The aim of the module is to provide knowledge regarding: the semiotic phenomena of art and/or design; the themes, concepts and tools of visual semiotics (iconism, enunciation, narrativity); the methods of semiotic analysis of (real and/or virtual) images and objects the critical-analytical methods for formulating a methodologically correct analysis of the different typologies (media, digital, virtual) of images and objects; the methods of analysing the dense network of semiotic relations and associations of the arts and design in the contemporary age.
The objectives of the course involve both the learning of the key concepts of the semiotic analysis of visual texts, as well as the capacity for abstraction, useful for experimenting the use of these concepts in the analysis of texts that are not strictly 'artistic' and, finally, the acquisition of a critical outlook propaedeutic to the conduct of such analyses.
The course analyses the most relevant concepts and categories elaborated by semiotics in order to provide critical tools for “close readings” of verbal or visual texts, cultural objects, artifacts, events, and social situations. The course foundational goal consisted in retracing how meaning emerges and circulates in connection with a variety of objects, from literary works to social rituals, from natural phenomena to artificial languages. The course analyses three issues: the structure of semiotic objects, in particular their internal organization and their ideological connotations; the narrative strategies that semiotic objects display, with their capacity to establish a relation with the human action; and the process of semiosis, and the ways in which a semiotic object becomes “meaningful” in the framework of a culture. Analytical tools are tested in class through close readings of a great variety of objects and situations.
The learning assessment includes an oral examination. Participation in the course is also assessed positively. Students would be asked to develop application activities that will be discussed later in class.
The course intends to introduce the students to the fundamentals of visual semiotics (visual grammar, the problem of iconism, figurativeness, visual enunciation and rhetoric, support and texture, narrativity), as well as the relationship of these with other disciplines (general semiotics, film studies, visual studies). The course will follow both a thematic and historiographical path, in order to consider different case studies, from plastic arts to photography, from the film image to the digital interface.
ROCCO ANTONUCCI (President)
GIANNI VIARDO VERCELLI
SAVERIO IACONO (President Substitute)
ILARIA TORRE (President Substitute)
Oral exam aimed at ascertaining the mastery of knowledge relating to the discipline and the understanding of concepts and tools of the semiotics method. The examination will provide an assessment of thirty.
The course includes lectures (face-to-face, unless otherwise indicated) to present the theoretical concepts and reference analysis models with appropriate examples and case studies. Teaching materials will be made available on the virtual classroom.
