The Chicago School of Media Theory > Members > Kasia Houlihan




Kasia Houlihan

email: kasia@uchicago.edu
homepage: http://home.uchicago.edu/~houlihan/

Kasia Houlihan is currently a second year in the College at the University of Chicago, concentrating in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. Her field concentrations are Sociology, Cinema Media Studies and the Visual Arts. She is most interested in issues of personal identity and the self, specifically in relation to the human body and face, both as agents as well as objects of mediation. While considering the theoretical processes of identity-creation, construction, presentation, representation and misrepresentation, and what factors may mediate these processes, Kasia looks to the various cultural contexts at hand in order to better (and more thoroughly) inform her assessments. Her methods of exploration into such a vast area of study combine both media theory and the creative arts (mixed media, with a current emphasis on black and white photography), allowing for the opportunity to (in W. J. T Mitchell's words) 'picture theory' literally—to call upon a visual lexicon of terms (either alone or in conjunction with language) in an attempt to access an alternative conduit for conceptualizing and understanding the complexities of media theory.

In addition to her studies at the University of Chicago, Kasia has taken Visual Art and Art History courses at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan as well as The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is also an active member of Fire Escape Films, the student film-making group on campus, and has been fortunate enough to have her work (a series of paintings, a pen and ink drawing, and a short experimental film) exhibited in various student exhibitions at The New York Historical Society, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and The SMART Museum. Kasia has both acted as well as designed light and sound for several University Theater productions on campus.

Besides that, Im enjoying my History of International Cinema Class taught by
the lovable Ron Gregg. Theres also this summer to which I have to look
forward. Ill be in New York, interning at TIME magazine with the online
picture editor for the first half of the summer. Then from the beginning of
August until the end of September, Im interning at New Market Films for three
days a week and at an art consulting company the other two days of the week.


Works

Chicago School Media Theory: Reading List

Media Theory Keywords Glossary: expression

Taxonomy of Media: "Interlocked Circles of the Senses: A New Taxonomy of Media"

Theories of Media Annotation: Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida—Reflections on Photography

Theories of Media Prospectus: "Photography of the Subject: A Photobooth Snapshot to Reframe McLuhan"