The new session of Centro Pecci School ARTE explores the relationship between artistic expression and activism, examining the strategies artists have developed to respond to moments of crisis and to imagine alternative futures — at times utopian, at times radically concrete.
Through the analysis of artistic practices and experiences of Italian activism between the 1980s and 1990s, the lecture reflects on art and participation as tools for public voice, community building, and the redefinition of political space.
The session unfolds around a series of key concepts and a constellation of central figures in the international artistic and activist landscape, including John Giorno, Nino Gennaro, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gran Fury, Porpora Marcasciano, Lina Pallotta, Francesco Torrini, and David Wojnarowicz, highlighting different ways of understanding the body as a space of resistance, memory, and transformation.