Virtual Worlds in Japanese Art (AHIS30024)

Undergraduate level 3Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
Semester 2
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This course will explore the creation, use, and theories of “virtual spaces”— constructed environments and multimedia artworks that combine architecture, gardens, painting, and sculpture to transport viewers into different spatial and temporal universes—in Japanese visual culture.

Through weekly case studies of temples, shrines, gardens, castles, mausoleums, brothels, theatres, museums, and world’s fairs, as well as authentic experiential learning and work integrated learning (WIP), students will gain an understanding of key monuments in Japanese art from the 6th to 20th centuries as well as the manner by which these monuments functioned as greater than the sum of their parts. The techniques and means by which visual arts were employed to overwhelm the senses, transport viewers into supernatural worlds, consolidate political power, placate the dead, and define Japan as a nation and culture itself will be considered.

Intended learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this subject should be able to:

  • Identify and categorize many landmark works in the history of Japanese art
  • Engage in visual, material, and iconographic analysis to interpret Japanese art and pre-modern art more generally as well as assess the limitations of these foundational skills/approaches to art historical studies
  • Recognize and discuss the fundamental artistic, religious, and philosophical concepts underlying the production of Japanese visual and material culture
  • Analyse the visual and experiential effect of orchestrated multimedia spaces well as the religious, political, and practical implications of these spaces.

Generic skills

Students who successfully complete this subject should be able to:

  • Analyse and critically evaluate images, texts, materials, built environments, and the relationship(s) between these visual mediums
  • Clearly communicate—both verbally and in writing—ideas, judgments, and arguments rooted in knowledge gained in class, assigned readings, and individual research
  • Clearly communicate—both verbally and in writing—ideas, judgments, and arguments rooted in knowledge gained in class, assigned readings, and individual research
  • Manage and organise workloads including readings and essay writing assignments.

Last updated: 4 March 2025