96437 - Politics of Representation (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: knows the general features of the relationship between political forms and artistic representations; knows the political and communicative history of the concept of representation; knows some fundamental moments of modern political experience in which the political link and representation had a constitutional relevance; knows how to place events, processes, and artistic forms within the modern political experience; acquires knowledge about certain political-artistic constellations; knows how to analyze the political effects of artistic representations; knows how to apply the methodologies of the history of political concepts and constitutional history; knows how to relate different modes of communication within specific historical constellations.

Course contents

The course historically reconstructs the connection between the parabola of modern political representation and certain artistic representations. Its aim is to show how, starting from some specific aesthetic experiences or their critique, concepts and paradigms of political modernity have developed. At the same time, it will investigate how some 'political' authors have used, criticised, crossed artistic experiences to renew their specific disciplinary languages. The tension between representation understood as "speaking for others" and representation understood instead as the re-presentation of objects or experience aimed at communicating certain contents of meaning will thus be investigated.

The course will be organised as follows: 

1. Introduction: Art, Iconology and Politics in the Modern Age

2. Iconology, the art of government and reason of state

3. Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the Politics of Art: The Fresco of Good Government in Siena

4. Perspective, representation, political representation: between Panofsky and Hobbes 

5. The Politics of Iconology: Abraham Bosse and the Frontispieces of Thomas Hobbes 

6. Velasquez, Foucault and the legitimacy of the modern age. 

7. Rousseau, and the political critique of theatrical reason

8. David, Marat, Robespierre and political virtue 

9. Goya, the dream of reason, criticism and the Enlightenment

10. Karl Marx, the theatre of history and the critique of ideology

11.Western representation: Max Weber the domination and capitalism

12. Walter Benjamin, the work of art, law and violence

13. The degenerate image: Hitler, Leni Riefenstahl and National Socialism

14. Franz Fanon colonialism and revolt without representation

15. Representing the unrepresented: Said, Spivak the colonised and the subaltern

Readings/Bibliography

1. Political representation and representations

C. Jamme, La "crisi della rappresentazione" nella filosofia contemporanea della pittura, in Rappresentanza/rappresentazioni. Una questione di studi culturali, a cura di M. Cometa e d. Maniscalco, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2014, pp. 95-111.

Ernst H. Kantorowicz, La sovranità dell’artista, in Id., La sovranità dell’artista. Mito e immagine tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Venezia, Marsilio, 1995, pp. 17-38.

C. Ginzburg, Rappresentazione. La parola, l’idea, la cosa, in Id., Occhiacci di legno. Nove riflessioni sulla distanza, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1998, 82-99.

P. Schiera, La dottrina delle immagini, in Id., Profili di storia costituzionale. 1 - Dottrina politica e istituzioni, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2011, pp. 137-157.

E. Panofsky, Iconologia e iconografia. Introduzione allo studio dell’arte nel Rinascimento, in Id., Il significato delle arti visive, Torino, Einaudi, 2010, pp. 32-57.

2. The good government of Ambrogio Lorenzetti

P. Schiera, Il Buongoverno “melancolico” di Ambrogio Lorenzetti e la “costituzionale faziosità” della città, «Scienza & politica», 2006, pp. 93-108.

Q. Skinner, Ambrogio Lorenzetti e la raffigurazione del governo virtuoso e Ambrogio Lorenzetti sul potere e sulla gloria delle repubbliche, entrambi in Q. Skinner, Virtù rinascimentali, Bologna, il Mulino, 2002, pp. 53-153.

P. Boucheron, Scongiurare la paura. La forza politica delle immagini, Milano, Jaca Book, 2018.

3. Political representation

E. Panofsky, La prospettiva come “forma simbolica”, in Id., La prospettiva come “forma simbolica” e altri scritti, Milano, Feltrinelli, pp. 37-117.

T. Hobbes, Leviatano, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1976, pp. 155-180.

G. Agamben, Stasis. La guerra civile come paradigma politico, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2015.

4. The limits of representation

R. Brandt, Diego Velázquez: Las meninas o La familia de Felipe IV, in Id., Filosofia della pittura. Da Giorgione e Magritte, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003, pp. 270-297.

M. Foucault, Le parole e le cose. Un’archeologia delle scienze umane, Milano, Rizzoli, 1978, pp. 17-30.

H. Blumenberg, La legittimità dell'età moderna, Genova, Marietti, 1992, pp. 9-240.

5. Representations of the Enlightenment

M. Horkheimer – T.W. Adorno, Dialettica dell’illuminismo, Torino, Einaudi, 1976.

M. Foucault, Illuminismo e critica, a cura di Paolo Napoli, Roma, Donzelli, 1997.

R. Brandt, Francisco Goya: Il sonno della ragione genera mostri, in R. Brandt, Filosofia della pittura. Da Giorgione e Magritte, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003, pp. 349-361.

6. Representation and virtue

J.J. Rousseau, Lettera sugli spettacoli, Palermo, Aestethica, 2013.

C. Ginzburg, David Marat. Arte politica religione, in Id., Paura reverenza terrore. Cinque saggi di iconografia politica, Milano, Adelphi, 2015, pp. 81-114.

M. Robespierre, Il terrore e la guerra giacobina, Milano, PGreco, 2012.

7. Revolution and representation

K. Marx, Il 18 brumaio di Luigi Bonaparte, in Id., Rivoluzione e reazione in Francia 1848-1850, Torino, Einaudi, 1976, 171-185.

M. Ricciardi, Il potere temporaneo. Marx e la politica come critica della società, Milano, Meltemi, 2019.

8. Modernism and representations

M. Berman, Tutto ciò che è solido svanisce nell'aria. L'esperienza della modernità, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012.

K. Marx - F. Engels, Manifesto del partito comunista, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2017.

9. The catastrophe of representation

W. Benjamin, L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica, Torino, Einaudi, 1966. W. Benjamin, Per la critica della violenza, in Id. Angelus Novus. Saggi e frammenti, Torino, Einaudi, 1976, pp. 5-28.

M. Ricciardi, Tra carisma e funzione. La «Führerschaft» di Adolf Hitler, in «Ricerche di storia politica», 5, 2002, n. 3, pp. 365-375.

G. Didi-Huberman, Immagini malgrado tutto, Milano, Cortina, 2005.

10. On the representation of the unrepresented

Franz Fanon, Pelle nera, maschere bianche, Pisa, ETS, 2015.

Edward W. Said, Orientalismo. L'immagine europea dell'Oriente, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2001 (excluding Chapter 2).

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion of the most relevant concepts.

Assessment methods

1) Attending students may choose to take an oral examination or write a paper of at least 2500 words. In both cases, the study material consists of the lecture notes and materials from the lectures and the texts listed in one of the thematic sections of the bibliography.

2) Non-attending students may choose whether to take the oral examination or to write a paper of at least 3000 words. In both cases the study material consists of the texts indicated in point 1 of the bibliography and the texts listed in one of the other thematic points of the same bibliography.

All papers must be delivered in at least one week before the institutional examination date.

If the student demonstrates:

• An organic vision of the topics studied together with their critical use, a good mastery of expression and specific language, the assessment will be excellent (30-30L).
  
• A mechanical knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse articulated in correct but not always appropriate language, the grade will be fair (28-29).
• A preparation on a limited number of topics and independent analysis skills only on purely executive matters, but expressed in correct language, the grade will be good (25-27)
• Some formative deficiencies and/or sometimes inappropriate language with a generic and not in-depth knowledge of the examination material, the assessment will be more than sufficient (21-24).
• Formative deficiencies and/or inappropriate language - albeit in the context of minimal knowledge of examination material the assessment will be sufficient (18-20).
• Formative deficiencies, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographical material offered during the course, the assessment will be negative.

Teaching tools

Lectures make use of visual aids (PowerPoint, iconographic, filmic and photographic material) that are uploaded and made available to students at virtule.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Ricciardi