90694 - Displaying Photography in Art and in Cultural & Creative Industries

Learning outcomes

Students acquire the fundamental historical and theoretical knowledge that puts photography at the heart of artistic practices and of the cultural and creative industry. In particular, they develop methodological tools and interpretative skills useful to recognize the styles and poetics of the photographic display. They are also able to analyse and comment on display types with critical awareness.

Course contents

During the course, the development of the photographic language will be analyzed, from its origins in XIX century until the recent experiences, with a special focus on the artistic practices and on those of the cultural and creative industries. Special attention will be paid to exhibitions, both in public and in private spaces, and their capability to help the photographic language in changing its meanings and identities. Following a theoretical and historical approach, students will discuss artistic poetics, creative ideas and curatorial choices, from an aesthetical point of view able to read photography also as a social, political and communicative issue.

 

In particular, as topics of the course, three historical exhibition venues will be analyzed: the CNP (Paris), the 291 and the MoMA (New York) and their role in developing the curatorial language inherent the photographic display.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending and non attending students

Mandatory Texts:

Michel Frizot et al. (edited by), Identités. De Disderi au photomaton, (Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1985).

Graham Clarke, The Photograph. A Visual and Cultural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Alessandra Mauro (edited by), Photoshow. Landmark exhibitions that defined the history of photography (Roma: Contrasto, 2014).

Federica Muzzarelli, The Photo Booth and the photographic automatism, in "Notebook 2016" (Milan: Pearson, 2016).

PAY ATTENTION: the French catalogue and other drafts on the history of photography are available from the website https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=48265

Suggested Readings:

Mary Anne Staniszewski, The Power of Display: A History of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998; especially pp. 44-50, 101-110, 209-259).

Kristina Wilson, The Modern Eye: Stieglitz, MoMA, and the Art of the Exhibition, 1925–1934 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, pp. 17-53.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons with analsys of pictures via ppt and video.

Collective discussion on classroom presentations.

Assessment methods

Attending students (Workshop):

the student will be tested through a classroom presentation about a project of a photographic exhibition linked to one of the case studies discussed during the course (ppt + essay in catalogue of 3000 words).

Non attending students (Oral examination):

the student will be tested during the oral exam on the mandatory bibliography.

PAY ATTENTION: In order to be considered an attending student an attendance of 75%, that is about 24 hours, is required

Teaching tools

Video and ppt

Office hours

See the website of Federica Muzzarelli