This scholarly conference, convened by Bruno Reichlin and Letizia Tedeschi, seeks to illuminate the complexity inherent to the notion of the “synthesis of the arts,” which emerged in the years 1945–68 in Europe and America. This two-and-a-half-day conference will define its specific characteristics and theoretical moorings and trace similarities and differences compared with analogous situations in the past. Soon after World War II, architects, artists, and visual operators active in many different art forms, together with influential critics, began to promote a new form of collaboration that affected their work on the level of programs, practices, contents, artistic languages, materials, production strategies, potential synergies, and much else. Despite certain critical problems, the term that more than any other most clearly expresses this period, when viewed from this standpoint, is “synthesis of the arts,” sometimes equated with the rebirth in other forms of the Gesamtkunstwerk that had ushered in the art of the twentieth century. Speakers include Yve-Alain Bois, Jean-Louis Cohen, Dietrich Neumann, and Giorgio Ciucci.

Locations

Wednesday, October 29
American Academy in Rome

Thursday, October 30
American Academy in Rome

Friday, October 31
Istituto Svizzero
Villa Maraini, Via Ludovisi, 48

The event is organized in collaboration with the Archivio del Moderno at the Università della Svizzera Italiana and the Istituto Svizzero.