Courses 2019-2020

The school teaches an annual programme divided into two seasonal Courses: one in the autumn dedicated to Solids and one in the spring dedicated to Trees. Each Course is subdivided into 3 sessions of four days each, from Tuesday to Friday, in which participants are guided toward learning and experimenting with Leonardi’s working method, aiming to provide instruments that nourish a coherent personal research.
For this reason participants are asked to apply by submitting an individual project relevant to the topics of craftsmanship and landscape; this could be a project that they have already initiated or that they would like to initiate.
Selected participants will develop their own projectuality engaging with Cesare Leonardi’s work through workshops and the discussion with lecturers.

During the lesson periods there will be opportunities for exchange and discussion with designers, craftsmen, and artists. 
The teaching programme is supported by regular study visits to places that are relevant to the subject covered, and promotes a direct knowledge of the Archive’s materials. Participants can also take part in public initiatives organized by the school including complementary courses, workshops, conferences, and master classes.

The lecturers are architects, artists, craftsmen and researchers selected by Archivio Leonardi and Amigdala for their methodological relevance to Cesare Leonardi's work. The courses are co-ordinated by the architects Andrea Cavani and Giulio Orsini, founders and curators of Archivio Leonardi, and by Federica Rocchi, Director of Amigdala - Periferico Festival.

OvestLab is a former crafts workshop located in the Villaggio Artigiano Modena Ovest, a trade district designed in 1953 by Mario Pucci and a symbolic place in the history of the economic and social development of the city. It was the first prototype artisan village in Italy, a suburb that gave form to a model of development capable of combining life and work, manual skills and business, production chain and community spirit. At OvestLab the students of the School will have access to a shared work space where they can learn, design, and experiment. Conceived as a crafts workshop, the space provides the basic equipment and materials to create models and prototypes, along with workstations where they can study and draw.