>>> Seminars on Observing and Studying Art
Lecture
None of us could imagine a world without art, yet many of us struggle to answer the simple question: what is art for? If we could define the functions art has performed, and continues to perform, within society, the artist’s role in the community would become clearer. Today painters experience a loss of purpose because many historical functions, such as illustrating history and communicating the propaganda of ruling classes, have passed to much more powerful and effective media, including cinema, television and publishing. The lecture examines the historical, social and evolutionary functions of art in society. We will see how many of these functions have shifted from painting to other art forms, while others have disappeared, diminishing art’s power to contribute to the development of peoples. Finally, we will propose new, insufficiently explored directions that could bring painting and art back to the centre of human life.
Seminar
The study seminar addresses the existential situation of artists and their work in a social environment that is constantly changing. We will examine the difficulty of adapting to these changes, and how attempts at adaptation have produced a Belief System that continues to shape perceptions of art and artists. Through exchanges of ideas and opinions among participants, we will develop new beliefs and responses that support growing adaptation in the face of today’s rapid and disorienting events. Finally, participants will outline projects intended to break with the current Belief System and open up new possibilities, informed by a deeper understanding and feeling for art’s usefulness in society and the indispensable role of artists in collective growth and development.
Seminar topics
Who can attend
For all artists and students at art schools. Maximum participation: 20 people.
Duration
The seminar comprises 16 hours on Saturday and Sunday, plus a two-hour lecture on Friday evening.
Fee
The fee for each seminar is agreed upon with those interested.
Download workshop information sheet (PDF, Italian)
Lecture preview
Il ruolo dell’artista e dell’arte nel nuovo millennio
Higher and university-level art education faces an unresolved conflict with the world of work and professional life. Education is generally directed towards employment rather than towards the person. Most of those affected suppress this longstanding problem because they see no solution. The prejudice that “art does not pay” makes matters worse: it implies surrendering any attempt to resolve this social, and therefore personal, difficulty. Creativity, which lies at the heart of art, is not being applied to finding solutions to this failure to adapt.
The first obstacle lies in the artist’s self-image. Artists do not see themselves as equals among the many people who contribute, or could contribute, to social development, and thus exclude themselves from collective participation.
This attitude conceals a deep belief that developed when artists began to free themselves from the power of patrons and work out of their own expressive necessity. We can trace the emergence of the modern artist to Leonardo and Michelangelo, who created works beyond commissions from patrons. The intellectual and spiritual independence of artists has never been accepted or valued by those in power; on the contrary, it has often been perceived as a dangerous challenge to the established order, something to be discredited.
Today we believe that new opportunities for social participation have opened up to artists, provided they can reflect on their role and on the limiting beliefs that hinder their adaptation.