The researches in the field of vision conducted from 1919 by the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, founded by Vittorio Benussi at the University of Padua, had a remarkable and innovative impact. These researches went beyond the academic and disciplinary sphere and, starting in the 1960s, helped to stimulate a groundbreaking cultural and artistic scene, launching the city of Padua and its artists internationally.
This volume explores the relationship between the works, milieux and exhibitions of the Gruppo N—Alberto Biasi, Ennio L. Chiggio, Toni Costa, Edoardo Landi, Manfredo Massironi—active in Padua from 1960 to 1964, and the studies of Vittorio Benussi and the first scholars of his School: Cesare Musatti, Fabio Metelli and Gaetano Kanizsa, who was born in Trieste but graduated in Padua.

Contents

Preface

The Psychology of Perception at the University of Padua in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Enrico Giora e Andrea Bobbio

The Psychology of Perception at the University of Padua in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Elena Clara, Lucia Regolin, Giorgio Vallortigara

Metelli, Perception of Transparency Scientific Study Pioneer
Osvaldo da Pos

On Kanizsa Bistable Occlusion-Transparency Displays
Walter Gerbino, Paolo Bernardis, Andrea Dissegna, Carlo Fantoni

The Contribution of the Padua School of Psychology to Auditory Perception: Giovanni Bruno Vicario
Massimo Grassi

Alberto Argenton and His Research Paths: Psychology of Art and Painting
Laura Messina-Argenton, Tamara Prest, Ian Verstegen

A Tribute to Paolo Bozzi: Observation, Art and Expressive Qualities
Giulia Parovel

An Appraisal of Massironi
Ivana Bianchi

Art and Psychology from a Non-Accidental Viewpoint: Remembering Manfredo Massironi
Nicola Bruno

Visible, Invisible and Real. Figure-Ground Articulation and Dual Representation between Art and Science
Rossana Actis-Grosso

Light and Colour: a Lesson from the Visual Arts
Daniele Zavagno

From Perceptual Organization to Visual Illusions
Sergio Roncato, Baingio Pinna

Perception of Symmetry and the Visual Arts
Marco Bertamini

Eye Movements While Viewing Works of Visual Art
Giovanni Galfano

Gruppo N, Marina Apollonio and Surroundings

The Gruppo N and Gestalt Psychology
Guido Bartorelli

A Story of Continuous Openings: the National and International Artistic Relations of the Gruppo N
Federica Stevanin

Beyond Art Informel: When Enne (and Zero) Won the Biennale
Elisa Baldini

Gruppo N’s Participation at the 1964 Venice Biennale
Marta Previti

Environments
Barbara Luciana Cenere

Marina Apollonio. The Vertigo of Perception
Giuseppe Virelli

Umbro Apollonio: a Militant Art Critic at Padua University
Giovanni Bianchi

A Critical Voice: Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti
Alberto Cibin

Similar but not Identical: Optical Effects and Works of Art
Elisa Caldarola

Unexpected Convergences Between the Gruppo N and the Educational Experimentation in Veneto
Marnie Campagnaro

CATALOGUE

1. The Study of the Psychologyof Perception at the University of Padua and Gruppo N

Cesare Musatti and the Stereokinetic Movement
Fabio Metelli and Phenomenal Transparencies
Gaetano Kanizsa and Quasi-perceptual Margins
Psychology of Perception and Gruppo N

2. Gruppo N: Training and “Serial Exhibitions”

3. Programmed Art

4. The 1964 Venice Biennale

5. Marina Apollonio

6. Environments

Psychologists's Biographies

Artists's Biographies