Seminar series “Memories Images Territories. Practices of collaboration, restitution and knowledge sharing through visual sources.”

In a contemporaneity characterized by the dematerialization and overcrowding of images, created and enjoyed in an immediate way, mainly through digital tools and environments, what social role do images of the past play?The seminars, multidisciplinary in nature, will aim to present different experiences and case studies to investigate the multiple ways images (photographic and filmic, amateur or auteur) have to contribute to research in collaboration with the communities involved, and in what ways they can be valorized, reread, reinterpreted, produced and shared for the creation of knowledge and the activation of collective histories and memories.

The seminar series, organized by Chiara Scardozzi, will be held as part of the Visual Anthropology course and will be open to the public who wish to attend subject to availability. Five meetings are scheduled:

• Nov. 19, 2024, 9 a.m. - Aula Grande - Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Michele Smargiassi, journalist, popularizer of visual culture, author of Fotocrazia (column in “La Repubblica”).

  There are no private photos. Personal archives and public space, from the family album to social.

• November 27, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - Aula Grande - Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Giuseppe Savini (curator and creator of the project), Rita Nobili (deputy director Rocca dei Bentivoglio Foundation) and Lorenzo Paglia (videomaker, director of the documentary “A Dream in Crespellano.)

       The rediscovered photographic archive of Francesco Dondarini and its restitution to the community of Crespellano (BO).

• December 3, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - Aula Grande - Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Pietro Cingolani (Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna), Chiara Pilotto (Department of Education Studies “Giovanni Maria Bertin,” University of Bologna), Viviana Gravano (Academy of Fine Arts of Florence), Mohamed Keita (independent photographer).

        Photographic images, migrations and paths of memory.

• December 4, 2024, 9.00 a.m. - Aula Grande - Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Alessandra Gribaldo (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), Paolo Simoni and Ilaria Ferretti (Home Movies Archive - Bologna).

  Home movies: potential of the archive, potential of research.

• Dec. 11, 2024, 9.00 a.m. - Aula Grande - Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Federica Landi (photographer and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino).

  Photography/listening/gesture

Following the success and excellent attendance recorded during the seminar series held between November and December 2024, a new edition is proposed, consisting of four sessions of two hours each.
The meetings will take place within the course Visual Anthropology (MA) and will be open to the interested public. The first three meeting will be held in Italian, the last in English.

This edition will be characterized by the participation of a greater number of international guests, with the aim of enriching the educational offer and fostering the creation of an international network.

Invited Speakers and Topics

Giovanna Micarelli (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana – Institute of Advanced Studies Fellowship Grant)
“The Path of the Maloca: Living Knowledge to Heal the Territory and Build the Future (Colombian Amazon)”
📅 19 November 2025, 9:00–11:00
📍 Aula Grande, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2
🔗 Event link

Valentina Vannicola (Independent Photographer)
“Text and Community in the Photographic Gesture: Participatory Processes and Visual Narration”
📅 26 November 2025, 9:00–11:00
📍 Aula Grande, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2
🔗 Event link

Francesca Delneri, Valentina Gabusi, Michele Lapini – editors of the volume “Sovversivi e sovversive. Storia, memoria e cura” (Pendragon, 2025)
Discussion of the volume, with the participation of Michele Smargiassi and Toni Rovatti.
📅 3 December 2025, 9:00–11:00
📍 Aula Grande, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2
🔗 Event link to be provided

Arnd Schneider (University of Oslo)
“Uneven Artistic Hermeneutics Between Collecting and Restitution: The Work of Teresa Pereda”
📅 10 December 2025, 9:00–11:00
📍 Aula Grande, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2
🔗 Event link to be provided