Una villa è una piantagione – estrazione, estinzione, architettura, sopravvivenza
Persone
Docente titolare del corso
Descrizione
European cities are filled with traces of colonial wealth: trading houses, opulent villas, stock exchanges, and the remnants of industrial ports. Yet the extractive system of plantation capitalism that produced this built environment often remains hidden from view. This seminar examines the plantation as an architectural system, tracing its interconnected histories across Europe and tropical regions. Through contemporary art, curatorial practice, and exhibition-making, we will explore how plantation histories and more-than-human ecologies can be critically reinterpreted today.
Workshop sessions will focus on experimenting with bamboo as an exhibition material and spatial framework, as well as on developing exhibition texts and interpretive content. The course is directly connected to the preparation of an exhibition at Villa Patumbah (Zurich) in Spring 2027. Students' work will contribute directly to the exhibition, making this a practice-based seminar with tangible public outcomes.
Obiettivi
- Explore the entangled histories of Europe and its tropical elsewheres through the intertwined histories of architecture and the plantation system.
- Engage with artworks, ethnographic collections, and architectural artefacts in museums, galleries, and archives, developing the critical skills to analyse and discuss them through examples drawn from contemporary art and curatorial practice.
- Experiment with plant-based materials as a medium for design, developing proposals that are structurally sound, symbolically meaningful, and ecologically informed.
- Produce work with impact beyond the classroom by contributing didactic and exhibition materials, as well as spatial and conceptual proposals that feed directly into a real exhibition project.
Obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile
- Città e comunità sostenibili
- Agire per il clima
- La vita sulla terra
- Pace, giustizia e istituzioni forti
Modalità di insegnamento
In presenza
Impostazione pedagogico-didattica
The course is organised as a seminar, combining close readings, writing exercises, and discussion.
A field trip to Villa Patumbah in Zurich forms an integral part of the course.
This is a device-free course: laptops and mobile phones are not used during class. The instructor(s) are happy to accommodate diverse learning needs upon request.
Modalità d’esame
Student work will be assessed through attendance, discussion, and written work.
Bibliografia
- Baxandall. Exhibiting cultures: the poetics and politics of museum display. Washington London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.
- Clifford, James. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. [10th print.]. Cambridge, Mass. etc.]: Harvard University Press, 2002.
- Osayimwese, Itohan. Africa's buildings: architecture and the displacement of cultural heritage. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2025.
- Stobart, Jon. Global Goods and the Country House: Comparative perspectives, 1650-1800. UCL Press, 2023.
Programma
- Master in Storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura (120 ECTS), Lezione ex cathedra, Corso a scelta, A scelta, 1° anno (3.0 ECTS)
- Master in Storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura (120 ECTS), Lezione ex cathedra, Corso a scelta, A scelta, 2° anno (3.0 ECTS)
- Master in Storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura (90 + 30 ECTS), Lezione ex cathedra, Corso a scelta (Arte e Architettura), A scelta, 1° anno (3.0 ECTS)
- Master in Storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura (90 + 30 ECTS), Lezione ex cathedra, Corso a scelta (Arte e Architettura), A scelta, 2° anno (3.0 ECTS)
- Master of Science in Architettura, Lezione ex cathedra, A scelta, 1° anno
- Master of Science in Architettura, Lezione ex cathedra, A scelta, 2° anno
