"Roma = Parigi". The 1968 Movement and the Art Institutions in France and Italy: a Comparative Perspective 

Dr. Elisa Bassetto

The research project aims to analyse, according to an interdisciplinary approach which combines art history, history of culture and comparative history, the impact of the protests of the student movement on the Italian and French artistic institutions. The objective is to demonstrate the strong link between some of the outcomes of the “joli Mai” in France and the events that took place in Italy in 1968 and involved the main Italian art exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale and the Triennale di Milano. The research also aims to point out some common traits and differences between the position taken by the student movement and the ideas expressed by some of the greatest protagonists of art history and criticism since after the Second World War, such as Giulio Carlo Argan, Pierre Restany, Alain Jouffroy, Jean Dubuffet, Pino Pascali, Carla Lonzi and Lea Vergine, giving particular attention to the experience of the Parisian Atelier Populaire Ex-École des Beaux-Arts.