Prerequisite(s): VIST 205, VIST 262, VIST 272 or VIST 282. This course introduces students to key texts and concepts that have contributed to the critical analysis of contemporary visual culture. Advancing new analytical skills, students will encounter discourse methods that address affect, cybernetics, economy and capitalism, gender theories, globalism, pop culture, post/trans-human and the anthropocene, psychoanalysis, and others. The emphasis will be on exploring how different critical frameworks expand our understanding of art and visual culture objects in any media. Students will cultivate interdisciplinary thinking and learn to apply the rapidly expanding field of critical visual studies. Equivalent course ARHT 305 effective through Summer 2021.