Charles Deering Memorial Library, Evanston, Chicago (Illinois),
on February 26, 2026
The Department of Musicology of Northwestern University organizes the symposium on italian artist and composer Giuseppe Chiari (1926-2007)
Giuseppe Chiari in context
Intermedia practices and original findings in Northwestern’s Archives
on the occasion of the year of the centenary of his birth
Directed by Professor Ryan Dohoney, Dean of Faculty,
in collaboration with ICONE - European research center of History and Theory of the Arts of Università Vita- Salute San Raffaele of Milan and with the Department of French and Italian, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences,
The colloquium features invited speaker Professor Francesca Pola, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer Chair in Italian Studies 2016 at Northwestern.
The event will begin with a screening of Per Arco at 3:30 PM, followed by the symposium at 4:00 PM (CT).
The colloquium will provide a general overview of italian artist Giuseppe Chiari, situating him within the postwar avant-garde Fluxus and highlighting the distinctive features of his work. Emphasis will be placed on the interdisciplinary nature of his practice, spanning music, performance, and conceptual art, as well as on the specificities of his methods and the international scope of his connections. Particular attention will be given to Per Arco, a performance written by Chiari for cellist Charlotte Moorman (1933-1991). His works will be examined through visual examples, alongside a focused analysis of selected event scores and documented performances. In addition, the symposium will offer an in-depth engagement with selected archival materials, generously made available by Northwestern’s Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. These include artworks and items related to Giuseppe Chiari preserved notably in the Charlotte Moorman Archive and the John Cage Notations Project, which not only provide an exceptional resource for studying his practice but also illuminate the rich international network of collaborations, performances, and exchanges that shaped his work. These findings will directly inform and be integrated into the doctoral research project of Elena Colzi, Challenges of Innovation in the Cataloguing and Valorization of Historical–Artistic Heritage in Intermedial Archives: Between Visual Art, Music, and Performance, in the PhD Program of National Interest in Heritage Sciences at Rome Tor Vergata University and currently being carried out at Northwestern University as a visiting scholar. Within the framework of the symposium, she will present and discuss her approach to Chiari’s materials in dialogue with fellow PhD students Nancy Xu and Devin Kaveler fostering a comparative and Interdisciplinary exchange on methodologies for engaging with intermedial archival sources. The symposium will conclude with a roundtable discussion and audience Q&A.
