Straniere: the reception of non-European arts and cultures in Italy (1945-2000)

The project – presented by the University for Foreigners of Siena (PI: Caterina Toschi) together with the Universities of Parma (coordinator: Alessandra Acocella) and Udine (coordinator: Luca Pietro Nicoletti) – is the recipient of a PRIN PNRR 2022 grant awarded by the Ministry of University and Research and the European Union (NextGeneration EU). 

The project aims to offer an initial reconnaissance of the different visual, critical and exhibition readings that have been produced in Italy of non-Western arts, investigating some case studies inherent to the history of the market, exhibitions, publications, artistic and photographic research that have presented non-Western works and artifacts or have absorbed their characters, thus introducing in Italy new interpretative and representative paradigms of these “foreign” arts that differ from the current canons of national culture. In March 2023 the University for Foreigners of Siena organized a first conference on these issues in Siena (link to program), the proceedings of which are soon to be published by Quodlibet (series Biblioteca Passaré. Studi di arte contemporanea e arti primarie).

In the twenty-four months of work, the main milestone, and thus the main goal of the project, will be to create a digital archive, in collaboration with CNR ISTI and Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities (AIMH), in which visual and textual sources documenting forms of reading, interpretation, paraphrase or presentation in Italy of non-European arts and cultures from 1945 to 2000 will be investigated, digitized and annotated.The project was presented at the Digital Heritage – International Congress 2025.

The main public and private archival holders involved in the project are:

• the Fondazione Centro Studi sull’Arte Licia e Carlo Ludovico;
• the Cesare Brandi Photo Library at the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena;
• the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia | FAF Toscana;
• the CSAC - Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the University of Parma;
• the Archivio Luciano Caruso;
• the Fondazione Passaré per la Promozione e lo Sviluppo delle Arti Primarie;
• the Fondazione Sangregorio Giancarlo;
• the private archival collections of a selection of artists, photographers, art historians, dealers and collectors, architects and designers interested in the themes investigated.

In addition to the archives, the project partners, who have expressed interest, are:

• the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz;
• the Museo delle Civiltà of Rome;
• the Mudec – Museo delle Culture of Milan;
• the Museo d’Arte Cinese ed Etnografico di Parma;
• the MUSEC – Museo delle Culture di Lugano;
• the Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia.

Research Unit

Siena University for Foreigners
Principal Investigator: Caterina Toschi
Research Assistants: Yasmin Riyahi, Andrea Lanzafame

University of Parma
Coordinator: Alessandra Acocella
Research fellow: Alessandro Ferraro

University of Udine
Coordinator: Luca Pietro Nicoletti
Assignee: Alberto Vidissoni

Related projects 

1. The PRIN 2022 project entitled BorderArt(E)Scapes. Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Borderscapes: from the late nineteenth century to the 2000s, reading contemporaneity and experimenting with new research practices  (PI: Giorgio Bacci, University of Florence; Associated PI, University for Foreigners of Siena: Caterina Toschi; research fellow: Biancalucia Maglione).

2. The two-year project supported by the Tuscany Region and the Galileo Museum in Florence entitled Eco-subsistences: the reinterpretation of “emptiness” in Laura Grisi's research (scientific coordinator: Caterina Toschi; research fellow: Livia de Pinto).

3. The two-year project supported by the Tuscany Region and the Fondazione Museo Archivio Richard Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia entitled A digital exo-archive: the reception of non-European cultures in Richard-Ginori ceramics (1923-2000) (scientific coordinator: Caterina Toschi; research fellow: Biancalucia Maglione).

4. The annual project supported by Fondazione Centro Studi sull'Arte Licia e Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti entitled Straniere in Italy: the contribution of Licia Collobi and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti (1945-1987) (scientific coordinator: Caterina Toschi; research fellow: Rachele Zanone).