Visual Semiotics

This was my first ever class at university level with some 15 students with me weekly throughout two semesters (altogether 30 classes) . As is usual in the department, I was given free hands in terms of the syllabus. As 2011 was the year when Tallinn was the Cultural Capital of Europe, a lot of things were happening outside in the public space. During that time I myself was finishing the book on public paintings. Hence much of the course dealt with visual culture in the public realm. Some of the topics we covered were: posters, flyers, street art, public sphere, tactical media. However I did not want to talk only about contemporary world, but insisted on students reading literary classics. Many of the classes were devoted to Yuri Lotman's texts.