AESTHETICS

In the framework of the Master's Degree in Arts Management, the course aims to prompt a critical confrontation with traditional aesthetic notions such as those of creativity, taste, aesthetic experience, interest/disinterest, detachment and distance in the appreciation of the arts and cultural consumption. It therefore intends to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of some major theoretical issues concerning these notions, as well as their historical and socio-cultural implications, with a particular focus on the contemporary scenario of visual culture studies.

The course will provide excellent understanding of the theoretical notions characteristic of philosophical Aesthetics by future operators in the management of arts and cultural activities. Students are expected to acquire the ability to apply the knowledge and understanding of the texts and topics (authors, works, ideas, themes) examined during the course by elaborating, with the appropriate language and the subject-specific terminology, an autonomous, articulate and coherent discourse, in both oral and written forms. The overall objective of the course is to allow the participants to formulate a personal critical judgment on the contemporary visual culture scenario, with particular emphasis on the issues raised by the rapid spread of new technologies.

The course is accessible to students with little or no prior knowledge of the history of philosophy. Nevertheless, a smattering of the basic notions of Aesthetics and of the history of the discipline will facilitate the easy comprehension of the subject.

Over the centuries, a certain distance between the observer (the "spectator") and the artwork has been regarded as a sine qua non of aesthetic experience. The course intends to call this assumption into question by taking into account the multifarious ways and practices of challenging the traditional threshold separating between the real world and the image-world in the attempt to blend them together and to turn "aesthetic enjoyment" into a far more problematic "affective experience". Special emphasis will be given to the role of hyperrealism and immersive experiences in contemporary visual culture.

Edmund Husserl, "Phantasy and Image Consciousness", in Phantasy, Image Consciousness, and Memory (1898–1925), Springer 2005, pp. 1-115.
Brian O'Doherty, Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, expanded edition, University of California Press 1986.

In addition to the above mentioned texts, during classes the teacher will provide a series of critical essays on the notions of frame and framing –also required for the exam– whose list will be made available at the beginning of the course.

Non-attending students add: Oliver Grau, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, The MIT Press 2003.
Please contact the teacher to get info on the final programme.

*** Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the learning objectives of the course will be tested through an ORAL exam instead of the written exam originally planned. ***
The exam will take approximately 30 minutes. Questions will be aimed to evaluate whether students know and understand the main concepts introduced during the course, and if they are able to link the various topics and issues that the course itself has covered.

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

English

written