A cycle of frescoes tells a story, a social media post amuses us, a reportage makes us feel indignant about what it bears witness to. We look at an image and grasp its meaning—most of the time—spontaneously and immediately.
But what allows a representation to signify? How can the arrangement of figures in a painting come together as a narrative? How does a meme manage to engage us? In what way does a photograph guide our attention?
Yet an image is not only what it represents: an abstract painting, an installation, a fashion collection, or an exhibition layout also speaks to us in some way. How can we learn to listen to the most fundamental language of the visible, made solely of lines, shapes, colors, and textures? Visual semiotics offers methods, models, and tools for looking consciously at what we see, grasping both the internal architecture and the uniquely effective power of each image—without forgetting that even the most realistic representation depends on a mixture of harmonies and contrasts, whether of brushstrokes or pixels.
Starting from a historical and theoretical framework, Inside the Image introduces this double perspective by putting it into practice through a series of examples drawn from a wide range of fields—from art to advertising, from photography to graphic design, from data visualization to generative images—in dialogue with current image studies.
5:00 pm
Valentina Manchia presents Inside the Image – The First Book on Visual Semiotics
in conversation with Michele Bertolino
6:00 pm
Special guided tour with the author of the exhibition Luigi Ghirri. Polaroid ’79–’83
Advance booking required ↗
Valentina Manchia è docente a contratto alla Scuola del Design del Politecnico di Milano, nel corso di Design del prodotto industriale dell’Università di Bologna e alla LUISS. Insegna inoltre agli ISIA (Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche) di Urbino e di Faenza. Dottore di ricerca in Semiotica e Comunicazione Simbolica, collabora con ilCentro di Ricerca interateneo CROSS. È autrice di Il discorso dei dati. Note semiotiche sulla visualizzazione delle informazioni (2020).