Trinity's Barcelona site comprises two distinct tracks of study: Iberian studies and studio arts. All students in the program will take a custom-designed "core" course that highlights Barcelona's unique concern with public culture and the sustainability of a vibrant urban environment. Among other things, the core course will explore the identity and character of Barcelona's aesthetic culture as manifested in its long and rich art and architectural history, as well as its dynamic and active contemporary architectural and art scenes. It will also address the daily interface between Castilian and Catalan linguistic codes that has pushed Barcelona to the forefront of another issue of increasing relevance to the United States as a whole, and the city of Hartford in particular: the debate over the possibilities and limits of multilingualism. In short, the course aims to promote a coherent understanding of Barcelona-as city, society, history, and artifice.
The city itself will serve as a laboratory for each track in the core course. Iberian studies students will serve as interns at one of Barcelona's leading cultural institutions, while studio arts students will undertake a hands-on creative project centering on contemporary urban problems. Iberian studies students will choose their remaining course requirements from a variety of UPF courses and the following courses designed by the Hispanic Studies Program of UPF for the Trinity site: History of the City of Barcelona, Art History, Recent History of Spain, Economics and Society 20th-Century, and Literature of Spain. The number of direct enrollment UPF courses taken will depend on a student's level of Spanish language proficiency.
A list of appropriate courses will be determined prior to students' arrival in Barcelona in consultation with Trinity's on-site coordinator. Studio arts students will fulfill their remaining requirements by choosing two studio courses and will attend an intensive Spanish language course. Upon their return to Hartford, Trinity students from both tracks will be required to present a term project to the larger College community to complete the core course requirement.
