College of Visual and Performing Arts announces new interdisciplinary visual culture minor

Beginning in fall 2010, Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will be accepting applications for an undergraduate interdisciplinary visual culture minor. This new minor provides students with the critical skills necessary to address the evolving intersection of art, design and communication in a variety of contexts, including the art world, consumer culture, politics and popular culture.

“The visual culture minor exploits one of the unique strengths of Syracuse University: a world-class arts school in the midst of a research institution,” says Anne Demo, assistant professor in VPA’s Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and School of Art and Design, who will oversee the minor. “Visual forms of communication now shape not only art and media-related fields like design and journalism but also public policy and the sciences. As a result, the visual culture minor also has relevance to students pursuing degrees in Newhouse, Arts and Sciences, Whitman, Human Ecology and Education.”

Sponsored by the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and the School of Art and Design, the minor consists of 18 credits. The course offerings are designed to both complement studio-based majors and provide non-studio-based majors a concentration in visual culture and criticism that is theoretically and historically informed.

The minor will equip students with an interdisciplinary conceptual framework designed to transcend the diverse areas of visual culture, including art media (photography, film and video), design and material culture (architecture, industrial design, environmental/interior design, advertising, communication design and fashion), and visual criticism and advocacy.

The minor is open to all undergraduates at the University. Prospective or current undergraduate students interested in learning more about the visual culture minor should contact Demo at atdemo@syr.edu.