Centre
FoRS is a research centre of the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies of Ca' Foscari University of Venice. It was officially founded in June 2022, and aims to build on the tradition of Ruskin research that the University has sustained over more than twenty years. It has promoted conferences, exhibitions and publications of international standing on topics related to Venice, Italy and beyond. The FoRS Advisory Board reflects the breadth of Ruskin’s own interests, comprising scholars working in many fields of study, from European and North American literatures, to translation studies, to aesthetics, the history of art and architecture, the history of restoration and conservation, archaeology. FoRS will provide a space for the exchange of ideas and data, for cooperation and dissemination of work on themes of common interest both within Ca’ Foscari and with the international network of cultural, educational and scholarly institutions whose interests relate to Ruskin’s many-faceted oeuvre.
Inspired by the title, "Fors Clavigera, Letters to the Labourers and Workmen of Great Britain", which Ruskin gave to the monumental epistolary work he wrote and published monthly from 1871 to 1884 – the Centre will privilege multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives, promoting wide-ranging cultural activities aimed not only at scholars and students, but the broader audience he himself tried to engage. It will focus on concerns that came to the fore within the European and transatlantic cultures of the nineteenth century, but also respond to the demands and the challenges of the present time. Among its themes will be the legacy of classical cultures, the traditions of modern literatures, the history of art and architecture, theories of restoration and heritage conservation, representation as a tool for interpretating experience, active and confrontational participation in social life, environmental, economic and social issues with special reference to the role of cultural institutions in urban life including that of Venice and other cities.
Objectives
Challenging Ruskin
Ruskin contested many of the ideas and practices of his time and continues to challenge our own, often promoting equally polemical responses. The Centre will organize reading sessions, conferences, seminars and workshops on Ruskin’s works, including those which are lesser known, but in so doing it will inevitably address controversial questions concerning art and nature, the environment, conservation, religion, society and the economy. Scholars, artists, architects, literary and art critics, as well as activists in the social and environmental fields, will be involved in comparative study of the various approaches taken by his interlocutors past and present.
Editing Ruskin
Research outcomes will be presented in seminars and meetings promoted by the FoRS Centre, which will also publish new critical editions and translations of works by Ruskin.
Ruskin Communities
The Centre falls within the scope of Ca’ Foscari University’s Third Mission and Internationalization in that it addresses both the academic community and the broader public, actively involving international partners and cultural institutions of the city of Venice, the Veneto region and beyond.
Events
27/06/2024 - Ruskin in present-day Venice h. 18:00, Teatro Ca' Foscari, Santa Marta, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123 Venezia | 3.29 M | |
27/06/2024 - "There is no Wealth but Life. Sguardi cinematografici sul patrimonio d" [ITA] Film showing "Il Re Fanciullo di Alessandra Lancellotti (Italia-Portogallo 2023, 67’)" | 105 K | |
14-15/12/2023 - "Adaptation, Revision and Re-use: Modes and Legacies of Ruskin’s Work"" FoRS 1st international conference | 1.02 M | |
8-9/05/2023 - Ruskin and Carpaccio Presentation in English and Italian of the Guide to the Principal Pictures in the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice. A Critical Edition by Paul Tucker, with Other Texts on Carpaccio and Venetian Painting, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, Venice, 2023. FoRS members and friends can purchase the book online at a 20% discount by entering the code 8469E8E1 on the website of Edizioni Ca' Foscari - Venice University Press site or contacting the publisher at ecf_commerciale@unive.it. | 515 K | |
19/04/2023 - "Praeterita. La prima traduzione integrale in francese dell’autobiografia di John Ruskin" [ITA] Meeting in Italian and French including readings by Gegory Dowling and Riccardo Held | 687 K | |
2/03/2023 - "As it was, where it was.... The Fall and Rise of the Campanile of San Marco" Conference by Sarah Quill. YouTube video 2/03/2023 | 701 K |
- 15/12/2022 - Center presentation event: "FoRS. A Centre for Ruskin Studies in Venice" [ITA]
15/12/2022 - "FoRS. A Centre for Ruskin Studies in Venice" Center presentation event | 670 K | |
22/11/2022 - "Between here and there" Meeting with Kate Genever in conversation with Emma Sdegno and Myriam Pilutti Namer on Art, Ruskin and Venice | 550 K |
Team
Advisory Board
Emma Sdegno
Director
Members
- Michela Agazzi
- Dinah Birch
- Ross Burgess
- Peter Burman
- Margarida Cadima
- Jeanne Clegg
- Monica Banzato
- Rachel Dickinson
- Gregory Dowling
- Stuart Eagles
- Irene Favaretto
- Emily Eels
- Tamara Follini
- Kate Genever
- André Hélard
- Oliver Herford
- Howard Hull
- Stephen Kite
- Geraldine Ludbrook
- Franco Marucci
- Gabriel Meyer
- Francis O'Gorman
- Letizia Palazzetti
- Andrea Paribeni
- Silvia Pedone
- Sarah Quill
- Renzo Ravagnan
- Claude Reichler
- Michela Vanon Alliata
- Enrica Villari
- Jean-Yves Tizot
- Paul Tucker
- Marcus Waithe
- Stephen Wildman
- Clive Wilmer
- Rosella Mamoli Zorzi