W ROME

Collect, transcribe, and publish unofficial inscriptions on display

Workshop, March 3–5, 2020

Académie de France à Rome

Named after a symbol that is ubiquitous in Italian public spaces—the letter W, an abbreviation of the interjection “Viva,” is not historically part of the Italian alphabet—this research workshop brings together researchers, historians, anthropologists, artists, and designers to explore questions raised by the unofficial inscriptions on display.

It takes place in Rome, a city historically regarded as a “city of writing,” where spaces for official writing have been carefully designed and organized, and where, in response, freer forms of writing have emerged.

The goal of this research workshop is to deepen understanding and knowledge of unofficial public inscriptions by sharing and examining the protocols used: methods of documentation, survey, and inventory; indexing and restoration—which have transformed these unique works into subjects of study—while also highlighting their formal and aesthetic qualities.

 

Tuesday, March 3

9:30 a.m. Welcome for participants

Stéphane Gaillard, Acting Director of the French Academy in Rome

Introduction

Francesca Alberti, Thomas Huot-Marchand

W VV ViVa evviva!

Charles Mazé, Coline Sunier

 

10:00 a.m. Case Studies

Raffaella Sarti , Carlo Bo University of Urbino

Court Life on the Walls: The Graffiti of the Ducal Palace in Urbino

Éloïse Letellier-Taillefer, Sorbonne University – EA Rome and Its Renaissances

The Graffiti in the Theater Corridor at Pompeii: Tracing the History of an Ancient Public Space

Simon Boudvin, National School of Landscape Architecture in Versailles

Tyndo of Thouars

 

Wednesday, March 4

2:00 p.m. Case Studies

Omar Borretaz , Aosta Regional Library

All those who speak ill of us here…. The Graffiti at Issogne Castle (Aosta Valley, Italy)

Giovanna Fiume, University of Palermo

Graffiti, drawings, and wall inscriptions by prisoners of the Holy Office in Palermo (17th–18th centuries 17th–18th centuries)

Philippe Artières, CNRS , at IRIS

A Plaque for Paul Gény: A Look Back at an Epigraphic Fiction

Francesca Alberti , French Academy in Rome; Diane Bodart, Columbia University

In the Shadow of the Studio: Sketches and Drawings in the Margins

 

Thursday, March 5

7:00 p.m. Thursday at the Villa Medici

David Reinfurt, Princeton University

Design as Art as Research

The workshop is organized by: Francesca Alberti, Académie de France in Rome – Villa Medici; Coline Sunier, Toulouse Higher Institute of the Arts (isdaT); Charles Mazé and Thomas Huot-Marchand, National Typographic Research Workshop (ANRT); and ENSAD, Nancy.

 

For more information: Patrizia Celli [email protected] [+39] 06 67 61 245

French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, Viale Trinità dei Monti 1 – 00187 Rome

Free admission, subject to availability

*The tours and workshop are reserved for speakers

 

© Charles Mazé & Coline Sunier