Marita Sturken: So what do we 
mean by visual culture?
Well, we mean the study of images across
 many different kinds of social domains.
So, we see connections between art 
and advertising, and news media images.
But, more broadly, we also see, the 
study of visual culture as being about
how we look, how we see 
power dynamics of that.
The ways in which we make sense of 
the environments we live in visually.
The roles that images 
play in our daily lives.
One of the things about
 the study of visual culture
is that it is, of course, constantly 
changing, and that's in part
because of the intersections 
that it has with digital media.
So, the kinds of picture taking 
practices that we engage in today
are primarily about smartphones
and social media,
in a way that it simply was
not the case ten years ago.
So the field itself is very dynamic, 
it's constantly changing.
My own research is on visual 
culture and how it intersects
with issues of consumerism and
also issues of cultural memory.
So, I've been writing a lot about the rebuilding
 of New York after September 11th,
the memorial and the museum, and 
the STARchitecture showcases
that are a part of the 
rebuilding of downtown.
I'm also the co-author of a book 
called "Practices of Looking",
which is really an introduction
to the field of visual culture.
And there's several other
faculty who really form
part of the strength of 
this field in our department.
So, Nicholas Mirzoeff is one of the key 
figures of the field of visual culture.
His book, The Right to Look,
is kind of a classic of the field.
And he works a lot at the intersection
of visual culture and social activism.
Allen Feldman works a lot 
in the field in relationship to
bio politics and questions 
of power and visual culture.
Erica Robles-Anderson works on architecture 
and its intersections with visual media.
So, we have a lot of crossover
in the department in general,
and a lot of faculty also 
who are working on issues
of visuality and visual images, 
uh, in global media.
