Straniere. International days focused on non-European arts and cultures in Italy.

Siena, January 20-23, 2025.

Scientific Committee
Alessandra Acocella, Luca Pietro Nicoletti, Caterina Toschi.

Organizing Committee
Livia de Pinto, Alessandro Ferraro, Andrea Lanzafame, Biancalucia Maglione, Silvia Piffaretti, Yasmin Riyahi, Alberto Vidissoni.

As part of the PRIN PNRR 2022 project Straniere: the reception of non-European arts and cultures in Italy (1945-2000), funded by the Ministry for Universities and Research and the European Union – Next Generation EU, the University for Foreigners of Siena will host a series of meetings, scientific debates, and presentations from January 20 to 23, 2025. These events will focus on various visual, historical-critical, and exhibition perspectives in Italy concerning non-Western arts from 1945 to 2000. Case studies will be examined related to the history of the market, exhibitions, publications, and artistic and photographic research that presented non-European works and artifacts, or absorbed their characteristics, thus introducing in Italy new paradigms of interpretation and representation of these “foreign” arts.

The ‘special mission’ of the University for Foreigners of Siena is to study and examine the interaction between the Italian language and culture and other languages and cultures, in order to promote processes of encounter, dialogue, and mediation between people of different nationalities. Its statutory objective, aimed at promoting “civil and peaceful coexistence that arises from mutual recognition and respect,” is increasingly urgent today and seeks to encourage research and third mission activities involving the scientific community and the general public in a collective reflection on phenomena of cultural contact and inclusion. This is the purpose of Straniere, three-days event of meetings and initiatives, conceived in collaboration with the University of Parma and the University of Udine, composed of five different sessions:

1) A seminar dedicated to young scholars who will present the work of a selection of artists focused on non-European cultures;
2) A session focused on the exchange between curators, directors, and scientific coordinators of archives, public and private collections holding works and documentary materials related to non-Western cultures. The main archives involved in the project are: the Fondazione Centro Studi sull’Arte Licia e Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, the Fototeca Cesare Brandi at the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena, the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia | FAF Toscana, the CSAC - Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the Parma University, the Archive of Luciano Caruso, the Fondazione Passaré per la Promozione e lo Sviluppo delle Arti Primarie, the Fondazione Sangregorio Giancarlo, as well as private archives of a selection of artists, photographers, art historians, art dealers and collectors, architects, and designers interested in the topics investigated. In addition to the Archives, the private and public entities that are project partners will be involved in the discussion, including: the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, the Museo delle Civiltà di Roma, the Mudec – Museo delle Culture di Milano, the Museo d’Arte Cinese ed Etnografico di Parma, the Museo delle Culture di Lugano, the Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia;
3) A moment of debate among senior researchers, who will provide a survey on the topic, problematizing it from methodological, historical-artistic, and exhibition perspectives;
4) A Lectio Magistralis by a distinguished scholar on the research topics;
5) A session dedicated to books, exhibitions, and audio-visual screenings open to the city of Siena, where editorial, exhibition, film, documentary projects, artist audio and video will be presented and narrated, focusing on the encounter between Italian culture and extra-European arts since the post-World War II period.

Call for papers for Junior Scholars

The morning sessions of the event will provide a platform for scholars who have earned their PhD within the past five years, PhD candidates, postgraduates, and young scholars from various backgrounds and specializations to share their research, methodologies, and experiences with senior researchers. Straniere attendance will thus offer an opportunity for exchange and discussion, complementing the historical-artistic training process.

All applicants are invited to submit an abstract on a case study of an Italian artist who has integrated, paraphrased, interpreted, or translated extra-European cultures and arts in their work during the decades under review. Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes. Possible, but not exclusive, case studies of interest for the project include the following artists: Vincenzo Agnetti; Alighiero Boetti; Giuseppe Chiari; Claudio Costa; Franca Ghitti; Anna Maria Maiolino; Mario Merz; Antonio Paradiso; Pino Pascali; Mimmo Rotella; Aldo Tagliaferro.

Applicants should send an abstract of their proposal (in Italian or English), along with a short CV, by August 26, 2024, to: straniereunistrasi.it. Abstracts should not exceed 2000 characters (300 words). The submission should include the candidate’s email address, institutional affiliation, and place of residence. Both the proposal and CV should be sent in a single multi-page PDF file titled as follows: “Surname_Title of Proposal_Institution” (“Cognome_Titolo della proposta_istituzione”).

Accommodation expenses will be covered for participants. PhD candidates may receive funding for travel expenses from their institutions, while the transport costs for graduates and post-docs will be covered by the organizing institution.

The results of the application selection will be announced by the end of September 2024. Within two weeks of acceptance, participants must send an English translation of their abstract and a short biography. One month before the event, they must submit the full text of their paper and a selection of digitized, rights-free archival materials (both visual and textual sources) that will be included in the digital archive dedicated to the PRIN PNRR 2022 project Straniere: the reception of non- European arts and cultures in Italy (1945-2000). At the end of the initiative, the participants will be involved, as project collaborators, in the process of annotation and cataloguing of the materials selected by them.