The ‘Advanced Course in Visual Arts Publications’ are a series of catalogues documenting the exhibitions of the artists invited as Visiting Professor, the end-of-course exhibition, the conferences and seminars held each year on occasion of the Advanced Course in Visual Arts. The bilingual series (Italian/English) offers a panorama on the work of some internationally recognised artists, on the research of the young artists participating in the course and at the same time on some of the more interesting theoretical-critical debates today. The critical interventions and the editing of the volumes are by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Angela Vettese and Anna Daneri.
- Haim Steinbach -

 Taking a text by anthropologist Marc Augé as departure point, Haim Steinbach guided the students to the discovery of the value of the object, and at the same time, of their own personal artistic attitudes. A theoretical and practical route where Steinbach’s research, striving to investigate the boundaries of artistic practice through mechanisms of display that confound disciplinary spheres, is transmitted through just this idea that the production of art has to measure itself against the most diverse problematics: objects, places, social relations and even non-places. The conference theme was the cinema (Francesca Archibugi) its relationship with making art (Dimitris Kozaris) and the use of writing in contemporary art (Marco Senaldi).

160 pag., 64 colour and b&w illus., paper binding, Euro 28,41
- Hamish Fulton -

Ieri, oggi o domani? (Yesterday, today or tomorrow?) was the seminar conducted at Como by Hamish Fulton, artist famous for his artistic practice based on walking. The title suggested the effect of confusion created by the experience of walking the same route for 14 consecutive days, altogether for the whole day. An Zen exercise, also an extremely tough one, culminating in personal meditations and group reflections on the theme of nature, life, art and the relationship between them. The 1998 course saw an innovation in the programming of the conferences. Alongside important figures of contemporary art, like Kasper König (intervening on ten years of Portikus) representatives from other disciplines were invited to contrast with the art world: the first window was on sociology, with a study on games (Alessandro Dal Lago).

172 pag., 102 colour and b&w illus., paper binding, Euro 28,41
- Allan Kaprow -

Under the banner of the art/life relationship, the workshop directed by Allan Kaprow (one of the most influential postwar artists, initiator of the happening and the environment), involved the participants in a series of theoretical and practical activities aimed at acquiring a greater awareness of the most common everyday gestures. This allowed a strong group dynamic to develop, resulting in the Collective Environment exhibition. The two participating curators historically researched the relationship between art and society (Jan Hoet) and revealed the theoretical organisational mechanisms that governing the great exhibition events like the Venice Biennial(Giorgio Verzotti).

210 pag., illus. 50 colour and b&w, paper binding, Euro 20
- John Armleder -

Coming from the Fluxus experience, John Armleder structured the 1996 seminar on the teaching of creative liberty, giving life to a lively polyglot workshop. The end-of-course exhibition, from the title A month on the lake, saw indeed the teaming of expressions of different personalities, who used the most varied means, in some cases intentionally experimental. The critical interventions concerned themselves with the relationship between art and fashion ( Olivier Zahm), the role of the object in contemporary art (Giorgio Verzotti) and the theme of the new exhibition forms (Hans Ulrich Obrist); those of Liam Gillick and Carsten Holler gave the opportunity of witnessing two very different approaches to artistic research.

216 pag., illus. 53 colour and b&w, paper binding, Euro 20
- Joseph Kosuth -

The seminar held by Joseph Kosuth in 1995 was entitled Lavoro Localizzato (Localised Work), the intention being to bring the problematic connected to the ideation and realisation of an artwork to light. During the course of the seminar each artist devised a written project which was then presented in the end-of-course exhibition next to the realisation of that work executed by another artist. The critics and curators invited developed diverse themes: art as research tool towards a quality of perception close to the common centre of every social existence (Francesco Bonami); the meaning and problematic tied to the planning of important contemporary art exhibitions (Iwona Blazwick); the birth of a relational aesthetic that creates new models of sociality (Nicholas Bourriaud); the state of artistic research in contemporary Russia (Vikto Misiano).

94 pag. (Vol. I) 153 pag. (Vol. II), illus. 60 b&w, hardback with box, Euro 30

- Ilya Kabakov -

Ilya Kabakov concentrated on his own method of work which centers on two underlying concepts: total installation as a new artistic form which makes the work three-dimensional and pushes it towards occupying and transforming entire physical spaces, and the concept of the "spirit of the place", something which any artist intent on intervening on a public place should be capable of interpreting. Invited speakers highlighted the significance of history, its ramifications for the future of art and museums (Boris Groys), and its impact on the transformation of society (Giairo Daghini). The catalogue documents the entire body of lessons held on the Spirit of the Place and the complete public artworks realized by the great Russian artist.

372 pag., illus. 144 color, paper binding, Euro 38,73

- Marina Abramovic -


152 pag., 88 illus. color, paper binding, Euro 28