Pietro Gaglianò’s New Book Explores Intersections of Art, Pedagogy, and Anarchy

Pietro Gaglianò, a contemporary art critic born in Vibo Valentia in 1975, has published a new book titled "La sintassi della libertà. Arte, pedagogia, anarchia" (Gli Ori, Pistoia, 2020, 256 pp., €25). The work, structured as a triptych, investigates connections and overlaps between art, pedagogy, and anarchy. Gaglianò argues that art is always part of an emancipation process, subjective or communal, and that it can inspire narratives countering dominant ones. The book examines encounters between art and anarchism from Gustave Courbet and the Paris Commune through 1968 to the present, as well as the presence of art in anarchist and libertarian pedagogy. Key case studies include Black Mountain College, feminist art projects of the 1970s, Allan Kaprow, Suzanne Lacy, Thomas Hirschhorn, and the Pedagogical turn linked to Claire Bishop's Social turn. Gaglianò, who studied architecture and contemporary dance, conducts pedagogical activities including university teaching, European education projects, and the Stand Up for Africa initiative involving Italian and refugee artists. He previously directed Nuova Didattica Popolare, an art education project in public space by Guilmi Art Project in Abruzzo. The book concludes that the artist's time does not always coincide with the revolutionary's time; art's time is always that of a revolution. The interview was conducted by Annalisa Trasatti.