Methods in Visual/Interpretive Research: Art-Based

The starting point for this course advocates the approach that the interpretation of the artistic work is personal, variable, and flexible. However, various elements in the artistic work are those that lead to each of the potential interpretations. In this course we will try to restore the interpretive process, propose it as a research process and link it to concepts of identity. To do this, we will refer to works from the field of Israeli art, with the purpose of linking local identity to the artistic work. At the beginning, we will choose together the works we will deal with in order to define the diversity of identities that exists in contemporary Israeli society. Each of the chosen works will undergo an analysis of the artistic means that compose it, emphasizing the personal point of view of the observers, with the intention of formulating several directions of interpretation. In the next step, we will get acquainted with concepts from the field of personal and collective identity research and attribute them to those works to expand the interpretive process. Finally, another research discipline will be chosen, through which the interpretation we have proposed can be established, and we will examine how it enriches the conclusions that emerged from the analysis of the work. The papers submitted at the end of the course will be based on this interpretive process.