Call for Applications:
Studienkurs "Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Sites, Environments, Itineraries in a Post-Catastrophic Perspective".
Organized by Clara Forcht, Lunarita Sterpetti and Gerhard Wolf.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is an autonomous region at the Italian North East borders, established as such in 1963, consisting of unstable and highly diversified territories, with alpine and pre-alpine mountains, lakes and hills, fluvial valleys and extended plains as well as coastal areas bordering the Adriatic Sea.

These complex landscapes, shaped by both natural and human forces, reveal stratigraphies of temporalities – from geological deep time to history. While human life concentrates in cities like Trieste, many urban centers and numerous villages, centuries of anthropic intervention have shaped the territory and left lasting marks: infrastructure, agriculture, industry, warfare, and cycles of destruction and reconstruction. Friuli-Venezia Giulia and its subregions were a conflict zone from antiquity through the Austro-Hungarian empire and Italian national state in the 19th century struggles, and was deeply scarred during World War I and also World War II. For decades it has then been at the frontier between Italy and Yugoslavia.

The 2025 Studienkurs of the KHI will visit cities such as Venzone and Gemona, strongly hit by the earthquake of 1976, including their photographic archives and respective museums, to study how loss has been made visible and reconstruction legible. The visits will include encounters and conversations with scholars, artists and cultural workers, to learn about the discourses of memory and collective coping with trauma, as well as to discuss literary and artistic responses.

Catastrophes and post-catastrophic dynamics will be a prime topic of the Studienkurs, not only regarding war and earthquakes, but also the human engineered disaster of Vajont or the asbestos crisis in the shipyards of Monfalcone. At the same time, it will study the artistic dimension of the region with its monuments, sites, and itineraries from Roman mosaics to 21st century architecture, film and literature (one might consider Pier Paolo Pasolini, for example). With this approach, the Studienkurs aims to overcome the notion of an artistic landscape as extracted from the complex eco-historical and socio-political dimensions of a territory.

Indeed, the Studienkurs 2025 invites doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to take on the challenges posed by the heterogenous territory of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in an inter- or transdisciplinary approach, ultimately asking how art history among other disciplines can contribute to a critical ecology with a focus on issues of heritage and a concern for the future of the past.

Applications from art history and related disciplines are welcome. The number of participants is restricted to twelve. Each participant is expected to give a short presentation and take part actively in group discussions. The working language is primarily English; however, passive knowledge of Italian is required. Specific prior knowledge of the region is not expected.

The Institute will bear the cost of accommodation and will reimburse half of the incurred travelling expenses; in addition, participants will receive a daily allowance.

Applications should include a letter of interest comprising a research statement, a one-page cv and (optionally) a presentation proposal (up to 250 words). These materials can be written in English, Italian or German. Please send your documents in a single PDF file (max. 2 MB), referencing “FVG 2025”, to studienkurskhi.fi.it by 30 June 2025.

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Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
Via Giuseppe Giusti 44
50121 Firenze, Italia
+39 055 24911-1
infokhi.fi.it

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