Art History

This special topics course includes the following topics: How filmmakers use their depictions of robots, androids, and AI to comment on contemporary science, society and culture; How developments in real-world science and technology have influenced cinema, and how the real science of AI has been influenced by science fiction; How to analyze and interpret science fiction films in terms of their themes and symbolism (what is the message of this movie?) and historical significance (why was this film important, and what events from history influenced its creation?) 

Students explore film analysis, terminology, and methodology through films, readings, group discussions, and debates. 

This course focuses on ancient Mexican art throughout Mesoamerica and its diverse regions.  In ancient Mexico, works of art played a particularly important role in the diverse rituals associated with the earth, the underworld, and death, but also with fertility and political power. By associating works of art with their archaeological context and original ritual function, the course introduces students to the wealth of information that the study of artistic works offers.
 

This course introduces selected Japanese masterpieces in the hand-scroll (emaki ) format from the late-classical and medieval periods, while referencing other types of narrative imagery. The course considers how scholars approach these images from a variety of perspectives; how historical developments shape images and are reshaped by them, and visual storytelling techniques.

This survey course examines the visual and material culture of Korea from prehistoric times through the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). It presents key artifacts and artistic traditions in a chronological framework, exploring them within their historical, cultural, religious, and social contexts. While the lectures primarily focus on the diverse works of art that emerged within the Korean peninsula, attention will also be given to the transcultural dynamics of East Asian art history. 

The course explores the unique landscape of sustainable fashion in Italy, highlighting the interplay between its rich historical, cultural, and artisanal heritage, and the contemporary surge in experimental and high-tech practices driven by R&D centers and emerging brands. Students examine how these two facets intertwine – both theoretically and in practice – shaping a dynamic and contemporary sustainable fashion scenario. Thus, the course delves into Italy’s artisanal legacy in fashion and textile, presenting case studies of local craftsmanship and companies, accompanied by an overview of contemporary cutting-edge experiences, to assess their role in the current sustainable paradigm.

To this extent, students are primarily introduced to the historical development and meaning of sustainable fashion in the Italian context, to then focus on more recent trends in material innovations, design, and production processes. The contents of the course also cover the foundations of sustainable fashion as a global phenomenon, to critically reflect on its definition and to explore key sustainability principles. Classes are scheduled according to macro themes and employ a hybrid approach, blending theoretical knowledge (traditional lectures) with practical application through class activities (hands-on or meta design projects). An interdisciplinary perspective is adopted to demonstrate the possibilities of integration of ecology, philosophy, science and art in the design perspective. The course features field visits to local museums, institutions, and designers’ studios to witness sustainability in action. Additionally, guest lectures from field experts and scholars provide specific insights or address key challenges.

Since the 1990s the term “new media” has become associated with digital media, but throughout the 20th century it was used to refer to any image technology of recent vintage. Thus, during the 1920s, artists would refer to photography or film as “new media.” This seminar picks up this history at a later point, in the late 1960s, when the “electronic” medium of video became available to visual artists. It traces how video was adopted by European and American artists and, in particular, how the medium was defined in relation to more conventional media, such as painting or sculpture, or in relation to television as a mass medium. Certain unique characteristics of video can be highlighted (e.g. liveness or feedback), however not all artists who used video were concerned with establishing a separate “discipline” of video art. Video was also instrumental to a form of “artivism” during the seventies, which mirrors comparable developments in contemporary art. Today, the terms “film” and “video” tend to be used interchangeably, but this is largely due to the introduction of digital video in the 1990s. The seminar pursues a genealogy of digital art, which originates in the 1960s, and trace it into the present, discussing the role of artistic practice within an “algorithmic culture” and the impact of artificial intelligence on the current status of the image.

This section of the course focuses on art and fascism: critical debate and operational choices. The course investigates the ways in which, in an increasingly pervasive way, the fascist regime influenced artistic production and exhibition policies, increasingly eroding the margins of autonomy of artists. The course provides critical and methodological tools to address the analysis of the relationship between art and fascism; enables students to grasp and verify the changes in the critical fortune of artists and works along a diachronic axis; and encourages the identification of autonomous paths of study, applying the knowledge and method acquired to personal research, which are shared through a seminar-type comparison. This course is taught in Italian and is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree.

The course develops a chronological vision of the evolution of the costume, from antiquity to the present day, in light of the development of techniques that allowed this evolution and historical events that inspired its aesthetics in different periods. Focused mainly - although not exclusively - on the textile universe of Western clothing from the time of anonymous artisans of the ancient world to the emergence of the contemporary designer/artist.

This course considers how artists, filmmakers, and photographers have reacted against and dealt with the presence of the audience, focusing on post 1960s art, photography, and art film up to our present days. Video and performances of Bruce Nauman, happenings of Allan Kaprow, participatory art of Marina Abramovic, video work by Rineke Dijkstra, photography of Thomas Struth, and relational aesthetics are examined. Theories and ideas that deal with the presence of (mass) audiences, reception aesthetics, and the educational turn are reviewed. The course consists out of lectures, excursions, guest lectures, student experiments on the reception of art and so on. This course includes excursions. This could possibly involve costs (travel expenses and museum admission). Art history students are advised to purchase a museum year card or an ICOM pass (https://icom.nl/nl/lidmaatschap/individueel-lidmaatschap). The latter pass allows you to visit museums at home and abroad free of charge. Other students should take into account that extra costs are possible.