THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : European Languages and Cultures - Italian

Undergraduate Course: Italy by Design: Materiality, Intermediality, and Commodification from Leonardo to the MAXXI (ELCI10036)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryItaly by Design looks at the art of cultural transmission through artefactual materiality since Leonardo and the Renaissance. The course offers a unique focus on cultural production and commodification in the modern period, working selectively on the material success of the invention of Italy in the last 500 years, and combining key concepts in Material and Intermedial Studies and Decolonial Thought with innovative practice-led course delivery formats.
Course description Italy by Design is a Vertically Integrated Programme open to all students eligible for Levels 10 and 11 study at Edinburgh. The course is practice-led, and students are able to customise both contents and methods, taking leading roles in group work, and contributing to the coproduction of course materials. These become part of the official Resource List for the course, benefiting the wider learning community, including future student cohorts. The overall aim of the course is to encourage learning as shared process, empowering participants to reflect on the kinds and variables of cultural production we engage in every day.

Italy by Design is organised in three parts, Theories and Methods (wks 1-3), Laboratories and Seminars (wks 4-10), and Portfolio Submissions (wks 11-12), for a total 30 engagement hours. Part I (wks 1-3) presents course contents and methods. Students present and lead Labs and Seminars, including guest speaker events in Part II (wks 4-10). Students also work toward the final Portfolio Submissions (wks 11-12) as part of the weekly Laboratories (wks 4-10).

Delivery: Practice-led. Language: English.
Quota: 24 (16 Level 10; 8 Level 11).
Reading List: Central Resource Lists.
Guest Speaker Series: Radical Conversations on Material Culture.
EUSA Teaching Award Nominations Received (2020-2021): 8.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  16
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 30, Summative Assessment Hours 4, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 162 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) The course is assessed by coursework only.

Laboratory and Seminar Work, including individual and group presentations (30%);
Final Portfolio Submission, comprising Practice-Led Component (30%) and Final Essay/Other Media Essay (40%).
Feedback Students receive individual and group feedback for all coursework components. Student present their work in progress for their Multimedia Portfolio and receive feedback ahead of submission.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of specialist theories, concepts and ideas;
  2. Use a wide range of specialist skills, techniques and practices to further knowledge and understanding both as part of team work and for individual study;
  3. Provide material for, present, and contribute to the further development of the practice-led component of the course;
  4. Demonstrate finely honed communication, presentation, and interaction skills in a manner consistent with academic standards and conventions;
  5. Demonstrate autonomy and initiative, carry out independent research under tutor guidance, lead seminar and practice-led activities, and show awareness of team roles and responsibilities.
Reading List
Essential

BARRETT, Estelle, BOLT, Barbara (eds). 2014. Material Inventions: Applying Creative Arts Research. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.

BARTOLONI, Paolo, RICATTI, Francesco. 2017. David Must Fall! Decentering the Renaissance. In Italian Studies, 72.4: 361-379.

BENNET, Jane. 2010. Vibrant Matter. A Political Ecology of Things. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. 2016. Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism). Los Angeles: Getty Publications.

BOON, Marcus, Levine, Gabrielle. 2018. Practice. Cambridge: MIT.

BRAIDOTTI, Rosi. 2013. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity.

BRUNO, Giuliana. 2014. Surface. Matters of Aesthetics, Materiality, and Media. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

CAMPANA, Joseph, MAISANO, Scott (eds). 2016. Renaissance Posthumanism. New York: Fordham University Press.

CARUSO, Martina. 2016. Italian Humanist Photography from Fascism to the Cold War. London: Bloomsbury

CASILLO, Robert. 2006. The Empire of Stereotypes. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

CELANT, Germano, MARABIELLO, Gianfranco (eds). 2007. Vertigo: A Century of Multimedia Art from Futurism to the Web. Milan: SKIRA.

CHAMPAGNE, John. 2014. Aesthetic Modernism and Masculinity in Fascist Italy. London and New York: Routledge.

DANCHEV, Alex (ed). 2011. 100 Artists' Manifestos: From the Futurists to the Stuckists. London: Penguin.

FIELL, Charlotte and Peter. 2013. Masterpieces of Italian Design. London: Goodman Books.

GREENE, Vivienne. 2014. Italian Futurism 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe. New York: Guggenheim Museum Exhibition Catalogue.

GUNDLE, Stephen. 2007. Bellissima. Feminine Beauty and the Idea of Italy. Yale: Yale University Press.

GUNDLE, Stephen, DUGGAN, Christopher, PIERI, Giuliana (eds). 2013. The Cult of the Duce. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

HANNAN, Leonie, LONGAIR, Sara. 2017. History Through Material Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

HILL, Sarah Patricia, MINGHELLI, Giuliana (eds). 2014. Stillness in Motion. Italy, Photography and the Meaning of Modernity. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

HIP HOTELS. 2016. The Grand Tour.

HODDER, Ian. 2012. Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationship between Humans and Things. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

HOM, Stephanie Malia. 2015. The Beautiful Country: Tourism and Impossible State of Destination Italy. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

KALLIS, Aristotle. 2014. The Third Rome (1922-1943): The Making of the Fascist Capital. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

LEAVY, Patricia (ed). 2019. Handbook of Arts-Based Research. New York: Guilford Press.

LIDWELL, William, HOLDEN, Kritina, BUTLER, Jill. 2003. Universal Principles of Design. Beverly MA: Lockport Publishers.

MACSOTAY, Tomas (ed). 2016. Rome: Travel and the Sculpture Capital, c.1770-1825. London and New York: Routledge.

NAPOLI, J. Nicola, Tronzo (eds). 2018. Radical Marble: Architectural Innovation from Antiquity to the Present. London and New York: Routledge.

NARDELLI, Antonioni. 2020. Antonioni and the Aesthetics of Impurity: Remaking the Image, 1960-1980. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

NORMAN, Donald A. 2004. Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

PAINTER, Borden W. (2005). Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City: The Fascist Transformation of the Eternal City. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

RIPPL, Gabriele (ed). 2015. Handbook of Intermediality: Literature, Image, Sound, Music. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.

SMITH, Melanie K. 2015. Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies. New York: Routledge.

TILLEY, Chris et alii (eds). 2006. Handbook of Material Culture. Los Angeles and London: Sage.

TIRANELLI, Paolo. 2015. Italian Glamour: The Essence of Italian Fashion From the Postwar Years to the Present Day. Milan: SKIRA.

TRENTMANN, Frank. 2016. Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First. London: Penguin.

URRY, John, LARSEN, Jonas. 2011. The Tourist Gaze 3.0. London: SAGE.

WILTON, Andrew, BIGNAMINI, Ilaria. 1996. Grand Tour: Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth Century. London: Tate Publishing.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will develop graduate skills across four clusters of ability:

a) research and inquiry;
b) personal and intellectual autonomy;
c) communication;
d) personal effectiveness.
KeywordsItaly,Material Culture,Intermediality,Commodification,Decolonial Thought,Practice-led
Contacts
Course organiserProf Federica Pedriali
Tel: (0131 6)50 3642
Email: F.Pedriali@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Gillian Paterson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3646
Email: Gillian.Paterson@ed.ac.uk
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