Aesthetics of audiovisual languages

PhD; degree in Philosophy and in Law; contract lecturer for Aesthetics sds. M-FIL/04 at the Faculty of Architecture ex Ludovico Quaroni Sapienza, Rome; at the Department of Cultural Heritage, Ca’Foscari University, Venice; at the Department of Education Sciences, University of Rome 3; participation as lecturer in the PhD course in Architecture and Design, Sapienza University, Rome.

TABLE AND DEFINITION OF CONTENTS

The course is divided into three teaching modules which are based on three main themes:

• Module 1 – Impact of new media (photography, cinema, audio, digital image) in reconfiguring the relationship between subject and image
• • how photography and the technical reproducibility of the image change the relationship with the piece of art and its aura;
  • moving image: editing, and meaning produced by the editing; discrete images in the continuum of movement;
  • digital image and alteration of the visual primacy (optical) with the emergence of the tactile primacy (haptic), decisive for the use, alteration and manipulation of the image.

• Module 2 – Concept of visual culture
• • historical roots of the concept of visual culture;
  • the visual culture alternative: historicity of the image-processing faculty or historical evolution of perception? Erwin Panovsky and Walter Benjamin in comparison;
  • the social background and immersion in craft production, in everyday images as a substratum of visual culture.

• Module 3 – Relationship between image and word
  • Western roots of a non-coincidence: relationship between mythos and logos;
  • concept of ekphrasis in image fruition;

The course is divided into three teaching modules which are based on three main themes:

• Module 1 – Impact of new media (photography, cinema, audio, digital image) in reconfiguring the relationship between subject and image
  • how photography and the technical reproducibility of the image change the relationship with the piece of art and its aura;
  • moving image: editing, and meaning produced by the editing; discrete images in the continuum of movement;
  • digital image and alteration of the visual primacy (optical) with the emergence of the tactile primacy (haptic), decisive for the use, alteration and manipulation of the image.

• Module 2 – Concept of visual culture
  • historical roots of the concept of visual culture;
  • the visual culture alternative: historicity of the image-processing faculty or historical evolution of perception? Erwin Panovsky and Walter Benjamin in comparison;
  • the social background and immersion in craft production, in everyday images as a substratum of visual culture.

• Module 3 – Relationship between image and word
  • Western roots of a non-coincidence: relationship between mythos and logos;
  • concept of ekphrasis in image fruition;
  • aporias of immersion between images and their fragmentary dimension; foothold in the human faculty of reduction to unity

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• discern what effects can be linked to the use of the three main media forms that have shaped the subject’s relationship with the image from the early 20th century to the present: the photographic image, the moving image (video), sound reproduction and the high-definition digital image;
• know the multimedia substratum that constitutes the visual culture of an era and especially our own;
• evaluate the value of images, extrapolate meaning and put a critical distance to deal creatively and constructively with the plethora of audiovisual media currently available to strengthen the consciousness of one’s own time, focusing on certain aspects of human language (the ability of generating images, of listening/receiving and of cutting/collecting to tie them in new meaningful connections).

A. Knowledge and understanding

History of the development of audiovisual media and their impact on culture, especially mass culture.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding

Ability to understand the various theories on the relationship between the subject and new media.

C. Autonomy of judgement

Critical ability in front of an image or audiovisual product.

D. Communication skills

Ability to put into words the feelings a person experiences when touched by the image.

E. Learning ability

Development of a greater awareness of the general meaning of images and audio/video reproduction media in the dimension of everyday life.

A. Use of advanced and fundamental textbooks in the history of the subject; knowledge of some avant-garde themes in the field of visual culture, in particular in the relationship between gaze and image, and awareness of the limits in the relationship with the photographic or video image due to the characteristics of human language.

B. A professional approach to work and possession of appropriate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making independent judgements. The ability to measure oneself against the provocation, the punctum produced by the multimedia medium; the ability to eviscerate the historical dynamics that have led to the current visual culture; the critical ability to distance oneself from the infinite trap of the image as a sensitive product.

C. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists. Full awareness of ekphrastic methods of image fruition; awareness of the importance of the temporal aspect in the evaluation of any piece of art (time factor); ability to consider the audiovisual product as an otherness that on the one hand can be manipulated, but on the other hand has an irreducible opacity that opposes the user’s desire to dominate.

D. Ability to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy. Ability to read – for one’s own enjoyment, to analyse and refine one’s critical judgement – specialist texts on the topics covered by the course.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 9 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
• 3 synchronous meetings on the platform.
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 3 in-depth thematic forums (1 per module);
• Possibility to carry out work in groups.
• 3 structured e-activities (as described in the section “ in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Basic text

• Andrea Pinotti, Antonio Somaini: Cultura visuale. Immagini sguardi media dispositivi, Einaudi, Turin 2016.

Further reading

• Walter Benjamin, L’opera d’arte all’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica (any edition is suitable);
• Roland Barthes, La camera chiara, Einaudi, Turin,( any reprint);
• Andrea Pinotti, Alla soglia dell’immagine. Da Narciso alla realtà virtuale, Einaudi, Turin 2021.
• Antonio Costa, Il richiamiamo dell’ombra. Il cinema e l’altro volto del visibile, Einaudi, Turin 2020.
• Giuliana Scotto, Estetica antica e del Rinascimento. Differenze essenziali alla luce di alscune opere d’arte, Author publishing, Rome 2017, only pp. 20-95.

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 3 e-activities:

• Etivity 1 – First written in itinere test on the topics of the first module.
• Etivity 2 – Second written in itinere test on the topics of the second module.
• Etivity 3 – Third written in itinere test on the topics of the third module.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian