Center for International Studies of Art
OUTSIDE PROJECT / FLORENCE 2006 July 15 - 29
Comune di Firenze / Assessorato alla pubblica istruzione
Accademia di belle Arti di Firenze
Studio Art Centers International
La Corte Arte Contemporanea
About the program
Workshops and seminars
Meetings with artists
Visits to museums and historical monuments
Biographies
Daily Schedule
Practical information
>About the program
Outside Experimental Art Center in Florence 2006 will take place in several spaces in the city,
including SACI's Graduate Center, multimedia lab and lecture halls, as well as lecture halls of
the Academy of Fine Arts. The program will focus on the issues of public and private spaces,
and ways in which this particular division has influenced the cultural identity of the city. The
program will include visits to numerous museums, monuments, public and private gardens.
With the task to analyze the creation of the current image of Florence, as well as its reality,
students will be given an introduction to the themes of collectionism and art documentation as
practices of modern Florence of the late 1800s. The modernity will also be the theme of
fieldtrips and workshops, specifically regarding the industrial periphery of the city and the
ephemeral and less visible areas, as well as those with unclear destiny in the recent future.
One of those is the ex-psychiatric ward at San Salvi. Some lectures will also indicate various
significant moments of urban transformation, in particular those of the mid- and late 19th
century.
Workshops will focus on the visual / poetic analyses of the historical and contemporary urban
structure with its characteristics related to the quality of life, social integration, environment
etc. As in our previous programs, students will be encouraged to develop works in relation to
particular locations in the city, by exploring their content, and by analyzing their cultural,
environmental and social significance. Contemporary artists whose work has developed over
years in relation to specific urban context – city quarters, museums, relations to local
commerce, gardens – will present to students their artistic strategies and methods of work.
The objective of workshops is to encourage projects that will develop out of an actual
encounter with the reality of the city. The city map, as a carrier of specific structural,
historical, demographic and cultural meanings, will be used as a starting point for a visual and
contextual analyses of the given reality.
The program will also focus on contemporary art production and institutions in Florence, and
will include visits to galleries, institutes, collections and artists studios and project spaces.
Workshop and lecture spaces
Studio Art Centers International, Palazzo dei Cartelloni, Via Sant‟Antonino 11
SACI Graduate Studio, Via Ginori
La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Via de‟Coverelli 27r
Seminars and workshops
Maria Antonia Rinaldi: Cultural Politics in Florence / 19th century Florence Metamorphosis
Jacopo Santini: Open Spaces, Closed Spaces
Nikola Suica: Artistic Interreactions
Michele Dantini: Places as narratives: Undetected archives
Dorijan Kolundzija:
Dragan Zdravkovic: An Intimate Map of Florence
Djordje Odanovic / Gordana Kaljalovic: Poetics of a city
Visits to museums and monuments
San Miniato al Monte, Sunday, July 16
Museum of San Marco, Monday, July 17, 10.00
Palazzo Vecchio, Tuesday, July 18, 12.30
Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Tuesday, July 18, 17.30
Palazzo Pitti / Galleria Palatina / Boboli Gardens, Wednesday, July 19, 13.00
Museum of Natural History “La Specola”, Thursday, July 20, 10.00
Villa Bardini, Thursday, July 20, 17.00
Uffizzi Gallery, Friday, July 21, 17.00
Museum of Anthropology, Saturday, July 22, 10.00
Museum of Paleontology, Monday, July 24, 10.00
Capella Brancacci, Tuesday, July 25, 10.00
Visits related to the theme of workshops
Parco delle Cascine, Tuesday, July 18, 8.30
San Salvi, ex-psychiatric ward, Friday, July 21, 10.00
Accademia di belle arti di Firenze, Monday, July 17, 15.00
Electro+, Saturday, July 22
Meetings with artists
CANGO‟ / Virgilio Sieni theater group, Monday, July 24, 17.00
Michele Dantini, SACI, Aula Magna, Wednesday, July 19, 18.00
Aroldo Marinai (exhibition at La Corte Arte Contemporanea)
Edoardo Malagigi, Monday, July 17, 18.30
Dejan Atanackovic
>Contents of workshops / seminars
Maria Antonia Rinaldi: Cultural Politics in Florence / 19th century Florence
Metamorphosis
Cultural Politics in Florence
During the two weeks in Florence students will visit several places of art, such as historical
museums or places involved in new contemporary art practice. The purpose is to present to
the students an ariticulate panorama of cultural politics in Florence since the Early Renaissance
period when the Medici family acted as mecenas in order to dominate the town. In a symbiotic
relation with the development of the town the Medici mecenatism has been evolved from
private interest to match the cultural patrimony interest of the entire town, moulding its own
identity. The visits to the historical museums will be matched/ completed with the presentation
of some contemporary experience that at the moment are interesting in questioning through
art practice the identity of Florence: its neighbourhood, its artisan patrimony, the memory of
its inhabitans, the relation between past and present; investigating new form to aproach and
to outlet contemporarity beyond the main stream.
19th century Florence Metamorphosis
Between 1865 and 1870 Florence was for few years the capital of the new born and not yet
complete Italian State. During these years Florence has been transformed as had never been
previousely. The ideal was to transform the little Renaissance town into a 'grand' 19th century
capital. Through severals Florence panoramas before the transformation and images this little
introductory lecture wants to give an idea of how Florence had incorporate those changes in its
Renaissance enduring form.
Michele Dantini: Places as narratives: Undetected archives
The workshop will focus on places with particular narrative potential, those that reveal the
sense of identity and memory in unexpected ways. In the first lecture the artist will present his
recent work with reference to the practice of travel, the experience of mobility and alternative
strategies of storytelling in relation to far-flung places. Further on, the lecture will focus on
connection between cultural politics, local/global narratives and practices of identification with
reference to collections and museums. Lecture will present a standpoint that places have a
narrative before they have a topographic dimension. Three fieldtrips will follow, visits to three
museums of science - natural history, paleontology and anthropology – places that put
Florence (as an experimental case-study) in the context of natural sciences and the study of
man rather than uniquely in the context of art and archeology, giving thus privilege to such
important if neglected aspects of this city as passionate cosmopolitism, exploration, cultural
exchange, scientific networks and field research. Students will be asked to develop their own
story-telling in reference to the three museums, by using media and technique of their own
choice.
Jacopo Santini: Open Spaces, Closed Spaces
Le vieux Paris n’est plus (la forme d’un ville change plus vite, helas! que le coeur d’un mortel)
Charles Baudelaire (from Le cygne – Le fleurs du mal)
What Charles Baudelaire said about Paris can be said about Florence and every big old city. To
grow up a town must in part vanish, lose some of its features, forget its memories. Seemengly
it is an ineluctable paradox. Struggling with it, being (sometimes unconsciously) winesses is
the fate and the pleasure of a photographer.
The workshop consists in (at least) two field trips to places that can be considered somehow
symbolic of opposite aspects of the city: oblivion of a recent past, life in an ancient place.
The first one is San Salvi, an area constructed at the end of 19th century and located close to
the actual southern edge of Florence to contain a mental institution. The reason of this kind of
location is common and obvious: isolating and hiding an umbearable situation which, according
to the tradition, was considered a potential danger to society. The structure, entirely
sorrounded by a wall, is ellipse shaped like a village (several biulidings in an approximately
symmetric relation on two main axis south-north and west-east, some of which actually
occupied by homeless people, most of them immigrants) and, waiting for a radical renovation
which – I fear – will transform a mine of memories in a residential, anonymous area, stands
now, declining, partially abandoned, in front of the city, like a big memento. Very soon
everything will change and disappear: being a witness is more than a mere opportunity.
Le Cascine, the green heart of Florence, since 16th century a Medici‟s estate used for cattle
breeding (the term Cascina means originally disc or section of beech used to press curdled
milk) which became public in 1869, is a huge park, mostly conceived and realized during the
18th century. It extends along the river and reaches the western edge of the town. It is full of
hidden places and bizarre buildings (for example, a 19th century small indian temple built in
memory of a young mahrajah who died in Flroence during his travel through Europe, a
pyramid shaped ice house, declining green houses and an anphitheatre). Far from being a
mere touristic place, this park remains a popular area, also thanks to structures, like the 18th
century buildings of the agricultural faculty, the race course named “Le Mulina” and others. But
it doesn‟t have just one soul. The night changes it and barely hides other aspects (prostitution,
drug peddling).
Florence has been photographed and seen too many times to bear a further common glance
on his visible, touchable side. This workshop is intended as an opportunity to see and record
the traces of time (sometimes as life, sometimes as oblivion) in order to offer, perhaps, a
changed view even of the city the students come from.
Dorijan Kolundzija:
...
Nikola Suica: Artistic Interreactions
The four parts presentation 'Artistic Interreactions' is comprised of enquiries within a selected
Florentine artistic heritage. While emphasizing the diversity of certain architectural, sculptural
and painting ventures in historical terms, in places that will be visited - such as San Miniato al
Monte, Capella Brancacci and the Museum of San Marco - numerous references including
Dante/ Boticelli experience of pictorial language and drawings are to be observed. The optical
and sensory experiences of certain locations in the city, whether visible or unrecognisable, are
aimed to attract and pursue further students imagination and their creative outcomes during
workshops.
Djordje Odanovic / Gordana Kaljalovic: Poetics of a city
This workshop will propose a discovery tour through the hidden dimensions of the city, the
presence of the past, myths, history, customs, and tradition incorporated in the works of art,
architecture and daily life. Students will be encouraged to use a variety of materials to
accomplish three-dimensional works. A conceptual framework will also be explored.
Photography will be introduced as a media, with the attention to the Pinhole Camera / Camera
Obscura, which has been used in the Renaissance period for correcting perspective. The
subjects of student's choice will be explored from personal angle, using photo- sensitive
material in a simple way in spite of the complexity of procedure. This will include - constructing
a pinhole camera, basic image management, visualization and anticipation of final result,
focusing on connections between light and shadow, creating forms in space, emphasizing or
minimizing "a departure from reality", focusing on architecture - facades, streets-vista through
arches, gardens, public squares etc. Attention will be given to the formal and contextual
presentation of the work. Individual guidance and advice on projects may concern all phases of
student work in order to help achieve clarity of expression.
Dragan Zdravkovic: An Intimate Map of Florence
Polaznici ove radionice imace mogucnost da izaberu delove grada koje ce pozicionirati na mapi,
sakupiti sve potrebne podatke o njima, transformisati u sopstvenu vizuelnu pricu i dozivljaj,
kako bi od ovog materijala napravili svoju intimnu mapu Firence, celini ili jedan njen deo. Ove
godine ce studenti imati priliku da sublimiraju svoju intimnu mapu grada u oblik velikog
plakata izradjenog u nekoj klasicnoj likovnoj tehnici: kreda, pastel, ugljen, akrilik na velikom
formatu papira. U ovom postupku koristila bi se i pomoc racunara sa skenerom i raspolozivim
softverom. U prvoj fazi rada insistiralo bi se na idejnom, konceptualnom, resenju skici, u kome
moze biti i tekstualnih poruka. Studenti ce likovno definisati delove grada koji su na njih
ostavili poseban utisak i u poredjenju sa zvanicnom mapom Firence predstaviti novu
informaciju koja moze uci u mapu kao skup licnih, intimnih, vizuelnih informacija za javnu
upotrebu. Realizacija ove radionice odvijace se u ateljeu (otvoreni studio) i na raznim
lokacijama u gradu.
>Biographies
Nikola Suica
Graduated in History of Art and gained MA in History of Art Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Belgrade; PhD at University of Arts Belgrade as the first doctorate of the multydisciplinary
subject of Visual Arts at University of Arts, Belgrade. Post as an Art Historian - Faculty of Fine
Arts, University of Arts Belgrade. Numerous texts, essays, Arts exhibitions catalogues, as well
as translations from English published in several periodical magazines, weeklies, arts and
culture magazines, both from Belgrade, Serbia, Zagreb, Croatia and Ljubljana - Slovenia, also
with texts and websites editing. Contributions to the Belgrade Radio with interviews and
essays, Radio B92 and the Belgrade TV on Arts and Culture with screenwriting and
appearances. Several books and catalogues on Arts, such as: Paintings of Radomir Reljic -
published by Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts 1996; 'Memorial Chamber' - group
exhibition of Young Belgrade Artists - Gunpowder Storage, Belgrade 1997; Leon Koen,
Yugoslavian gallery of Artworks, Belgrade 2001; Sculpture of Milun Vidic, ULUS 2003; Tom
Phillips New Moment magazine issue, 2003; „Closed Circuits‟, group Exhibition Belgrade 2005,
etc. Co-Editor and Contributor in quarterly Delo, published by Nolit, Belgrade, in a collected
writings and translations edition entitled 'Postmodern Aura: I-V' volumes. Editor of the first
Anthology on the English painter and poet William Blake in Serbo/Croat. Associate Editor of
Alexandria publishing house Independent Journal from Belgrade; Editor of „Mecena‟ Association
of Fine Artists of Serbia Belgrade Web journal (www.ulus.org.yu). Public lectures and
presentations, exhibition curating in Belgrade; contributions to the programs of The British
Council in Belgrade, Cinema Rex, Center for Cultural decontamination, Jewish community
Belgrade; Instituto Cervantes, Goethe Institute Belgrade, etc. Participating member of
„Outside Project‟ SACI Florence, Center for International Art Studies Belgrade in Belgrade 2002
and 2004; Solo and group Exhibition installations in Belgrade and Pancevo. Founding Member
of International Walter Benjamin Society, Barcelona.
Michele Dantini
Artist, art writer and curator, Michele Dantini mixes fieldwork practices, archive research and
fine arts‟ esthetics. Professor of history of contemporary art, he's particularly interested in
postcolonial issues, «public sphere» topics and practices of travel in contemporary art. As an
art historian and 1995-2001 he's the author of Paul Klee (Milano 1999), Picasso and Braque
(Florence 2003), Arte contemporanea. I temi, l‟agenda, le variazioni (Florence 2006) and of
many essays and shorter articles upon contemporary artists such as Roni Horn, Mark Dion,
Sharon Lockhart, Diana Thater, Carsten Höller, Olafur Eliasson, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Maurizio
Cattelan, Marko Peljhan. His complex exhibition projects are informed by many languages
and/or cultural and relational practices (installations, photography, interviewing, social
solidarity initiatives). They focus on the themes of travel, human and ecological geography on
the one hand, and the aesthetics of strangeness and the associated mental processes on the
other. Actively involved in socioecological conservation projects, he works with NGOs and local
institutions to document, photographically and in reports, conservation policies, community-
based initiatives and cultural conflicts in central and southern Africa.
Edoardo Malagigi
Professor of Design and co-ordinator of the projects related to international collaborations at
the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He has been working for many years on design, didactic,
art and communication projects. Since 1995 he has been the art director of the Children's
Emergency Foundation, founded with the task to accomplish projects of improvement of the
quality of life of Romanian orphans infected by AIDS. He has designed school furniture for
children and protected communities, and has conducted research in the field of eco-design.
From 1993 to 1999 he was the president of the jury at the festival Videominuto presented at
the Pecci Contemporary Art museum in Prato, Italy. Since 2000 he has been a scientific
advisor for architecture and design at the Ministry of Education. He is one of the initiators of
the project Kabul Center for Contemporary Arts.
Jacopo Santini
Born in Florence, after classical studies and a laurea in law taken in 1993, has been involved in
photographic projects since 1992, most of them consisting in a documentation of unseen areas
of his birthplace. His field seems to be the attempt of saving the memory of places just before
their renovation or death and the drawing of an alternative visual map of the city. To this area
of his work belong the projects about the ancient and abandoned prison dating back to 16 th
century named “Le Murate” realized in 2002 just before they were transformed in a residential
structure, exhibited and published as a part of a joint project in a book titled “Luce
prigioniera”, the reportage about the Santa Maria Novella Station (1994-2000) and above all
his seemingly endless work on the Albergo Popolare, an old shelter for homeless people in the
historical center of the town, started in 2002 and published in a second book including the
works of other six photographers about the night in Florence (“Luce notturna” edited by
Vallecchi). He has also worked and still works as an archeaological photographer (from 1999 to
2001 for Sovrintendenza Archeologica della Toscana). The other side of his professional life is
teaching. Since 2003, he is a professor of Photography at the Studio Art Centers International,
in Florence.
Dragan Zdravkovic
Professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. MFA Faculty of Fine Arts,
University of Arts in Belgrade, 1999. BFA Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade,
1994. Member of the Serbian Artist Union since 1996. He is a founding member of a non-
governmental organization for international student exchange CMUS (Centar for International
Studies of Art). He taught workshops and courses in collaboration with institutes and
universities from Europe and USA. He exhibited his work in eight personal and in over 30
group shows in Yugoslavia, Italy and Portugal. His works have been included in several
museum collections.
Dorijan Kolundzija
...
Gordana Kaljalovic
Graduated at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Faculty of Philology, Belgrade, Serbia, postgraduate
specialization at the department of sculpture. She worked as a curator in the Gallery of Army‟s
Club 1978- 93 where she has organized numerous exhibitions. She took part at Cite
International des Arts in Paris, in 1986 and 1990. Currently, she is an associate professor at
the Academy of Arts, department of sculpture, University of Novi Sad where she teaches
graduate and postgraduate courses. She curated several projects / Poetics of line, Magic
Universe of City, Aphrodite between Myth and Reality, The Leap into Void, Beyond Portrait,
From Surface to Space etc. Her work was exhibited widely throughout ex-Yugoslavia, Greece,
Belgium and England. Her work is in part of many public and private collections in Serbia, ex-
Yugoslavia and Greece.
Djordje Odanovic
Graduated at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, where he also gained his MFA.
He is an Assistant professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia, where he teaches
graduate courses and postgraduate courses as part of a study-abroad program in collaboration
with University of Athenes. His work is part of public and private collections in Serbia (Museum
of Contemporary Art, Belgrade) and in France. He has organized several student exhibitions.
He took part in Cite International Des Arts in Paris, in 1990. Some of his more important
international exhibitions were presented in Cologne, Paris, Verviers, Lima, Pleven,
Thessaloniki, and Bratislava. He received several awards.
Maria Antonia Rinaldi
Laurea with Honors in History of Architecture and Post-Graduate Specialization in History of
Art, University of Florence; Post-Graduate Specialization in Economics and Management of the
Cultural Patrimony, University of Torvergata, Rome. In 1995, she was awarded a scholarship
by the European Union to work in Spain in the field of museology. Has worked for the Marino
Marini Museum in Florence and the San Pio V Museum in Valencia, Spain. Has lectured at a
Post-Graduate Specialization course in History of Art at the University of Rome and teaches
Renaissance history at the Sarah Lawrence program in Florence, and Museology at SACI. In
2003 she was the organizer of the project "Belvedere dell'Arte" curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
and Sergio Risaliti, Florence, Forte Belvedere. Recently she was the curator of the Florence
edition of tne international exhibition “Gemine Muse” 2004. She was in charge of the selection
for the Florence visual arts section for the "Biennale dei Giovani artisti dell'Europa e del
Mediterraneo", Naples 2005. She collaborates with “Quarter. Centre for Art Production” in
Florence.
Dejan Atanackovic
Since 1994, Dejan Atanackovic has accomplished personal exhibitions and projects of public
communication. In collaboration with Belgrade's Center for Cultural Decontamination, since
January 1999, he has accomplieshed his Perfect Future project, financed by the Government of
France. Since 1999, the works that were part of the Perfect Future (CD-ROM, posters,
billboards, installations) have been presented in Yugoslavia, Italy, Canada and Albania, and as
part of group exhibitions in Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Mexico. Since 1995
he has curated a number of exhibitions of artists, art students and psychiatric patients. Since
September 2000 he has taught Multimedia at the American university program Studio Art
Centers International (SACI) in Florence, Italy. He initiated the project Outside consisting in a
series of exhibitions, lectures and publications, as well as a student exchange program
between Belgrade and Florence, in collaboration with SACI, Serbian Ministries of Culture and
Education, Comune di Firenze, La Corte gallery and others. He is the author of the Outside
Project book Letters on the Body: Projects for a Sustainable Sacred, for the pubblisher
Morgana Edizioni, Florence 2003. He taught Digital Projects at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Florence and Multimedia at the Libera Accademia di belle arti. In collaboration with Oscar
Antino, he is the author of the Outsideproject web site, awarded at Premio Web Italia, as the
best designed site in Italy in the year 2003. Since June 2003, his multimedia installation
Golem Project was presented in Belgrade (Belgrade Cultural Center and October Salon),
Sarajevo (Winter Festival) and in Florence (La Corte Arte Contemporanea).
www.dejanatanackovic.com
>Daily Schedule
Saturday, July 15
arrival to Florence around 08.00, accomodation at Foresterie “Sandro Pertini”
15.00
SACI Aula magna / distribution info packages / lunch in the garden / visit to workshop spaces
Sunday, July 16
11.00 morning meeting at the studio.
15.30 A walk to Piazzale Michelangelo. Dragan Zdravkovic, introduction to the workshop:
Intimate Map of Florence. Followed by:
16.30 Nikola Suica: Artistic Interreactions, lecture and visit to San Miniato al Monte.
18.00 Visit to La Corte Arte Contemporanea. Meeting with the artist Aroldo Marinai.
Monday, July 17
10.00 Nikola Suica: Artistic Interreactions, Graduate Studio (Via Ginori) followed by a visit
to San Marco Museum at 11.30.
12.30 Accademia di belle arti, meeting with Andrea Granchi, multimedia / painting professor.
Introduction to some didactic practices at the Florentine Academy.
18.00 Edoardo Malagigi, Childrens Emergency Foundation. Visit to artists home/studio.
Presentation of personal work.
Tuesday, July 18
9.00 Jacopo Santini: Open Spaces, Closed Spaces. Workshop Day 1. Visit to Cascine Park.
Meeting at SACI. Bus 35, 17.
12.30 Palazzo Vecchio, guided tour.
15.00 Reception at Palazzo Vecchio, Salone dei Cinquecento, meeting with Daniela Lastri,
Assessorato alla Pubblica Istruzione, Comune di Firenze (Public Education Department,
Florence City Hall).
16.00 Maria Antonia Rinaldi: Cultural Politics in Florence (1) SACI, Aula Magna.
Followed by: 17.00 Visit to Palazzo Medici Riccardi.
Wednesday, July 19
13.00 Maria Antonia Rinaldi: Cultural Politics in Florence (2) Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina;
Meeting at the entrance gate. Followed by: 15.00 Visit to the Boboli Gradens.
18.00 Michele Dantini, presentation of personal work, SACI Aula Magna
19.00 Galleria dell‟Accademia, free entrance.
Thursday, July 20
10.00 Michele Dantini: Places as narratives: Undetected archives
Workshop Day 1, Museum of Natural History “La Specola”. Meeting at SACI: 9.30.
17.00 Maria Antonia Rinaldi: Cultural Politics in Florence (2) Giardino Bardini.
Meeting at SACI: 16.30.
Friday, July 21
9.30 Jacopo Santini: Open Spaces, Closed Spaces. Workshop Day 1. Visit to San Salvi, ex-
psychiatric ward. Meeting at SACI. Bus 20.
15.00 Maria Antonia Rinaldi: 19th century Florence Metamorphosis
17.00 Uffizi Gallery. Meeting at the main entrance.
Saturday, July 22
10.00 Michele Dantini: Places as narratives: Undetected archives
Workshop Day 2, Museum of Paleontology. Meeting at SACI 9.30
Electro+, Visit to the “social center” (Hours to be defined)
Sunday, July 23
Day off. Optional trip to Siena.
Monday July 24
10.00 Michele Dantini: Places as narratives: Undetected archives
Workshop Day 3, Museum of Anthropology. Meeting at SACI 9.30
17.00 Virgilio Sieni / Cango Theater group and art center. Meeting at La Corte Gallery 16.30.
Tuesday July 25
Work at the studio. Consultations.
17.00 Review of works with Michelle Dantini, Graduate Studio.
Wednesday July 26
9.45 Nikola Suica: Artistic Interreactions, Visit to the Brancacci Chappel, Piazza del
Carmine. Meeting at the Chappel at 9.45. Visits will be split in two groups.
Thursday, July 27
Final exhibition. Spaces and hours to be defined.
Friday, July 28
Documentation of works.
Saturday, July 29
14.00 Departure