Course Syllabus

Urban Exploration Photography Workshop

 

Semester & Location:	Spring 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Architecture, Photography, Visual Arts
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty:	Peter Helles Eriksen, (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Thursdays 13:15-16:10 in S12-05 (aka The Fire Station)

Description of course

Urban Exploration is the exploration of the man-made environment and people’s interactions in and with that environment.

The environments we explore range from abandoned ruins and rarely seen components of the man-made environment in the city’s edge lands to the parts of the contemporary metropolis that is overlooked because of them being perceived as mundane to tourists and inhabitants.

The course will use a variety of photographical approaches to explore the cities physical structures, it’s people and it’s ever-changing cultural phenomena, and develop a visual sensitivity for interpreting how the city is shaped by people and how people is shaped by the city.

The course will use Copenhagen as its base, but will prepare students to take advantage of the wider European hinterland for further individual explorations.

The course does not subscribe to urban exploration in its most radical form—hence, trespassing will not be part of this course. The course instead will view urban exploration methods and sensibilities as a long missing tangent of analysis and documentation of the transformation of the contemporary city.

In particular, the course aims to develop and refine a new sensitivity towards the overlooked and neglected—all the aspects of the city that fail to make their way into the publicity and branding of a modern city, yet continue to be part of life and shaped by man and time.

“In the grip of rigid images and precise delineations, the urban imagination lost vitality. In particular, what is missing in modern urbanism is a sense of time—not time looking backwards nostalgically but forward-looking time: the city understood as process, its imagery changing through use, an urban imagination formed by anticipation, welcoming surprise.” Richard Sennett, The Open City, in The Endless City, London 2007

Cultivating this new, enhanced urban imagination through urban exploration photography is what this course aims to do.

Learning objectives of the course

At the end of this course you should have the ability to:

• Demonstrate an enhanced level of critical evaluation, appreciation, and creativity in relation to the urban landscape, both to the edge lands of the contemporary metropolis and the city in general.
  
  
• Cultivate and structure a set of valid criteria—approaches, inquiries, methodologies, etc.—upon which your studies and practices of urban exploration photography may be more meaningfully grounded and articulated.
  
  
• Exercise effective criticism (textually, verbally, visually), whilst engaging in and contributing positively to the intellectual life of the class. This includes the ability to interrogate and interpret the diversity of urban exploration photographic ideas as fielded in all lectures, readings, debates, field studies, independent assignments, and examinations.
  
  

Required Readings

• Shore, Stephen. "The Nature of Photographs", Phaidon, 2010, textbook
• Gilbert, Melody. "Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness", Frozen Feet Films, 2007
• Gehl, Jan. Excerpt from "Cities for People", Islands Press, 2010
• Kessels, Erik. Excerpt from “Failed it! - How to turn mistakes into ideas and other advice for successfully screwing up”, Phaidon Press Ltd, 2016
• Barthes, Roland – Camera Lucida, Studium and Punctum, 1981
• Ceschel, Bruno. Self Publish be happy, Aperture, 2015
• Clément Chéroux, Why the “Photobook Phenomenon” Is More than Just a Fad, The PhotoBook Review, 2021
• Colberg, Joerg. How to tell a story with pictures, Conscientious, 2012
• Colberg, Joerg. Photography and Narrative, Conscientious, 2016
• Eriksen, Peter Helles. Complementary Chapter, Light, 2022
• Higgins, Jackie, The world atlas of street photography, Yale University Press, 2014, Excerpt
• Naoto Fukasawa & Jasper Morrison, Supernormal, Lars Muller Publishers, 2007, Excerpt
• Queneau, Raymond. Exercises in Style, John Calder Publishers, 1998, Excerpt
• Soth, Alec. The Ballad of Good and Bad Titles, www.alecsoth.com, 2007
• Ghannam, Shannon. Wear Good Shoes, Magnum Photos, 2019
• Works by Danish and international photographers and artists; Jannie Pendelton, Richard Mosse, Gordon Matta Clark, Julian Germain, Martin Parr, Keona Cirulis, M.H. Frøslev, Katy Grannan, Renike Djikstra, Harri Pälviranta, Nikita Teryoshin, Matthew Connors, Peter Bialobrzeski, Alejandro Cartagena, Doug Rickard and many more. 

 

Approach to Teaching

Through practical assignments, this class provides you with hands-on experiences in urban exploration photography. Lectures, field studies, guest instructors, student presentations, and group work will all help you to develop a critical and creative approach to understanding and documenting the urban landscape— both the edge land conditions of the contemporary metropolis and the city in general. In addition to individual urban exploration, the class will also complete a Collective Documentary from different areas of Copenhagen. Here the class will work as one team divided into small groups to investigate and explore the same issue.

Faculty

Peter Helles Eriksen: BA in Photojournalism form the Danish School of Media and Journalism (2007-2011), Pathshala, South Asian Institute of Photography, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2010), Fatamorgana, Danish School of Documentary and Art Photography (2006). Photojournalist at Berlingske Tidende (2008-2010). Photo editor at Danish weekly newspaper Weekendavisen (2021). Has worked as a freelance photographer since 2011 and since 2015 been part of the artist collective "Sara, Peter & Tobias". With DIS since 2018.

Expectations of the Students

Active participation, individual research, and personal reflection are required for this course. All students are expected to develop a high level of communicative clarity, professional judgement, and craft in all aspects of their work.

Pratical requirements

• Camera. All students must provide a camera and know how to use the camera in a variety of lighting conditions. It must be a camera where you can manipulate shutter speed, aperture and iso. If in doubt students are welcome to contact the course instructor before the beginning of the semester. If considering purchasing a camera before the semester a Canon Rebel or similar will meet the criteria.
• Biking. it is required that all students can bike and will bring a bike to certain classes. Because this course explores a larger part of Copenhagen, biking is the best way to get around. Students will be notified well in advance, and if it is not possible to loan a bike, DIS will reimburse the expense for a rental bike.
• Clothing. It can not be stressed enough that all students must dress according to the weather. The danish climate can be cold and wet all year around - especially in the spring semester. This means that students must provide clothes that can both keep them warm and dry - good shoes included. 

 

Field studies and/or study tour

Field studies are a primary experiential learning component of the course. These activities should be viewed as an integrated component of the lecture course. The visits will illustrate and expand upon the content of the lectures and readings.

Evaluation

Throughout the course’s three assignments, evaluation will be based on following rubrics: Requirements, Technique, Aesthetic choices, Reflection and originality. The first two assignments each count for 15% of the final course grade, while the final assignment counts for 25%. An artist presentation counts for 15%. Participation and engagement in class - exercises included - will count for a further 30% under the title “Development and Performance during the Semester.”

See the percentage breakdowns below:

Assignment	Percent
Assignment 1: In between	15%
Assignment 2: Mistakes	15%
Assignment 3: Urban Exploration	25%
Presentation	15%
Development and Participation during the semester	30%

 Academic Regulations

• Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

  • Course Enrollment and Grading
  • Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

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