Social Aesthetics Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Economics – Sapienza University of Rome
Scientific Director
Letteria G. Fassari, Sapienza University of Rome
Coordinator
Gioia Pompili, Sapienza University of Rome
Scientific Board
- Dominik Bartmansky, Harvard University
- Paolo Do, University of Trento
- Martina Löw, TU/SFB, Berlin
- Maria Marsella, Sapienza University of Rome
- Emanuela Spanò, University of Cagliari
- Jelena Stefanovic, University of Milan
PhD Students
- Lorenzo Alvisi, Sapienza University of Rome
- Laura Di Passio, Sapienza University of Rome
About
Founded in 2019, the Social Aesthetics Research Unit draws inspiration from Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin, Jane Addams and many other transdisciplinary thinkers.
Rather than simply tracing parallels between society and aesthetics, we investigate how the two are deeply intertwined. We explore how forms of knowledge — such as eidetic intuition, imagination, symbolization, and affectivity — play a role in processes of social change.
The research work positions itself at the intersection of cultural sociology, the sociology of space, aesthetics and philosophy, artistic and psychoanalytic perspectives, environmental studies, and urban studies.
It engages with a broad spectrum of disciplines, including art history, sociology, architecture, aesthetics, philosophy, film, and theater.
Our Aims
- Investigate how aesthetic experience permeates and reshapes social life
- Understand the institutional and social consequences of contemporary aesthetic practices
- Articulate aesthetics and ethics, the symbolic and the affective as well as the imaginary and the collective desires
Research Fields
- The aestheticization of everyday life and its socio-cultural implications
- The sensory structures and infrastructure of urban space, and the atmospheres of dwelling
- Aesthetic judgment as a relational and positional practice
- Contemporary artistic production as a critical space for social design and experimentation
Activities
- Research and experimental projects
- Workshops, lectures, walks, and interdisciplinary labs
- Exhibitions and socially engaged art
- Reading rooms and alternative learning environments
Network
The Unit actively engages in dynamic collaborations with universities, foundations, research centers, and museums. We are committed to the idea that knowledge emerges through exchange between artists and scholars, and that the aesthetic realm is a privileged site for fostering new forms of connection, critique, and imagination.
2025 - 2023
In collaboration with Martina Löw, Dominik Bartmanski, Gunter Weidenhaus, Vivien Sommer, and Séverine Marguin and other colleagues from the Collaborative Research Centre 1265 Re-Figuration of Spaces, we investigate the different aspects of public space with reference to its quality.
Link: https://sfb1265.de/en/
In collaboration with Valentina Galeotti and other members of the Roman Psychoanalytical Society – Elsa Morante, an open forum has been established for the city of Rome, based on plurality and the intersection of different perspectives on care, disciplines, sensibilities, and knowledge. All these initiatives delved into issues related to art, performance, and social aesthetics.
Link: https://www.lesocietadipsicoanalisi.it/societa/sede-roma.html
Events:
Workshop Hologramatic quality of public space, Dipartimento Scienze Sociali ed Economiche, Centro Congressi Via Salaria 113, Sapienza Università di Roma. 31 marzo 2022 – 02 aprile 2022.
Link: https://disse.web.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/SFB_Disse_Programm_RomeWorkshop_3.pdf
Workshop Quality of Space. Different Meanings - Conflicts and Solidarity, CRC 1265, Technische Universität, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1,10587 Berlin. 25 maggio 2023 – 26 maggio 2023.
Link: https://sfb1265.de/en/events/workshop-quality-of-space-different-meanings-conflicts-and-solidarity/
Projects:
Defining the 'hologramatic' quality of Public Spaces. A Comparative Study between Rome and Berlin. Progetto grande di Ateneo, Sapienza. Anno 2020
Mapping Together: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Visualizing Urban Spaces. Progetto grande di Ateneo, Sapienza. Anno 2024
Events:
L’Inconscio e la Città, Società Romana di Psicoanalisi e Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali ed Economiche, Sapienza. 25 marzo 2025.
L’Altra scena. Regie dell’inconscio tra psicoanalisi e cinema, Società Romana di Psicoanalisi. Ciclo di incontri, gennaio 2024 – settembre 2024.
L’atto creativo tra contingenza e necessità, Società Romana di Psicoanalisi e Accademia Nazionale di San Luca. 20 settembre 2023.
Link: https://accademiasanluca.it/iniziative/eventi/evento/l-atto-creativo-tra-contingenza-e-necessita
Presentazione del libro di Chiara Trivelli Contenuto Rimosso. Il fuoco nel Quadrato. Viaindustriae Publishing, 2023. MLAC – Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5. 19 aprile 2024.
Link: http://www.museolaboratorioartecontemporanea.it/evento/presentazione-del-libro-contenuto-rimosso-il-fuoco-nel-quadrato-di-chiara-trivelli/
Publications:
Fassari L. G., Löw M. (Eds.), The social quality of public space. Integration, Strategy, Subjectivation, Routledge, Londra, 2025.
Fassari L. G. (con Spanò E.), Il sociale nell’arte, l’arte del sociale, Serie Sociologia dello Spazio, Carocci Editore, Roma, 2025.
Fassari L. G., Löw M., Pompili G., Spanò E. (Eds.), Re-thinking the quality of public space, Quaderni di Sociologia, Vol. 91-92-93.
Fassari L. G. (con Pompili G.), “Performing Muslimness: Proximity and Visibility in the Italian Space”, in Sharma S., Llewellyn D., Hawthorne S. (a cura di), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender and Sexuality, 263-278, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.
Fassari L. G., “Placing performance into a distressed space: the case of San Berillo”, in Bartmanski D., Füller H., Hoerning J., Weidenhaus G. (a cura di), Considering Space. The spatial refiguration of the social, 256-269, Routledge, Londra, 2023.
Fassari L. G., “Art as a social performance in trans-media cities”, in Benincasa C., Neri G., Trimarchi M. (a cura di), Arts and Economics in the city. New cultural maps, 163-179, Transcript Verlag Collana Urban Studies, Bielefeld: Columbia University Press, 2023.
Fassari L. G., “Le pratiche di temporalità nell’opera”, in Galeotti V. (a cura di), Err scritture dell‘imprevisto, numero 2, vol. 2, 2023.
Fassari L. G. (con Pompili G.), “Corpi, Performance, Immaginari. La riflessività estetica delle musulmane in Italia”, Edizioni Altravista, Pavia, 2019.