B8824 - Semiotics of Arts (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with a theoretical and methodological framework to analytically investigate the practices and textual forms of various arts. The objective is to ensure skills to problematize frameworks of objectification, genealogical reconstruction, and critical interpretation of artistic phenomena, also considering the limits of a semiotic approach and possible transdisciplinary perspectives.

Course contents

On a theoretical level, the course explores the intersections between the semiotic tradition and aesthetics, understood both as the philosophy of art and as the philosophy of sensory experience. In this sense, the semiotic perspective intends to offer a complementary view with respect to two relevant philosophical projects:

(i) the program of a comparative aesthetics will be revisited based on the correlations between intersemiotic translations and intersensory transductions;

(ii) the philosophy of symbolic forms will serve as the framework for studying the continuous systemic reformulation of the relationships between artworks and the spaces where they are presented for public appreciation.

On a methodological level, the course aims to problematize the relationships between artistic projects and their manifestations, providing skills both to account for the embodied practices of aesthetic production and interpretation, and to objectify the textual organization forms of artworks. The intersection of these analytical perspectives must take into account dialectics such as those between creativity and normative frameworks, or between aesthetic discourse and the semiotic environment. These linguistic game fields unfold artistic meaning as an experience of necessary perceptual and linguistic mediations for accessing values that would otherwise not be constituted. From this perspective, the vulnerability of the arts – considering the numerous devices they require to be implemented and protected – must be related to their necessity, with a meaning-making process that is realized only through the experience mediated by their expressive organization. The corpora examined will primarily concern visual arts, without neglecting, in intersemiotic translations and syncretic manifestations, other expressive forms.

Readings/Bibliography

exts / Bibliography

Students may choose two texts from the basic readings and one from the recommended readings, according to a prospective combination reflecting their scientific interests. The readings of the articles discussed during the course will be mandatory for attending students. Alternative and specific readings are required for students who are unable to attend (see below).

Students whose native language is not Italian may use the texts in their own language, if available.

Basic Readings

1. Nelson Goodman, Arte in teoria, arte in azione (ed. by Paolo Fabbri), Milano, et al./Edizioni, 2008.

2. Maria Giulia Dondero, I linguaggi dell’immagine: Dalla pittura ai Big Visual Data, Roma, Meltemi, 2020.

3. Pierluigi Basso Fossali, Il Trittico 1976 di Francis Bacon. Con Note sulla semiotica della pittura, Pisa, ETS, 2013.

Additional articles will be provided during the course.

Optional Recommended Readings

1. Lucia Corrain (ed.), Semiotiche della pittura. I classici, le ricerche, Meltemi, Roma 2004 (available online: http://www.ec-aiss.it/biblioteca/15_semiotiche_della_pittura.php)

2. Louis Marin, Della rappresentazione, Roma, Meltemi (available online: http://www.ec-aiss.it/biblioteca/30_marin_della_rappresentazione.php)

3. Gruppo µ, Trattato del segno visivo, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2007 (available online: http://www.ec-aiss.it/biblioteca/31_gruppomi_trattato.php)

4. Jacques Fontanille, Forme del corpo. Per una semiotica dell’impronta, Roma, Meltemi, 2004.

5. Astrid Guillaume and Lia Kurts-Wöste (eds.), Making Sense, Making Science, ISTE-Wiley (also available in French: introduction, chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8).

6. Pierluigi Basso Fossali, Interpretazione tra mondi. Il pensiero figurale di David Lynch, Pisa, ETS, 2nd ed., 2008.

7. Pierluigi Basso Fossali and Maria Giulia Dondero, Semiotica della fotografia, Rimini, Guaraldi, 2006 (or later editions, including the extensively revised Sémiotique de la photographie, Limoges, PULIM, 2011).

Non-Attending Students

Non-attending students are required to additionally read:

Lucia Corrain and Mario Valenti (eds.), Leggere l’opera d’arte, Bologna, Esculapio, 1991 (especially A.J. Greimas’ contribution: “Semiotica figurativa e semiotica plastica”).

Teaching methods

Teaching Methods

The introductory nature of the course will be implemented through lectures, analysis workshops, and commented readings in class.

Students with Disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral discussion with the professor based on the texts selected from the exam syllabus. The coherence of the text choices and their critical correlation will be part of the evaluation. Optionally, the student may submit a written paper, which will then be discussed during the oral exam. The paper must be sent via email at least one week before the oral exam. However, this paper is a complementary element and does not replace the oral exam, which will still include discussion of the three texts.

 

Evaluation criteria for the oral exam include:

– disciplinary knowledge (40%),

– ability to contextualize and critically reflect (40%),

– quality of expression, especially terminological precision and argumentative clarity (20%).

 

If submitted, the written paper will contribute to the overall grade for up to half of the final evaluation, applying the same criteria as the oral exam.

 

During the academic year 2025/2026, at least six exam sessions will be available for all students, scheduled in the following months: January, March, May, June, September, December.

Teaching tools

Various multimedia materials will be used during the course. All materials will be made available on the Virtuale e-learning platform. Students intending to take the exam must register on the platform to access these didactic resources, which are an integral part of the syllabus.

Office hours

See the website of Pierluigi Basso