Denis Robichaud
“A Halloween Mask for Socrates: On Socrates in the Italian Renaissance”

Despite his never writing a word for posterity, the influence of Socrates has extended far beyond his Athenian conversational partners. Just as a myriad of philosophers have seen themselves in the image of Socrates, they in turn have shaped Socrates into their own image. Denis Robichaud will discuss how Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) revived Platonism in the Italian Renaissance and decisively transformed how the figure of Socrates was understood.

Robichaud is the Phyllis W. G. Gordan/National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Rome Prize Fellow in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and associate professor in the program of liberal studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Basil Twist
“The Sacred and Sensual Roots of Puppetry”

Basil Twist will talk about his explorations in and around the phenomenon of puppetry; between abstraction and representation, animism and fetichism. He'll talk about his project here in Rome and resonances he is finding with postwar Italian visual artists. He will also demonstrate some simple acts of animation.

Twist is the Jesse Howard Jr./Henry W. and Marian T. Mitchell Rome Prize Fellow in Visual Arts and artistic director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE Arts Center in New York.

The shoptalks will be held in English. Watch this event live at https://livestream.com/aarome.