AESTHETICS

Within the degree program in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities, the course aims to foster a critical dialogue between the language of art criticism and that of philosophy. Its objective is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of key theoretical issues that have emerged from the intersection of these two disciplines. On the one hand, the course seeks to highlight how art criticism is often shaped by philosophical concepts that function as implicit assumptions. On the other, it aims to show how aesthetic philosophy is continually influenced by the forms of artistic production, which guide its development and content.

Knowledge and Understanding: Students are expected to become familiar with the topics covered in the course, to navigate the assigned texts independently, and to use the fundamental concepts introduced with critical awareness.
Applied Knowledge and Understanding: Students should be able to consciously recognize the characteristics and underlying reasons for the shift—beginning in the second half of the 20th century—toward a post-media conception of the arts.
Independent Judgment: The course aims to provide tools for a critical and informed consideration of the arts as an interconnected system of practices and disciplines. Students are encouraged to apply the concepts introduced during the course to their own fields of interest.
By the end of the course, students are expected to acquire the communication skills necessary to engage in reasoned discussion on the topics addressed and to formulate independent evaluations supported by appropriate arguments.

No prerequisite is required to attend the course. A basic familiarity with the trends that emerged in the arts between the 20th and 21st centuries can be helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of some of the readings included in the bibliography. It is preferable for students to have at least an intuitive understanding of terms such as abstraction, minimalism, and conceptual art.

The course aims to examine several contemporary approaches to the philosophy of art through the analysis of a single concept: that of the medium. The notion will be studied in different contexts of use, pertaining both to philosophy and to art criticism as well as visual culture studies. In this way, a history of the concept across the 20th and 21st centuries will be outlined.
Two main themes will emerge during the lectures. On the one hand, attention will be given to the shift from a material to a relational conception of media; on the other, the role played by the spread of the internet in the development of contemporary visual culture will be analyzed. In the first part of the course, Clement Greenberg’s formalist art criticism will be contrasted with the positions of artists such as Donald Judd and Joseph Kosuth. The second part of the lectures will be devoted to Rosalind Krauss’s account of the post-medium condition of art, Lev Manovich’s notion of the metamedium, and the processes of remediation and relocation of media as framed by Jay Bolter, Richard Grusin, and Francesco Casetti.

The bibliography will be provided at the beginning of the course and via the Moodle platform.

Written exam. Two or three open-ended questions. At least one will concern a single concept or author covered during the course. At least one will concern the comparison between two authors or concepts.

written

Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of a sufficient knowledge of the course topics, but with a limited capacity for in-depth study and formulation of autonomous judgements. Scores in range 23-26 will be awarded in the presence of a fair knowledge of the course topics and a fair ability to investigate and make independent judgments. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of a good or excellent knowledge of the course topics and a good or excellent ability to investigate and make autonomous judgments.

Frontal lessons and reading of the texts.
Discussions in class on specific topics

Ca’ Foscari complies with Italian law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodations available to students with disabilities or specific learning disorders. If you have a motor, visual, or hearing disability or other disabilities (Law 17/1999), or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010), and you require support (in-class assistance, technological aids for exams or individualized exams, accessible format materials, note-taking services, specialized tutoring, interpreters, or other services), please contact the Disability and SLD Office at disabilita@unive.it.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development