Art History

By the end of the course the student: knows the categories and practices of contemporary art, both in terms of technical-linguistic and theoretical aspects; understands the role assumed by the visual arts in the transition between the 19th and 21st centuries, in their specific development and relation to the parallel trends of other artistic disciplines; is able to understand the contribution made by contemporary art to the development of visual culture with particular attention to technological, media, and social issues.

Course contents: contemporary art, i.e., the aspects that have developed and have been commonly accepted, in the transition between the 19th and the 21st century, as fundamental to defining artistic practices. In particular, the definition and meanings of contemporary art, the mediums and the characteristics of the work, the role of the artist, the dynamics of the art system—from the market to the different forms of circulation—and the evolution of a pluralistic and global perspective.

In the first unit, the main parameters of periodization of contemporaneity are exposed, the forms and contexts are identified, and the meanings usually attributed to contemporary art are discussed. The second unit is devoted to the work of art, i.e., the mediums commonly adopted by artists, issues related to the uniqueness of the work, and the rise of forms of expression that understand the work as an experience. The third unit considers the perception and social role of the artist, with a focus on the convergences between art and life, collective practices, and the evolution in the working methodologies of visual artists. The fourth unit considers the founding features of the art system, from the role of the public to the art market and the idea of the exhibition. Finally, the fifth unit examines the emergence of a pluralistic perspective in light of issues related to feminism, gender identity, postcolonialism, and globalization.

This course provides a thematic study of historical and contemporary book arts in the Islamic world, drawing on the art of painting and calligraphy as well as key texts to engage with the foundational interrelations between text, image, orality and other forms of sensory experience. Starting with early Qurans, it moves to pre-modern illustrated manuscripts, and modern and contemporary works of art inspired by manuscript cultures, exploring histories of authorship, portraiture, patronage, workshop practices, audience and perception, as well as the collecting and display of manuscripts in museums. 

This course revolves around artistic expression among indigenous communities. The class material involves analysis of ancient American art, but is more based in understanding and questioning the general understanding of art as a concept, and how it relates to indigenous expression as well as hierarchies of sensibility. Ideas such as esthetics, intention, and technique are discussed in order to open students' minds to understanding the root of certain divisive labels, such as artisanal or primitive art.

This seminar examines curatorial perspectives and exhibition-making in Berlin, with a focus on past, present, and future approaches to cultural production in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It offers a specialized and contextualized study of exhibitions in Berlin about HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to the present, examining how curatorial practices have evolved alongside shifts in public discourse, activism, and artistic production. Visits to Berlin-based institutions and conversations with both local and international artists and curators grant students first-hand insight into contemporary curatorial strategies. The seminar is particularly suited for students interested in academic and curatorial research within the framework of socially engaged art practices. Coursework includes reading theoretical texts, watching relevant films, participating in group discussions, and critically analyzing artworks and exhibitions. Students also engage with curatorial writing strategies and develop a final project: a conceptual proposal for an exhibition that responds to the HIV/AIDS epidemic within Berlin's cultural and political context.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Students learn about the theories at the core of the most relevant contemporary art practices of the late XX and early XXI centuries, maturing their skills to analyze and contextualize the main artistic currents since the 1950s. Students learn to critically evaluate the works of art and carry out independent research. In particular, they acquire the tools to interpret the peculiarities of today’s art in relation with media and politics.

The course explores fundamental moments in the history of contemporary art from the 1950s to the present, focusing on the main methodological, thematic, and theoretical issues that have emerged in the visual arts. It opens with a discussion on various genres of painting of the post-war period, from Abstract Expressionism to Art Brut, in reference to the theories of “modernist painting” elaborated by Clement Greenberg. The second lecture discusss tactics such as détournement, assemblage and replica, variously developed within artistic movements that emerged in the 1960s in response to consumerist culture, from Situationism to Pop Art. Then, other artistic movements and practices of the 1960s are explored, this time based on the idea of art as a “process”, i.e. Minimalism and conceptual art in the third lecture, and some hybrid practices developed in response to or relationship with technology, i.e. video, cybernetics and intermedia, in the fourth lecture. The fifth and sixth lecture are dedicated to performative practices developed in reaction to some institutions, now those of art and now those of society, from Fluxus to feminist art. The next two lectures, seven and eight, focus on crucial issues of postmodernist art such as the appropriationist approach of the Pictures Generation and pastiche. While the ninth lecture focuses on anti-academic art practices, born in so-called underground or subcultural environments, from the tenth lecture onwards examine currents that have emerged since the 1990s in relation to the impact of globalization, the liberalist logic of media and economy, and the profusion of digital technologies and the Internet. These include: Post Human, Abject Art, YBAs, Relational Aesthetics, installation art, socially engaged art, post-Internet art and various contemporary forms of painting, photography and video installation.

This course analyzes the changing roles and functions of museums in a digital era. Students examine virtual museums, mobile applications, e-learning, and digital strategies. We also explore trends and horizons of museum technology to shape a museum of the future. Students complete article reviews and a project for a better understanding of the museum of our age. 

Topics include What is a museum, Museums in the digital age, Museum informatics, Digital collections management, Digital preservation, 3D applications in museums, Interactive museums, Case studies, Trends, HCI in the museum context, Virtual museums. 

This course studies the arts of Flanders, Germany, and England during the 15th and 16th century, with special emphasis on painting and sculpture dated up to 1603, the year of Queen Elizabeth I's death. Important components of this course are the investigation of how the term Renaissance is applicable to the artistic styles of these regions during these times, and the extent to which the taste for Gothic survived and was amalgamated within the new Renaissance aesthetic.

This course discusses the theoretical tools to understand the history of the processes of artistic development in Latin America, specifically during the 19th century.  The course integrates a concept of Latin American art based on a historical, aesthetic, and formal understanding of its transformations and offers students a set of resources for critically analyzing and evaluating contemporary Latin American art in accordance with regional development and the specific characteristics of each country.  It also reviews the necessary tools to learn how to view and analyze a work of art—whether painting, architecture, or sculpture—in terms of its formal qualities and to be able to describe it and formulate the most appropriate questions for a better understanding.

The course covers the following topics: the Age of Enlightenment and Neoclassicism; history of the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in New Spain; the foundation of other art academies in Latin America; the origins of the French Artistic Mission in Paris and its arrival in Brazil in 1816; the independence movements and historical painting; traveling artists in the Americas: Alexander von Humboldt and Mauricio Rugendas, and Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in Europe and their repercussions in Latin America.