Perspectives in Modern Art
Mario Merz – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 “cle0patra”
Course title: Perspectives in Modern Art
Where: Collegio San Giuseppe, Torino
Course Concentration Options: Italian Futurism or the Italian Arte Povera movement
Appropriate for: Students ofVisual Arts, Art History, European Culture and History
Duration: From 10 days to a semester
Course Structure:
- Academic Overview: Introduction to either Futurism or to the Arte Povera Movement, involving selected readings, gallery visits, and assignments.
- Field Trips: Visits to museums and private collections of modern art such as the Castello di Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum, the Galleria di Arte Moderna, the house of Carlo Mollino, the Pinacoteca Agnelli.
- Optional Studio Component for Visual Arts Students: Students with a visual arts concentration can be provided with a private studio space, and will follow a course focused on developing their personal visual mastery of the concepts being explored in the course.
Objective: To understand and be able to explain the key features of the movement studied. To be able to make comparisons with the contemporary culture in one’s home country during the period studied. To have read and discussed selections from key texts on the movement. To have seen and done visual analysis of a range of works from the chosen period.
GAM Torino and Giuseppe Penone – CC BY 2.0 “foupic”
Societies are very different. It is easy to say this, but hard to understand it fully. This course introduces students to the idea that Europe has a precise culture and history all its own. This seemingly banal point is relevant in a time when all rich modernized societies are easily assumed to be the same. The course introduces students to one of two Italian artistic movements, either Futurism or the Arte Povera movement. Both movements were closely connected to social forces (Fascism and Communism respectively) which fundamentally shaped European modern history. The goal, of course, is fundamentally not to show how one country is better or worse than any European country, but to stimulate students into analyzing their own society from many points of view.
Fortunato Depero – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 “arkh4m”
