AESTHETIC I I

The BA course “Aesthetics II” is intended to provide students with an introduction to Authors, topics, and problems that have played a crucial role in the development of the discipline and that continue to be discussed in the contemporary debate. The overall objective is to allow students to get a critical understanding of both the historical and the theoretical meaning of Aesthetics central issues and their impact upon the general context of human experience.
As for the Bachelor’s Degree Progamme in Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Performing Arts Management, this course also aims to develop a historical and theoretical awareness about the use of some concepts such as art, fine arts, art autonomy, artwork and aesthetic experience, with particular reference to a historical and cultural contextualisation of these terms.

The BA course “Aesthetics II” is intended to provide students with an introduction to Authors, topics, and problems that have played a crucial role in the development of the discipline and that continue to be discussed in the contemporary debate. The overall objective is to allow students to get a critical understanding of both the historical and the theoretical meaning of Aesthetics central issues and their impact upon the general context of human experience.

Given its introductory nature, the course is particularly (though not exclusively) aimed at students with little or no prior knowledge of the history of Aesthetics. Nevertheless, a smattering of the third Kantian Critique will facilitate the easy comprehension of the subject.
In order to take the exam of Aesthetics II, students are requested to have passed the exam of Aesthetics I.

The course is aimed at investigating the philosophical problem of the frame and, more generally, of all framing operations. It will take into account the many different interpretations of the multifarious acts of framing given between 18th and 21th centuries. From Moritz to Kant, from Ortega y Gasset to Simmel, from Marin to Stoichita, the frame has haunted the history of aesthetics also (and perhaps above all) when the principles underlying any uses of framing devices are disregarded or even explicitly contested. We will then take up the issue - crucial for contemporary art and visual culture - of the "out of frame", of the trompe l’œil, and of the blurring of the traditional thresholds that keep the iconic world well separated from reality in the flesh.

• K.Ph. Moritz, Scritti di estetica, Aesthetica, Palermo 1990 (selected sections).
• I. Kant, Critica della capacità di giudizio, edizione a scelta dello studente (selected sections).
• Aa.Vv., La cornice. Storie, teorie, testi, Johan & Levi 2018 (essays by G. Simmel, J. Ortega y Gasset, M. Bloch, M. Schapiro, J. Derrida, R. Arnheim, L. Marin, Group µ, and V. Stoichita).
• E. Goffman, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience, Northeastern University, Boston 1986 (chapters 1-5).

Non-attending students must add:
• W. Wolf, Framing Borders in Literature and Other Media, Rodopi, Amsterdam 2006 (ONLY the introduction and the essays included in the first section: "Framing in/through the Visual Arts", pp. 1-175).

The learning objectives of the course will be tested through an oral exam, during which students should be able to show their ability to master the multifarious aspects of the course’s subject matter. Questions aim at evaluating whether students know and understand the main concepts of the course, and if they are able to link the various topics and issues that the course covers. They also are intended to test the students' ability in communicating the different positions with clarity and pertinence as well as critical awareness.

Frontal lessons with PPT slides.
Critical reading of the texts.

Italian

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