ART HISTORY, MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS

The Art History, Music and Performing Arts Unit brings together professors and researchers who study tangible and intangible cultural heritage, its protection, enhancement, and promotion, in dialogue with new digital technologies.

Three degree courses are affiliated with the Unit. These courses are structured around parallel and interdisciplinary pathways in Art History, Performing Arts, Library Science and Communication. They include both long-established and more recent disciplines, such as art history and museology, theatre and music history, film and television history, new media, library and information science and archival studies and cultural heritage law. Faculty members of the Unit are also actively involved in the Department of DUSIC’s PhD programs.

A Class A scientific journal, Ricerche di S/Confine, a book series, Contrafforti, published by Mimesis (currently being launched), and two research centers — the Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione (CSAC) and the Centro per le Attività e le Professioni delle Arti e dello Spettacolo (CAPAS) — are associated with the Unit. The research conducted by the Unit’s faculty covers a broad spectrum, reflecting the diversity of the represented academic fields. It includes specialized and interdisciplinary studies in the visual arts (medieval civil architecture, eighteenth-century painting, art and neuroscience, the history of art exhibitions, CSAC archives, fashion, photography), musicology (eighteenth and nineteenth-century opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Arturo Toscanini), theatre studies (orality, dance, medieval theatre, contemporary theatre, puppet theatre), film studies (Italian film journals, cinema and neuroscience), cultural heritage law, and library and archival studies.

Within the Unit, EXHIBIT – Laboratory Research Centre for the History of Exhibitions – is active. Its aim is to promote and develop research in the field of exhibition history from the early modern period to the contemporary age at both national and international levels.

Faculty members are also engaged in third mission activities, both within university initiatives and in collaboration with local institutions active in the museum and performing arts sectors, as well as with national media outlets, fostering a productive exchange between research outcomes and their dissemination through educational and economic activities related to cultural promotion and outreach.