ITALY: Trash

About this Travel Course

Course Description

Studio work will engage trash as a starting point for art and design practices, including printmaking (monotype/cyanotype,) installation (interior/architecture/urban,) and collage. We will study the work of a number of Italian art movements of the 20th century that explicitly engaged discarded materials, such as “Arte Informale” (Alberto Burri,) Italian Pop (Mimmo Rotella,) and “Arte Povera” (Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, etc.)

We will immerse ourselves in the extraordinary wealth of Rome, its monuments, its art and architecture, its museums and galleries, its literature and cinema, its everyday life, its food, its people, and a whole lot more. Expanding the geography of the course, we will have two daytrips--to Sperlonga and to Citta di Castello (to visit the extensive collections and archives of Alberto Burri’s work)--and a 2/3-day tour of Naples, including Pompeii/Herculaneum.

Learning Outcomes

This course will bring students in direct contact with the art, culture and life of Rome through lectures and many outings in the city and the region, visits to museums and sites, encounters with people, readings, movies, meals and all sorts of other adventures. In response, students will produce a series of two-and-three-dimensional works using discarded materials.

By the end of the course, students will bring together all their production into a coherent work in visual, written, video, and/or web-based formats.

Students will learn:

• To engage an urban culture through visual and narrative work;
• To translate a broad cultural experience into a concrete creative and critical project; about the many layers of Roman experience, from its mythical origins, through its long history, all the way to its vibrant present as a contemporary city;
• To navigate a foreign environment and culture through an immersive experience;
• To live and work in a shared and collaborative environment with classmates from different disciplines and with different interests.

Eligibility

RISD Students

If your current cumulative GPA is 2.5 or above, you are eligible for registration. If your current cumulative GPA is lower than 2.5, you must first contact the Registrar at registrar@risd.edu to seek exception to this academic policy.

Non-RISD Participants

If you are a college student currently enrolled in another art/design college or institution around the world, or a professional practicing in the field, you are eligible for registration. We will collect a recommendation/support form from your institution/workplace.

In order to register for RISD Global summer studies, you are expected to have a high level of English (speech, writing, and comprehension) as all coursework and critique is delivered in English.

Attendance Policy

Global Summer Studios are three weeks long and take place in June/July, and you are required to attend all program activities scheduled during the travel course. RISD Global Summer Studios comply with RISD class attendance policy. In case of unexcused or multiple absences, you may be removed from the course, given a grade of “W" (withdrawal) or a grade of “F” (fail).

Withdrawal Policy

Requesting to withdraw from a RISD off-campus global learning program, including RISD Global Summer Studios, prior to the start of the course is highly discouraged and requires a formal process outlined in the RISD course withdrawal policy. It is not possible for a student to drop a RISD Global Summer Studios travel course via the standard Add/Drop process after it has commenced. In the case of unforeseen and extenuating circumstances (and only after students have spoken with the faculty lead and RISD Global for approval to withdraw from the program), students should be aware that no refund will be issued.

More Info

In order to reserve a seat, a non-refundable deposit of $1,500 is required at time of application submittal. Students will have 30 days from the date of their deposit to submit full payment. Students that fail to make full payment by their deadline will forfeit their $1,500 deposit and their seat in the course. New application submissions starting April 1 are not eligible to make a deposit and must make full payment by April 12, 2020.

All RISD students enrolled in RISD and other full degree schools/universities are required to remain in good academic standing in order to participate in Global Summer Studios. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required for all RISD students. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course.

In cases where summer travel courses and studios do not reach full capacity, the course may be cancelled after the last day of registration. As such, all students are advised not to purchase flights for participation in Global Summer Studios courses until the course is confirmed to run starting April 13, 2020.