This seminar workshop explores how partnerships and dialogue can transform, reconfigure, and allow us to think differently about artistic production in Italy. Short papers and live conversations consider the couple as a constantly shifting social/cultural paradigm by exploring what it makes visible and what it obscures. In doing so, we reflect on established models as well as alternative ways of working and making art.

The workshop is open to American Academy in Rome Fellows and invited guests.

Welcome

3:00pm

Marla Stone, Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor, American Academy in Rome

Introduction

3:05pm

Sharon Hecker, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano; and Teresa Kittler, University of York

Part I: Couples across the Atlantic

3:20pm

Melanie Masterton Sherazi, California Institute of Technology and Terra Foundation Affiliated Fellow
“Interracial Intimacies and the Transnational Modern Couple: William and Lucia Drudi Demby’s Collaborative Work in the Postwar Italian Cinema in Congo vivo (1962)” (via Zoom)

Raffaele Bedarida, Cooper Union
“Moglie e Buoi dei Paesi Tuoi: Virginia Dortch, Piero Dorazio, and Cultural Translation between Italy and the USA” (via Zoom)

Followed by a discussion.

Part II: Collaborative Erasures and the Legacy of Italian Feminism

4:20pm

Charlotte Matter, University of Zürich
“Colonial Erasures: Elvira Banotti and Rivolta femminile”

Roberta Minnucci, Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institute for Art History
“Out of Focus: Anna Piva’s Creative Contribution to the Work of Giulio Paolini”

Followed by a discussion.

Part III: Working Together Today

5:10pm

Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith (2023 Fellows), MOS Architects, New York, in conversation with Teresa Kittler (via Zoom)

Carla Subrizi, Università di Roma Sapienza and President of Fondazione Baruchello, in conversation with Sharon Hecker

Ottonella Mocellin and Nicola Pellegrini, Berlin artists, in conversation with Chiara Mannarino, Independent Curator, New York

Followed by a discussion.

Aperitivo

6:10pm