87375 - Aeshtecs and Theory of Art Experience (1)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Drama, Art and Music Studies (cod. 0956)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)
    First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: acquires the basic theoretical tools to understand contemporary aesthetic debates on art experience and so-called widespread forms of aestheticity; is able to critically place aesthetic and artistic phenomena of different kind into the context of contemporary culture; can understand how and to what extent the aesthetic has changed in the transition from the 20th century to the 21st century; acquires the essential knowledge and skills to analyze and interpret communications mediated by aesthetic categories; is aware of socio-cultural implications that are present in creative and expressive phenomena; is familiar with the relation between the aesthetic and other dimensions of human experience and cognition.

Course contents

Art, music and critique of society. Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Frank Zappa.

The aim of the lecture course is to investigate some fundamental moments and aspects in the history of the aesthetic conceptions inspired by the critical theory of society of the so-called Frankfurt School. In particular, we will focus our attention on the importance of certain questions connected to the status of the work of art in the age of avant-gardes, on the one hand, and connected to the technological reproducibility and mass culture, on the other hand, investigating these questions on the basis of the conceptual tools offered by authors such as Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno and Herbert Marcuse. In this context, we will pay a specific attention to the role played by music in the development of the philosophical conception of Adorno (who was also a music critic, a musician and a composer himself). With regard to this, we will especially focus on Adorno's critique of popular music in the 1940s and, at the same time, on the possibility that has emerged since the 1960s of forms of 'light music' that are also capable of expressing a critique of contemporary society, exemplifying this discourse through the unique case of Frank Zappa.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings

- W. Benjamin. L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica, Einaudi, Torino 2011 (only pp. 3-38).

- Th. W. Adorno. Sulla popular music, Armando, Roma 2004 (only pp. 64-125).

- Th. W. Adorno. Filosofia della musica moderna, Einaudi, Torino 2002 (only pp. 3-5, 35-130).

- H. Marcuse. La dimensione estetica. Un’educazione politica tra rivolta e trascendenza, Guerini e Associati, Milano 2002 (only pp. 9-50).

- S. Marino. La filosofia di Frank Zappa. Un’interpretazione adorniana, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2014.

Other readings for potential further studies:

-S. Petrucciani, Introduzione ad Adorno, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2007.

- S. Marino e R. Vitali, Theodor W. Adorno, in “Nuova Informazione Bibliografica”, n. 4, 2018, pp. 605-632 (https://www.rivisteweb.it/issn/1824-0771/issue/7581).

- G. Matteucci, L’artificio estetico. Moda e bello naturale in Simmel e Adorno, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2012.

- C. Campbell, S. Gandesha and S. Marino (eds.), Adorno and Popular Music: A Constellation of Perspectives, Mimesis International, Milano-Udine 2019.

- S. Marino, “Auschwitz e popular culture: considerazioni estetico-politiche sulla presenza del genocidio nella cultura di massa”, in M. Latini and E. Storace (eds.), Auschwitz dopo Auschwitz. Poetica e politica di fronte alla Shoah, Meltemi, Roma 2017, pp. 79-119.

- S. Marino, Le verità del non-vero. Tre studi su Adorno, teoria critica ed estetica, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2019.

- S. Marino, Verità e non-verità del popular. Saggio su Adorno, dimensione estetica e critica della società, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2021.

L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica. Tre versioni (1936-39), Donzelli, Roma 2012.

The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lecture course.

Teaching methods

Lectures, conversations and discussions with the students, audio and video materials shared with the students in the classroom.

Assessment methods

The assessment method is a written paper on at least 3 fundamental topics among the main topics included in at least 3 of the 5 books in program.

In case the teacher thought it was necessary or useful to further examine some students, he will ask those students to also make an oral exam after the correction of their written papers.

During the examination the teacher will assess whether the student has achieved or not some basic educational goals:

knowledge of the texts and capacity to contextualize authors and works;

comprehension of the fundamental concepts and capacity to provide a correct interpretation of them;

clarity in the explanation of concepts and accuracy in the use of philosophical terminology;

capacity to establish connections between the various authors and themes from both a historical and a strictly speaking conceptual point of view.

During the examination the teacher will assess if the student possesses the abovementioned knowledge and skills in a (more or less) complete, precise and adequate way, or vice-versa in a (more or less) incomplete, vague and superficial way.

The final grade will correspondently vary from excellent (30 and honors) to very good (30) to good (27-29) to fairly good (24-26) to more than enough (21-23) to merely enough (18-21) to unsatisfactory (<18).

The paper must be written in Times New Roman 12 and must have a max. length of 30.000 characters, including blank spaces.

Teaching tools

Power point presentations in classroom and audio/video materials that are coherent with the texts in the program.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Marino