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Unit of study_

CAEL3019: The Experimental Darkroom

This unit introduces students to advanced and alternative chemical-based photographic practices. It will explore contemporary photographic abstraction through the work of artists manipulating the material substrate of the photographic medium. The darkroom will become the site for experimentation using camera-less as well as in-camera photographic proesses and hybrids of digital and analogue technology. There will be an awareness of sustainability in darkroom practices by utilising low-impact plant-based and DIY developers and toners where available. This unit builds upon the solid analogue darkroom processes taught in the Photography and the Darkroom elective.

Code CAEL3019
Academic unit Sydney College of the Arts
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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(12 credit points at 2000 level from CAEL including CAEL2042) or (12 credit points at 2000 level from CAST and CAEL2042)
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. identify and effectively utilise the tools and technology associated with experimental processes in the experimental darkroom
  • LO2. understand where these processes fit within the context of art history and contemporary practice
  • LO3. discuss and critique photographic works made in the alternative darkroom in terms of its formal and conceptual merit
  • LO4. demonstrate an experimental and critical approaches to popular imagery
  • LO5. demonstrate strategies to synthesise concept, process and form in art making.

Unit outlines

Unit outlines will be available 2 weeks before the first day of teaching for the relevant session.

There are no unit outlines available online for previous years.