Art History

FRANCESCA GALLO

To know the way in which representations of the "other" have been transformed in contemporary art, from the 18th to the 21st century, in relation to historical contexts and critical perspectives.

Expanding the geographical and cultural areas traditionally included in contemporary art history; Growing ethical and disciplinary awareness about the limits of Eurocentrism; Habituating comparative approaches in professional practice.

Knowledge of the history of contemporary art from 1945 to the 21st century.
Knowledge of major historical events that have marked world history from 1945 to the present.

Visual arts between decolonization and postcolonial critique

From a global perspective, the course is devoted to artistic research from the post-World War II period to the present that is related to the events of decolonization, anticolonialism and the construction of new independent state structures, as well as the spread of postcolonial approaches from the 1990s onward. Lectures focus on individual artists, groups and movements, exhibitions and critical readings, and institutional politics.

exam bibliography:

Ben Enwonwu, Problems of the African Artist Today, 1956 (on line: fornito in pdf).

Uche Okeke, Natural Synthesis, 1960 (on line: fornito in pdf).

S. Littlefield Kasfir, Contemporary African Art, Thames & Hudson, London, 2020 (o successive), pp. 79-96; 158-278.

From the European South, n. 6, primavera 2020 (online, open access), pp. 9-109; 129-136.

Immaginari visivi postcoloniali. Ricerche artistiche e narrazioni espositive in Italia, tra anni ottanta e doppiozero, a cura di F. Gallo, Milano 2025, 3 saggi a scelta dello studente (per un totale di 60 pp. circa).

REFERENCE TEXTS/FURTHER READING

J-L. Amselle, L’arte africana contemporanea, Torino, 2007.

M. Colucci, Storia dell’immigrazione straniera in Italia. Dal 1945 ai nostri giorni, Roma, 2018.

T.J. Demos, Return to the Postcolony, Berlin, 2013.

V. Deplano, A. Pes, Storia del colonialismo italiano. Politiche, cultura e memoria dall’età liberale ai nostri giorni, Rma, 2024.

O. Enwezor, C. Okeke-Agulu (eds.), Contemporary Africa Art since 1980, Bologna, 2009.

J. Fisher, Global Visions. Towards a New Internationalism in the Visual Arts, London, 1994.

P. Gilroy, The Black Atlantic. L’identità nera tra modernità e doppia coscienza, Roma, 20182.

S. Littlefield Kasfir, Contemporary African Art, London, 2020.

G. Ricotta, G. Ruocco (a cura di), Pensare, classificare, costruire l’alterità. Percorsi di critica postcoloniale, Roma, 2025.

Lectures and seminars, tutorials and discussions, educational visits

class attendance is strongly recommended

Colloquium on the examination bibliography (and topics covered in class)

Artists facing the Algerian War?
Visual arts and the Cuban Revolution?
What does Orientalism mean?
What is meant by a postcolonial approach?
The Negritude movement?
Leading figures in the African artistic diaspora?
Post-independence artistic research in Senegal? In Nigeria?
Exponents and themes of the aesthetics of austerity?