30516 - Semiotics of the Visible (LM)

Course contents

The basic idea of the course is that the works of art of the past and those of contemporaneity often engage in a dialogue. The main aim of this year’s course is to put into a network constellations of images which, despite the different media they are ascribable to, enter into a synergy with one another to give rise to new and unexpected semantic configurations. Some examples: the Compianto by Nicolò dell'Arca finds a comparison in a work of complete contemporaneity, the Pietà del Kossovo by Pascal Convert. The transition from the figurative total abstraction is seen, in particular, in the Rothko Chapel of Houston, where the American artist’s modus operandi proposes a relationship with the observer that is analogous to that which Beato Angelico had experienced – in the 15^th century – in the cells of the St Mark’s convent in Florence. There are just some of the examples that will be dealt with in class.

Readings/Bibliography

Required texts:

Horst Bredekamp, Immagini che ci guardano, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2015.

Lucia Corrain, Il velo dell'arte. Una rete di immagini tra passato e contemporaneità, La casa Usher, Lucca 2015.

Victor Stoichita, Effetto Sherlock. Occhi che osservano, occhi che spiano, occhi che indagano. Storia dello sguardo da Manet a Hitchcock, Il Saggiatore, Milano 2017.

Two texts selected from the following list:

Louis Marin, Opacità della pittura, La casa Usher, Firenze 2012.

Louis Marin, Della rappresentazione, Mimesis, Milano 2014.

Victor Stoichita, L’invenzione del quadro, Il Saggiatore, Milano 2013.

Hans Belting, Specchio del mondo. L’invenzione del quadro nell’arte fiamminga, Carocci, Roma 2016.

Teaching methods

Lectures and laboratory activities.

Assessment methods

The oral test consists in a discussion whose aim is to assess the critical skills developed by the student during the course. The student will have to demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography specified in the syllabus.

1. To obtain an excellent test result the student will prove he/she can deeply analyze the texts and know how to insert them within an organic vision in respect to the themes dealt with in class. Expressive mastery used during the discussion will also be considered fundamental.

2. Knowledge rather than learning from memory, the capacity for analysis that is not particularly detailed and a correct language but one that is not always appropriate concerning the texts to be studied will lead to a good mark.

3. An approximate knowledge, a superficial understanding, the scarce capacity for analysis and expression not always appropriate will lead to barely satisfactory marks.

4. Learning deficits, inappropriate language, a lack of orientation within the bibliographical materials to be studied in the syllabus will be negatively assessed.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint and other hypermedia projections.

Links to further information

http://www.dar.unibo.it/it/dipartimento

Office hours

See the website of Lucia Corrain