Description du projet
Les graffitis, une nouvelle source pour l’étude du passé de l’homme
Contrairement à la signification contemporaine du terme «graffiti», les graffitis historiques ne sont pas associés à des comportements antisociaux ou illicites; il convient de les considérer comme des expressions de l’implication de personnes ou de groupes dans les valeurs incarnées par les bâtiments, ecclésiastiques ou séculiers, et les œuvres d’art que ces derniers abritent. Les considérant comme une source historique d’informations sur la vision du monde des personnes ou des communautés locales, le projet Graff-IT, financé par l’UE, s’intéressera tout particulièrement aux graffitis médiévaux et de la Renaissance (du XIIe au XVIe siècle), en élaborant la première enquête nationale sur les graffitis ainsi que ses archives numériques connexes. Les conclusions du projet seront diffusées dans le cadre d’ateliers, de publications et de conférences internationales, ainsi que d’un documentaire et d’une exposition virtuelle.
Objectif
In all modern languages, the word ‘graffiti’ is associated with social criticism, protest movements and vandalism. On the contrary, what historians call graffiti is unrelated to transgression. Nonetheless, contemporary and ancient graffiti share one important aspect: both are public writings, produced spontaneously and beyond any control from authorities. Graffiti give us access to the worldview of individuals in the past: this is why they are an important historical source, worthy of being considered, alongside the conventional sources.
The Graff-IT project aims to develop a new interdisciplinary approach to the study of medieval and Renaissance graffiti (7th-16th c.) as a historical source, in order to allow a correct contextualization of graffiti within their space-time and social production frame. The project will focus on the following objectives: 1) Giving graffiti full dignity as a written source and asserting the study of graffiti as intrinsic to palaeography; 2) Overcoming the atomistic approach to graffiti, in order to identify new textualities and new languages; 3) Reading graffiti as a source for the history of devotional practices; 4) Interpreting graffiti as signs of the socio-cultural identity of people and places; 5) Exploring graffiti to change our perception of historical artworks, shifting the focus from the creation stage to its social function and use over time.
The project will have an innovative and groundbreaking effect on the established method of historical investigation: different perspectives will merge towards an integrated approach that takes the multifaceted complexity of graffiti (writing, image, language, and material aspects) into account. Innovative tools and methods will be used to build out the first national graffiti survey and the related digital Archive. Other outputs are expected: 5 workshops; 2 international conferences and proceedings; a monograph; at least 15 open access articles; a virtual exhibition and a documentary.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
66013 Chieti
Italie