MUR Department of Excellence 2023-2027

What is a Department of Excellence

Departments of Excellence are identified and financed by MUR every five years as the best 180 departments of State universities. These departments stand out for the quality of the research produced and the quality of the development project submitted.

The arts and the digital shift: excellence of the Department of the Arts in 2023-2027

DAR has undergone a rapid process of renewal, integrating traditional arts studies with social, IT, political and historical competences.
The digital shift in the world of the arts calls for an effort to integrate interdisciplinary methodologies and knowledge so as to promote an innovative investigation of new fields. The Department has identified three research areas: 1. Art, visual culture and technology; 2. Data analysis; 3. Globalisation. It can count on three cross-sectional structures within the Department - La Soffitta, C.R.I.C. and DAMSLab - to promote the meeting and exchange of competences among teachers.

The strength of the Excellence Project lies in the consolidation of the DAR’s interdisciplinary vocation. In particular, the department's research focuses on analysing the transformation of the arts as a seismograph of the complexity of our age: artistic production is undergoing rapid transformation, dictated mainly by technological evolution and the accelerated circulation of people, ideas and heterogeneous cultural products.

DAMSLab and La Soffitta will serve as privileged spaces for workshops and seminars and for initiatives aimed at a wider public.
In addition to the recruitment of new teaching and administrative staff, the project includes numerous interdisciplinary teaching initiatives, infrastructural enhancements and actions to improve space efficiency, so as to make the department more functional, sustainable and accessible. This will result in a strong boost in terms of attractiveness and engagement of both students and citizens.