70466 - Aesthetics

Learning outcomes

Comprehension and discussion of some key questions of contemporary aesthetic debate on architecture, its language and link to the subject “city”, through a reconstructive and analytical approach.

Course contents

The course of Aesthetics (C.I. 4 CFU, 40 hours) consists of the characterizing Module 1 (2 CFU, 20 hours) and of the Module 2 - exercises (2 CFU, 20 hours). A first part of the lessons will address the historical-philosophical theme of the city through the study of the main dichotomies that accompanied its development (city and countryside, metropolis and town, European city and colonial city), while in the second part some categories will be proposed and deepened (function, ornament, aura, porosity, uncanny) that are inherent in the experience of the urban dimension.

Readings/Bibliography

1. City and countryside: Karl Marx, La cosiddetta accumulazione originaria, in Id, Il capitale, ed. by Delio Cantimori, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1974, vol. I, pp. 777-823.

2. Metropolis and town: Georg Simmel, Le metropoli e la vita dello spirito, ed. by Paolo Jedlowski, Armando, Roma 1995; Lewis Mumford, L’insensata città industriale in Id., La cultura delle città, ed. by Michela Rosso and Paolo Scrivano, Torino, Einaudi, 2007, pp. 133-212.

3. “Indigenous city and European city”: Frantz Fanon, Pelle nera maschere bianche, transl. by Silvia Chiletti, ETS, Pisa 2015, pp. 109-111; Id., I dannati della terra, ed. by Liliana Ellena, Einaudi, Torino 2007, pp. 3-33; Id., L’Algeria si svela, in Id., Scritti politici. L’anno V della rivoluzione algerina, Vol. 2, ed. by Miguel Mellino, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2077, pp. 39-61.

4. Function and ornament: Adolf Loos, Ornamento e delitto, in Id., Parole nel vuoto, transl. by Sonia Gessner, Adelphi, Milano 1992, pp. 217-228; Ernst Bloch, Iconoclastia e ornamenti, in Id., Ornamenti. Arte, filosofia e letteratura, ed. by Micaela Latini, Armando, Roma 2012, p. 71-99; Tomás Maldonado, È attuale il Bauhaus?/2, in Id., Bauhaus, ed. by Raimonda Riccini, Feltrinelli, Milano 2019, pp. 97-108.

5. Porosity: Walter Benjamin – Asja Lacis, Napoli, in Walter Benjamin, Immagini di città, ed. by Enrico Ganni, Einaudi, Torino 2007, pp. 3-16; Alfred Sohn-Rethel, La filosofia del rotto. Della tecnica napoletana, in Id., Napoli: la filosofia del rotto, ed. by Silvano Custoza, Alessandra Cròla Editrice, Napoli-Milano 1991, pp. 39-44; Martin Mittelmeier, Ossari, in Id., Adorno a Napoli. Un capitolo sconosciuto della filosofia europea, transl. by Flavio Cuniberto, Feltrinelli 2019, pp. 35-47.

6. Aura: Walter Benjamin, L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica [seconda versione tedesca], ed. by Fabrizio Desideri, Donzelli, Roma 2012, pp. 45-91.

7. Uncanny: Sigmund Freud, Il perturbante, in Id., Saggi sull’arte, la letteratura e il linguaggio, transl. by Silvano Daniele, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1996, pp. 267-307.

Teaching methods

The course comprises 40 hours of lessons (the first and the second part: 20 hours each)

Assessment methods

Oral examination. The exam interview will focus on the topics covered in the classroom lectures and on the texts in the program, but it can also take inspiration from any in-depth analyzes that the student will have illustrated either orally during the lessons or in written form after the end of the course.

In detail, the verification of the educational objective of knowledge of some essential concepts of modern aesthetics through the analysis of modern artistic languages and their relationship with the theme of the city and architecture will be carried out through the elaboration of a text of summary for each of the authors and topics addressed in the group, as well as through the individual oral exam at the end of the course which will include questions on the work of the group they belong to and on that of at least two other groups.

A very thorough knowledge of the topics covered in the course, together with high critical analysis and linking skills and a secure command of the specific terminology will be assessed with maximum marks (30-30L).
A thorough knowledge of the topics covered in the course, together with good analytical and critical skills and a secure command of the specific terminology will be assessed with good marks (27-29).
A technically adequate preparation and sufficient analytical capacity, even if not particularly articulate, expressed in correct language, will produce fair marks (23-26).
Sufficient preparation and ability to analyse, expressed in barely formally correct language, will result in a pass (18-22).

Teaching tools

The bibliographies specific to the different parts of the course will be analyzed and acquired during the various lessons, starting with the tools available in the texts indicated in the program. The teaching material presented during the lessons is made available to the student in paper or electronic format via the internet, also following the access restrictions, according to the modalities that will be indicated at the beginning of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Pierpaolo Ascari