The UIC Barcelona Faculty of Humanities held a new edition of the Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Monday, January 22, with the title “The First Artistic and Literary Avant-gardes”. As always, the subject was chosen by faculty students with the aim of deepening and debating transversal themes of interest to them and students from all the faculties of the University.

“The two most common proposals by students this year were Nietzsche and the first artistic and literary avant-gardes. We saw that being two themes that could be united, it was a very interesting proposal that could suit everyone for this new edition of the Cross-Disciplinary Workshop”, commented Judith Urbano, dean of the Faculty of Humanities, during the presentation.

Urbano also stressed that on this occasion, unlike in other years, all the speakers are lecturers of UIC Barcelona “because this time we already have great experts at the University who could deal with the subject”, explained the dean. The art expert and coordinator of the Research Group History, Architecture and Design (GRHAD) focused on Pablo Picasso for her presentation about the beginnings of a painter who, as she explained, “experienced the avant-garde in Paris, but discovered modernism in Barcelona, where he had his first studio, being in contact with the Catalan modernists”.

Albert Moya, lecturer and vice-dean of the Faculty, also participated in the workshop with his lecture “Nietzsche’s Aesthetic Absolutism”, which analysed the relationship of the thinker with aesthetics and art. “Many early avant-garde artists are influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, although the thinker’s influence is not always recognised”, explains Moya.

Humanities lecturer Jordi Bermejo spoke about poetry and theatre in his lecture “Glass, not Garden: The Revolution of Form in Poetry and Surreal Futuristic Theatre”, in which he has focused on Italian futurists and French and Russian Dadaists and Surrealists. 

Finally, Alberto T. Estévez, lecturer at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, was the fourth speaker, and also focused on the German philosopher, with a lecture entitled “Through an Infinite Nothing”, which  dealt with the nihilistic ideas of the thinker and his influence on German expressionism.

The Humanities Cross-Disciplinary Workshop ended with a debate among the lecturers and students participating in the session.