Art History

RAFFAELE BEDARIDA

The class aims for the following learning outcomes:

1) To acquire a comprehensive knowledge and understanding, through close study of primary texts, direct exposure to art exhibitions available in Rome, and slide presentations, of the breadth and historical significance of exhibitions that have shaped art history since 1800.

2) To understand the contemporary relevance of art exhibitions as a historical phenomenon by incorporating recent scholarship with post-colonial, global perspectives;

3) To comprehend what is involved in undertaking the study of visual and textual documents, and, more specifically, to learn how to use, read in a critical fashion, and properly cite photographic documentations, films, architectural models, literary sources, ephemera, and other archival materials needed to document the immersive and multisensory experience of an art exhibition;

4) To acquire training and practice in thinking and speaking authoritatively, critically, and with originality, about a body of material that was largely overlooked in the past but has gained prominence in the last thirty years: the exhibition as a medium and an apparatus rather than as a container of objects; exhibition history as an art historical method.

Understand the main historical phases, practical strategies, and theoretical issues surrounding the history of exhibitions from the 19th century "exhibitionary complex" to the present day. Acquire the critical language and methodological tools to study and discuss exhibitions in their specificity and complexity.

General knowledge of art history since 1800.
General knowledge of major historical events since 1800.

The course explores curatorial histories and practices from the 19th-century "exhibitionary complex" to the present. It does so by studying historiographical trajectories and raising theoretical questions that have defined and problematized the exhibition apparatus over time. Key topics include: exhibitions, museums, and the formation of the nation-state; institutional exhibitions and countercultures; ideology of the white cube and its globalization; propaganda, censorship, and curatorial practice; collecting and accumulating in the era of capitalism; rituals, pilgrimages, relics; cultural industry, entertainment, and the avant-garde; cultural diplomacy and transnational exhibitions; institutional critique and curating as an artistic practice; memory and historical narrative; colonial legacies and decolonial strategies.

Part of the course consists of lectures based on image projections related to the history of exhibitions. The instructor introduces major exhibitions, their historical context, theoretical issues, and connections to artistic practice. The lectures periodically leave room for questions from students. The instructor also facilitates discussions in small groups or among the whole class around targeted questions that connect issues covered in the course with notions and ideas already learned by students in related courses: contemporary art history, museology and museography, and the history of art criticism. Visits to current exhibitions at major Roman institutions are also planned. Several guest speakers come to discuss their own curatorial projects or ongoing research on the history of exhibitions.

Regular attendance of classes is highly recommended.

The exam will focus on the topics listed in the course description and will be organized into three parts, corresponding to the respective bibliographical sections:
- Exhibitions that have shaped the history of curating
- Theoretical Issues
- Case Study: Showing Italian Art in the United States.

We recommend studying the following:
• PDFs of the slides discussed in class, which are uploaded weekly to Moodle;
• Selected passages from the bibliography.

What does Bennett mean by "exhibitionary complex"? What are the parallels between nineteenth-century exhibition culture and Foucault's idea of ​​the penitentiary in Discipline and Punish?

What major exhibitions have defined the "white cube" exhibition modality, and what are its main characteristics?

What exhibitions have sparked the postcolonial and decolonial debate, and what are the main issues?

What artistic practices have used the exhibition as a medium, and how have they questioned, problematized, and expanded exhibition curation?

What methodological issues do transnational exhibitions and cultural diplomacy pose? What are the most significant examples of the Italy-US exchange?