Le rappresentazioni della mascolinità nelle arti e nella cultura del Novecento

Seminar Series organized by Raffaella Perna and Claudio Zambianchi

  • Date:

    30 APRIL
    -
    19 MAY 2026
     from 16:30 to 18:30

  • Event location: Rectorate Building, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Rome

On Thursday 30 April and Tuesday 19 May, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm, the MLAC – Museum Laboratory of Contemporary Art of Sapienza University of Rome is pleased to host two seminars dedicated to representations of masculinity in the arts of the twentieth century, with the participation of Sergio Cortesini, Giuseppe Di Natale, Federica Muzzarelli and Federico Zappino.

The initiative is part of the third mission project Maschilità plurali, coordinated by Professor Romana Andò, and aims to explore the relationship between contemporary arts and the masculine canon. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the seminars critically reflect on cultural constructions of masculinity, relating them to the social and political transformations that marked the twentieth century.

The series combines art history, visual studies and critical theory, with an openness to research perspectives developed within Queer Studies and Feminist Studies. The meetings examine the ways in which the male body has been represented, often in subversive ways, in twentieth-century visual arts, through case studies ranging from photography to sculpture, illustration, performance and public art.

 

PROGRAMME

FIRST SESSION
30 April 2026, 4:30–6:30 pm

Institutional greetings: Francesca Gallo (Director of MLAC)
Moderator: Claudio Zambianchi (Sapienza University of Rome)

Presentations
Giuseppe Di Natale (University of L’Aquila),
Félix González-Torres: from the bedroom to public space. Gender identity as a device of political contestation

Federico Zappino (philosopher, translator),
Being a man: the male body and masculinity in Tom of Finland

 

SECOND SESSION
19 May 2026, 4:30–6:30 pm

Institutional greetings: Francesca Gallo (Director of MLAC)
Moderator: Raffaella Perna (Sapienza University of Rome)

Presentations
Federica Muzzarelli (University of Bologna),
Elio Luxardo. Masculinity and homoerotic performance in Italian photography during Fascism

Sergio Cortesini (University of Pisa),
Fascist charm? From the Stadio dei Marmi to homo-masculinity

 

 

Venue: MLAC – Museum Laboratory of Contemporary Art, Rectorate Building, University City, P.le Aldo Moro 5, Rome (entrance from the terrace at the rear of the Rectorate building, accessible via the external side staircases).

Website: www.museolaboratorioartecontemporanea.it
Press office: mlac@uniroma1.it
Facebook: @MLAC – Museum Laboratory of Contemporary Art
Instagram: @museomlacsapienza
X (Twitter): @museomlac

 

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