Università Roma Tre

Ettore and Dino: the ultimate blacksmiths of minotaurs.
The course considers itself as an imaginary exhibition for the artworks of the artists Ettore Colla and Dino Basaldella, developing, therefore, a laboratory part as well. We will analyze the evolution of the Italian sculpture between the Fifties and Sixties of the Twentieth century, following the cases of Colla and Basaldella. They have been models to escape from the impasse of the Italian sculpture, according to Arturo Martini who had defined it as a "dead language". Specifically, we will study the technique of welded sculpture intended as a parallel practice to non-figurative painting. That concerns both the historical-critical definition of informal art and the aesthetics of the machine. Both artists, displayed in two adjoining rooms at the 1964 Venice Biennale, represent different plastic researches in the visual panorama of the so-called civilization of machines. Starting from that occasion, we will finally proceed to set up an ideal exhibition itinerary, where theoretical and practical skills complement each other.

The professor will provide relative bibliography during the lessons.