87375 - Aeshtecs and Theory of Art Experience (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has the basic tools for analyzing the contemporary debate on the experience related to the various artistic languages and the widespread forms of aestheticity; he/she is able to critically place aesthetic and artistic phenomena (from visual arts to music, from performing arts to literature) within last century's culture; he/she can understand how and to what extent the aesthetic has changed in the transition from the 20th to the 21st century; he/she has acquired the essential skills for analyzing and decoding communication mediated by aesthetic categories; he/she has become aware of the socio-cultural implications of creative phenomena; he/she is familiar with the relationship between the aesthetic and other dimensions of cognitive experience.

Course contents

Title: The transformations of the aesthetic.

What are the concepts and notions that allow us to describe the aesthetic experience and the experience of art after the changes that have taken place both in artistic languages and in daily practices during the 20th century? The course will examine how, having to deal with a field which is increasingly frayed and lacks any kind of boundary, the reflection that turns to the aesthetic dimension can update its agenda and re-discuss the traditional categories linked to concepts such as "work", "art", "beauty", authorship", "appreciation" and "critics".

Beginning: September, 22nd, 2020.

Timetable: second period (first semester) - Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9 to 11.

Classroom: via Zamboni 34 - Room A.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Y. Michaud, L’arte allo stato gassoso, nuova edizione italiana, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2019.

2) M. Vitta, Il rifiuto degli dèi. Teoria delle belle arti industriali, Einaudi, Torino 2012.

3) G. Matteucci (a cura di), Elementi per un’estetica del contemporaneo, BUP, Bologna 2017, pp. 81-104 only.

Non-attending students must also study:

- G. Matteucci (a cura di), Elementi per un’estetica del contemporaneo, BUP, Bologna 2017, pp. 5-45.

N.B.: The bibliography may change until the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures and classroom presentations by students.

Assessment methods

For attending students: the final exam will be either a written test at the end of the course or an oral exam, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes addressed in the texts listed in the bibliography and discussed during the course. Attending students may, alternatively, present a written work whose topic has been agreed with the teacher.

For non-attending students: the final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes addressed in the texts listed in the bibliography.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the material in the exam bibliography and his/her ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he/she displays significant errors in his/her understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

We will use power point slides concerning course's texts and topics.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Matteucci