At the second written test of theState Examination for the Audiovisual and Multimedia address of the Liceo Artistico, the Ministry of Education proposed an interdisciplinary path centered on the theme of care. A broad theme, treated through different languages and artistic references, in a weave that involved music, visual arts, cinema and architecture. Guiding the reflection was Franco Battiato’s song La cura (The Cure ), published in 1996, a starting point for exploring the multiple declinations of a concept often reduced to the medical sphere alone. The reference to Battiato’s song opens up the possibility of rediscovering a deeper meaning of the term “cure.” A meaning that expands to the relational and existential sphere and is not exhausted only in the clinical dimension. The concept of care, as proposed in the exam outline, is also explored through the thought of Umberto Curi. The philosopher, in his essay The Words of Care. Medicine and Philosophy (2017), highlights how the Greek term therapeia indicates an action of service, of dedication to the other, while the Latin word “cure” recalls the idea of solicitude and attention. Caring, then, implies listening, time, responsibility, empathy and relationship.
In the context of the examination, the reflection becomes a cue to investigate how art and audiovisual communication have represented over time the gesture of caring, in all its meanings. The iconography of the embrace, for example, was brought to students’ attention through two emblematic works: Pablo Picasso’s The Embrace, created in 1903 and housed in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, and Diego Rivera’s The Embrace, dated 1923 and located in the Secretariate of Education Building in Mexico City. Two pictorial interpretations that are distant in time and style but share the centrality of the gesture that unites, protects and acknowledges the other.
Alongside the visual arts, the trial also suggested a comparison with contemporary photography, as in the case of Wolfgang Tillmans’ Lutz & Alex holding each other. The evocative and intimate image represents a form of emotional closeness that transcends genres and categories, focusing on the strength of the human bond. The theme of care has also been declined through the language of film, with references to works in which the relationship between characters is based on affective and formative reciprocity. In Discovering Forrester (2000), a film directed by Gus Van Sant, writer William Forrester, played by Sean Connery, establishes a relationship of trust and mentoring with Jamal, a young man from the Bronx with a great talent for writing. The young man manages to enter the writer’s life, breaking through his isolation and contributing to a profound inner transformation in a mechanism of mutual caring. In Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, the journey taken by a father and son through the places of memory becomes an opportunity to strengthen an emotional bond that time had frayed.
Finally, there is no lack of reference to the collective and environmental dimensions of caring, as in the case of urban planning and architecture. In particular, architect Renzo Piano is mentioned with his idea of “suburban mending” and “urban regeneration,” a concept that emphasizes the importance of intervening in the maintenance and enhancement of small things: from sidewalks to bike paths, from school places to public spaces of daily use. Landscaping and landscaping are thus associated with widespread attention to the quality of urban life and a sense of place.
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| Maturity reflects on 'cure' at Maturity: Battiato, Picasso and Rivera inspire Artistico |
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