human body across cultures, familiarity with the ways artists have negotiated understandings and representations of the body; confidence to deal with a range of culturally shifting perspectives on the body and perceptual systems that generate new and culturally sensitive modes of representation.

5000 words or equivalent written and practical project, developed in conjunction with supervisor with feedback throughout the semester (100%).

Subject Reader

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completing this subject students will have:

• the ability to communicate, cooperate and collaborate in a range of cultural contexts internationally;
• a deep awareness of and respect for cultural differences, protocols and aspirations;
• the ability to generate and promote intercultural dialogue through the arts;
• an ability to initiate research projects and develop highly innovative and experimental modes of representation and communication;
• a high level of understanding and appreciation of transnational practices across the art form;
• the capacity to interpret and translate into clear English a range of discipline-specific vocabularies and languages ;
• a capacity for innovative and original thinking marked by well-developed and flexible problem-solving abilities;
• the capacity to clearly communicate the results of research and scholarship by oral and written communication;
• a profound respect for truth and intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of research and scholarship;
• a capacity to cooperate and collaborate with people across all national, social and cultural divides.