The Academy of Fine Arts is a public university for the study of visual arts. It is an institution included in the university sector (MIUR), in the sector of Higher Education in Art, Music and Dance (AFAM). The professor Vittorio Politano is the director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, who took office on the appointment of the Minister of Education, University and Research on November, 1 2017, after the election that saw the unanimity of the University professors Artistic, vote for it.
Director, tell us about your plans for the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro
Two years have passed since the beginning of my term as Director of the Academy of the capital of Calabria. We are working on the convergence of several AFAM and University Bodies, Institutions, based on the provisions of No. 508/99. We want to encourage the establishment of a national arts polytechnic, in order to launch integrated actions of educational activity, artistic and musical production, research and academic experimentation of a regional, national and international nature. For the artistic formation of the territory and of the “lovers of making art”, the Free School of Nude and that of the Landscape have been established which are open to the registration of workers or those who cannot afford the ordinary attendance of the lessons and therefore with evening courses.
Our students are involved and prepared to participate in competitions and awards for art and design of national and international importance. Often they are winners. The Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro is also a particularly complex institution. Its rich heritage of works of art and documents that it preserves, constitutes a fundamental place for the study of the arts and the arts in Catanzaro and in the Calabria region. The Accademia di Catanzaro is a recognized center of excellence of High Artistic Education, able to determine also a brake on the formative emigration of young Calabrians in other regions.
Catanzaro Academy has confirmed the Honoris causa diploma on the Catanzaro artist Mimmo Rotella, the musician Paolo Conte and the photographer Aurelius Amendola.
The headquarters of the Academy of Fine Arts
The headquarters of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro of about 3 thousand square meters. It is located in Via Tripoli at the corner of Via Gelso Bianco in the old quarter of the “Carmine”, in the building called “Ex Educandato” formerly Palazzo Fiorentino-Scoppa. The venue hosts the management, the student secretariat, the museum, the digital library, user services, the Design and Applied Arts department. Welcomes the schools of: scenography; fashion design; jewelery design; Graphic design. The School of Artistic Design for the company; computer games. The School of New Technologies for Art; School of Direction and the Department of Art Education with the School of Pedagogy and Didactics of Art.
The Headquarters is divided into four buildings and eleven different levels which can be accessed from five different entrances. The main entrance is via Gelso Bianco. An internal staircase of particular architectural value has been restored. All the renovation and restoration works have been designed by the Angotti and Tomassi studios and carried out respecting the original architectural peculiarities.
The former Educandato is one of the most beautiful real estate assets in the historic center of Catanzaro. It is based on an older core that has developed over the years following a variety of styles. From the imposing windows, one of the many overlooking Villa Trieste extends beyond the trees and the buildings towards the sea, the inlet that from the Gulf of Squillace runs along towards Isola Capo Rizzuto becoming a big hug in the Ionian. The students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, who are nourished by beauty to grow in their studies and training, will enjoy this panorama every day.
The Academy's courses
In the various curricula of the Schools, besides the theoretical subjects we find excellent educational workshops. Practical training places for generations of artists of the future. The Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro today is projected forward, towards the future, to better respond to its institutional mission of high education for what concerns teaching, research, experimentation, innovation and production in the field of arts. Just think of the activities of 3D modeling techniques, Rendering and digital illustration.
New techniques and technologies
New techniques and technologies of last generation useful for the acquisition and digitization of the state of places, find application in archaeological sites. Censor and digitally archive every element, compile complete and precise documentation, with virtual models of millimeter accuracy, translates into practical terms the possibility of being able to faithfully recover, monitor, restore or replicate. It will be possible, in fact, to preserve the original state of the works, and to have memory of them, thus avoiding the loss of unique and detailed architectural elements of our archaeological heritage.
Furthermore, the acquired material eventually becomes useful for the creation of virtual museums and virtual tours for online viewing and use, to the benefit of cultural and tourist advertising. I quote another course, that of Computer Games belonging to the School of New Technologies for Art, to say how we are keeping up with the times, with the creation of video games, a tool that allows us to get in touch with other universes.
Thanks to technological supports it is therefore possible to experience something that goes far beyond the real world. All this thanks to the great expansion of the training offer and to the increasingly close relationships established with public and private institutions.
Jewelry Design course
The Jewelry Design Course belongs to the School of Artistic Design for the company included in the Department of Design and Applied Arts. First of all, it has the objective of ensuring an adequate mastery of artistic methods and techniques. But also the acquisition of specific disciplinary and professional skills to provide design and expressive knowledge and methodologies in the use of tools, representation and artistic practices, with particular attention to industrial design and jewelery design.
Fashion Design course
Or the Fashion Design Course, set up to answer a request put in place by the school educational reality and the local work situation. Calabria boasts a centuries-old tradition in the art of weaving and fashion. But there can be no creativity and innovation without culture and knowledge.
A privileged place dedicated to "making art", the Catanzaro Academy sets itself the ambitious goal of forming new pictures of the production of the image, synthetically, not only, that is, in the vast sphere of the figurative arts, but also for that concerns creativity applied to the use of new media, advertising graphics, design, photography, cinema and television.
The formative peculiarity of the Academies, constituted by the “common language” of theoretical, planning and laboratory knowledge, is integrated and updated to the new socio-cultural and labor market needs, guaranteeing the possibility of strengthening the link between education and work. This ensures the connections of our reformed Institutes with other university institutions, businesses and intellectual workplaces. Finally, interconnections are established with the university faculties, both humanistic and technical-scientific, as well as collaborations with companies in the technological and telecommunications sectors or with the institutions responsible for protecting, enhancing and safeguarding the heritage.
The institution I lead has distinguished itself in the past for direct territorial experiences. Social integration events, environmental support, support for gender and social dynamics, legality support projects. The preparation of students from fragile, underdeveloped and marginalized regions is a priority and a mission. Programs and methods of the Academy are planned to guarantee students adequate preparation, both from a socio-cultural point of view and from a command of languages.
Does the Catanzaro Academy of Fine Arts collaborate with other organizations?
In recent years, collaborations with public and private organizations and companies have multiplied in order to allow all our students to do internships and particularly formative internships. My management has placed particular importance on the process of internationalization of academic studies and experiences. The exchange of students and teachers of other international institutions has been increased, both through the Socrates and Erasmus projects and the Turandot project, which has also opened its doors to relations with the Eastern world, in particular with China.
This Institute intends to internationalize the academic system, entering into bilateral and multilateral agreements with European institutions. Its aim is to promote the international dimension of studies and teaching with European and Asian institutions. The geographical area of reference in Europe is Portugal, Spain, Germany, England, France, Poland, Turkey and Malta. The possibility of addressing mobility also to institutions in areas of Asia, such as Japan, China, India and Korea, is not excluded. These exchanges will focus heavily on improving mutual study, training and research opportunities.
At the end of the course of study, on request, the Diploma Supplement is also issued. the "DS". It is a document established by the European Commission, by the Council of Europe and UNESCO within the framework of the Bologna Process, to facilitate the dissemination of European and international qualifications. I also want to inform potential users that the Catanzaro Academy is also the Test Center of AICA, the Italian Association for Informatics and Automatic Calculation.
Thank you for your time
Thanks to you for your sensitivity and for the space that your Magazine wanted to dedicate to the Catanzaro Academy of Fine Arts. I also thank all your collaborators. Allow me to greet also all the Italians scattered around the world. Thanks again and good job.
