The course provides in-depth knowledge and skills for the semiotic analysis of artworks and their exhibition in urban and digital spaces and in museums.

Students will learn a method for reading the meanings of artistic texts from different genres: drawing, painting, comics, sculpture, architecture, photography, installation, video art, performance. They will investigate their modes of communication and circulation, physical and digital, and receptions by audiences. They will learn to distinguish the work of art from the artistic text and image and to understand how the text gives instructions for its public display in an exhibition and in online platforms. They will acquire critical judgement skills in the field of art.

This year we will focus on erasures and on cancel culture, paying particular attention to the contexts where they appear and to the political strategies that characterise them.

CLASS CONTENTS LESSON BY LESSON:

Knowledge and understanding - Students will have to demonstrate an understanding of the differences between artistic text, work and image and be able to connect the work to the space in which it is located and the device within which it is activated. In particular, they will learn the meanings, values and powers of the dimensions of works and the jumping scale. 

Applying knowledge and understanding - Students will be able to semiotically analyse artistic texts of different genres and the devices within which they operate.

Making judgements - Students will be able to make critical judgements about competence in the field of art and will learn to discover through which characteristics even an object or an everyday practice can become art.

Communication - Students will expound with clarity and argumentative skills the ways in which artistic texts are internally articulated and the elements of the spaces that implement and activate them for audiences. 

Learning skills - By the end of the course students should have acquired familiarity with the art world. They will know how to correctly use concepts and tools for describing artistic texts, which they will also examine critically. They will be able to explain how an art text functions in its device and space and what cognitive, pathemic and pragmatic effects it triggers.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students will be required to follow a seminar (2 hours) organised by the CiSS, International Center of Semiotic Sciences Umberto Eco of the University of Urbino.

Teaching

Lectures and oral exercises.

The course includes:

lectures
group work and written work
oral presentations
participatory lectures in which the work presented will be discussed.

Innovative teaching methods

The innovative teaching method will be enriched with individual and group exercises and insights. Some topics of the course will be treated following the practices of the debate and of the visual thinking.

Attendance

A seminar (2 hours) organised by the CiSS, International Center of Semiotic Sciences Umberto Eco of the University of Urbino.

Course books

Migliore T., "The Semiotic Method", in Actas del 14. Congreso Mundial de Semiótica IASS-AIS (Buenos Aires, 2019), Trajectorias, volumen 8, Conferencias Plenarias, a cura di O. Steinberg, O. Traversa, G. Cingolani, Libros de Crítica. Área Transdepartamental de Crítica de Artes, Buenos Aires, pp. 185-198.

Eve Ng, Cancel Culture. A Critical Analysis, Springer 2022.

Assessment

Oral exam aimed at ascertaining the mastery of knowledge relating to the discipline and the understanding of concepts and tools of the semiotics method. It is optional for students to bring an analysis of a visual text of their choice to the oral examination. The examination will provide an assessment of thirty.

Grading:

Excellent grades will be given in presence of: a good critical perspective and in depth knowledge; the ability to link the main subjects addressed during the course; the expert use of appropriate language and terminology.

Good grades will be given in presence of: good mnemonic knowledge of the course content; a relatively good critical perspective and the ability to connect its themes; the use of an appropriate language.

Sufficient grades will be given in presence of: minimal knowledge of the course's themes and the presence of some gaps in understanding; the use of an inappropriate language.

Low grades will be given in presence of: difficulty in understanding the course's topics; notable gaps in knowledge; the use of a clearly inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

This course does not differentiate between “attending” and “non-attending” students with regard to teaching methods, attendance obligations, course books or assessment. Part-time students are invited to write to the professor and to consult the teaching material (handouts, slides, examples of textual analysis, Dictionary of Semiotics) that will be uploaded on Moodle Platform during the course.

Course books

The set texts for part-time students are:

Migliore T., "The Semiotic Method", in Actas del 14. Congreso Mundial de Semiótica IASS-AIS (Buenos Aires, 2019), Trajectorias, volumen 8, Conferencias Plenarias, a cura di O. Steinberg, O. Traversa, G. Cingolani, Libros de Crítica. Área Transdepartamental de Crítica de Artes, Buenos Aires, pp. 185-198.

Eve Ng, Cancel Culture. A Critical Analysis, Springer 2022.

Assessment

Oral exam aimed at ascertaining the mastery of knowledge relating to the discipline and the understanding of concepts and tools of the semiotics method. It is optional for students to bring an analysis of a visual text of their choice to the oral examination. The examination will provide an assessment of thirty.

Grading:

Excellent grades will be given in presence of: a good critical perspective and in depth knowledge; the ability to link the main subjects addressed during the course; the expert use of appropriate language and terminology.

Good grades will be given in presence of: good mnemonic knowledge of the course content; a relatively good critical perspective and the ability to connect its themes; the use of an appropriate language.

Sufficient grades will be given in presence of: minimal knowledge of the course's themes and the presence of some gaps in understanding; the use of an inappropriate language.

Low grades will be given in presence of: difficulty in understanding the course's topics; notable gaps in knowledge; the use of a clearly inappropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.