760-241 Surrealism and Creativity

Formerly available as 760-241 and 760-331 Surrealism and the Creative Imagination. Students previously enrolled in Surrealism and the Creative Imagination are not eligible to enrol in this subject. BA students may credit this subject to an art history or cinema studies major.

For BCA 12.5 points of first year visual media or interdisciplinary subjects or equivalent. For BA students 12.5 points of first year art history or cinema studies.

This subject includes programmed study which examines and analyses the art and related critical writing of the 1920s and the 1930s in the context of the major aesthetic movements and schools of thought in contemporary Europe and Australia. Topics explored may include surrealist art, theory and aesthetics; Dada and the art of revolt; art, irrationality and creativity; psychoanalysis and the role of the imagination; automatism and the arts; literature and the arts; surrealism and the Spanish Civil War; surrealist sculpture; and the development of the avant-garde. Students will have the opportunity to study relevant theory and the manifestoes, view films, and read the literature of the period with emphasis upon the formation, manifestation and influence of early modernist aesthetic precepts.

• research through competent use of the library and other information sources, and through defining areas of enquiry and methods of research;

• demonstrate teamwork;

• demonstrate time management, independent organization and planning;

• communicate knowledge in oral, written and/or creative form.

Written work totalling 4000 words comprising an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of semester), a seminar class presentation of 45 minutes duration comprised of a verbal presentation 10% together with a written synoptic paper of 1,500 words 20% (both of which are due in class through individual negotiation), and regular attendance and satisfactory participation in tutorials and workshops 10%. A hurdle requirement of a minimum 80% attendance is required.