Itinera
Not a member yet
571 research outputs found
Sort by
The Senses of the World. Art Confronting Data
No full textThe current era is characterized by the production of vast amounts of data across all sectors of society. This is made possible by ubiquitous technologies that can collect data from every human and non-human entity on the planet, as well as any environmental phenomena. Artistic practice offers a suitable platform for the endeavour to isolate specific expressive and signifying features from this indistinct mass of data. This paper focuses on a relatively overlooked field of research, where technology interacts with abstract data to extract what I propose to define as their “aesthetic sense”. Such an expression addresses the peculiar dynamics enabling art to move beyond the purely informative function of data, towards a different goal – designing experiences that turn the audience into perceptive participants, engaged in the otherwise imperceptible events and relations that are recorded and communicated by data. Technologies thus become media of polyphonic expression, able to give voice to other ways of feeling and being in the world. Emerging through computation is a sort of feeling that permeates the entire fabric of reality, of which any entity in the universe can become the protagonist. As a result, art stands out as a privileged gateway to a particular experience of reality. This kind of experience will be theoretically analysed in the present essay starting from the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, specifically from his notion of “feeling”.The current era is characterized by the production of vast amounts of data across all sectors of society. This is made possible by ubiquitous technologies that can collect data from every human and non-human entity on the planet, as well as any environmental phenomena. Artistic practice offers a suitable platform for the endeavour to isolate specific expressive and signifying features from this indistinct mass of data. This paper focuses on a relatively overlooked field of research, where technology interacts with abstract data to extract what I propose to define as their “aesthetic sense”. Such an expression addresses the peculiar dynamics enabling art to move beyond the purely informative function of data, towards a different goal – designing experiences that turn the audience into perceptive participants, engaged in the otherwise imperceptible events and relations that are recorded and communicated by data. Technologies thus become media of polyphonic expression, able to give voice to other ways of feeling and being in the world. Emerging through computation is a sort of feeling that permeates the entire fabric of reality, of which any entity in the universe can become the protagonist. As a result, art stands out as a privileged gateway to a particular experience of reality. This kind of experience will be theoretically analysed in the present essay starting from the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, specifically from his notion of “feeling”
The Grotesque as a Critical Lens on Reality: From the Aesthetic Category to the Cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos
No full textThe aesthetic category of the grotesque has traversed the centuries, adapting to different genres and historical, philosophical, and artistic contexts, while maintaining its ability to reflect on the human condition and its contradictions through degradation, distortion, and transgression.This essay aims to analyze the grotesque as a critical lens on reality, free from judgments and rules, with particular attention to the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos, in which it becomes a privileged tool for deconstructing social conventions and power mechanisms. In works such as Dogtooth and The Lobster, dynamics of power, madness, hypocrisy, loneliness, and alienation emerge, revealing a society built upon human fragility; whereas in The Favourite and Poor Things! the grotesque manifests itself through caricatural and paradoxical figures that challenge the very notion of normality. The goal is to show how, in Lanthimos’s film language and, more broadly, in any form of artistic expression, the grotesque assumes a critical and cognitive function, offering a perspective capable of illuminating contemporary reality in its ambiguous nature, constantly oscillating between the comic and the tragic, the absurd and the real.The aesthetic category of the grotesque has traversed the centuries, adapting to different genres and historical, philosophical, and artistic contexts, while maintaining its ability to reflect on the human condition and its contradictions through degradation, distortion, and transgression.This essay aims to analyze the grotesque as a critical lens on reality, free from judgments and rules, with particular attention to the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos, in which it becomes a privileged tool for deconstructing social conventions and power mechanisms. In works such as Dogtooth and The Lobster, dynamics of power, madness, hypocrisy, loneliness, and alienation emerge, revealing a society built upon human fragility; whereas in The Favourite and Poor Things! the grotesque manifests itself through caricatural and paradoxical figures that challenge the very notion of normality. The goal is to show how, in Lanthimos’s film language and, more broadly, in any form of artistic expression, the grotesque assumes a critical and cognitive function, offering a perspective capable of illuminating contemporary reality in its ambiguous nature, constantly oscillating between the comic and the tragic, the absurd and the real
Inverted Ekphrasis and Hallucinating Stochastic Parrots: Deleuzean Insights into AI and Art in Daily Life
Full text link
This study explores the potential of contemporary large language models (LLMs) to achieve Gilles Deleuze’s goal of integrating art into daily life. Deleuze’s philosophy, with its focus on creative repetition, finds a parallel in LLMs, which replicate and innovate artistic styles by transforming text prompts into various artistic expressions. Although LLMs can very effectively blend and mimic these styles, they remain mere tools – as suggested by the metaphor of a stochastic parrot; the true creative force remains the human artist. Currently, these models are experimental, and their artistic outputs, while impressive, are still viewed as pastiches rather than genuine art. Nonetheless, we can expect advances that may soon enable artists to use LLMs to create genuine artworks.
This study explores the potential of contemporary large language models (LLMs) to achieve Gilles Deleuze’s goal of integrating art into daily life. Deleuze’s philosophy, with its focus on creative repetition, finds a parallel in LLMs, which replicate and innovate artistic styles by transforming text prompts into various artistic expressions. Although LLMs can very effectively blend and mimic these styles, they remain mere tools – as suggested by the metaphor of a stochastic parrot; the true creative force remains the human artist. Currently, these models are experimental, and their artistic outputs, while impressive, are still viewed as pastiches rather than genuine art. Nonetheless, we can expect advances that may soon enable artists to use LLMs to create genuine artworks
Submerged aesthetics, emerging policies: the role of eco-art in marine conservation through The House of Fish project
No full textThis article explores how eco-art can meaningfully contribute to marine conservation by integrating aesthetic expression with ecological restoration and community engagement. Focusing on The House of Fish—an underwater sculpture park off the coast of Tuscany initiated by fisherman Paolo Fanciulli—the study examines how Carrara marble sculptures function as artificial reefs, deterrents to illegal trawling, and catalysts for sustainable tourism through practices such as pescaturismo. The project is situated within Italy’s broader tradition of environmentally engaged art, drawing on influences from Arte Povera and relational aesthetics to consider how artistic interventions can support ecological regeneration. In doing so, the paper highlights eco-art’s capacity to shift environmental narratives from abstract policy to tangible, place-based experience. It also assesses how such initiatives align with national and international policy frameworks, including Italy’s National Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, the article argues that eco-art is more than symbolic—it offers a compelling model for integrating cultural practice into environmental governance. To promote eco-art as a policy-supported practice, the article proposes a set of recommendations for adoption at both national and international levels.Estetica sommersa, politiche emergenti: il ruolo dell\u27eco-arte nella conservazione marina attraverso il progetto The House of Fish
Il presente articolo esplora come l’eco-arte possa contribuire in modo significativo alla conservazione marina integrando l’espressione estetica con il ripristino ecologico e il coinvolgimento della comunità. Concentrandosi su The House of Fish, un parco di sculture sottomarine al largo della costa toscana avviato dal pescatore Paolo Fanciulli, lo studio esamina come le sculture in marmo di Carrara fungano da barriere coralline artificiali, deterrenti alla pesca illegale con reti a strascico e catalizzatori per il turismo sostenibile attraverso pratiche come il pescaturismo. Il progetto si inserisce nella più ampia tradizione italiana dell’arte impegnata sul piano ambientale, attingendo alle influenze dell’Arte Povera e dell’estetica relazionale per considerare come gli interventi artistici possano sostenere la rigenerazione ecologica. In tal modo, l’articolo evidenzia la capacità dell’eco-arte di spostare le narrazioni ambientali dalla politica astratta all’esperienza tangibile e legata al luogo. Valuta inoltre come tali iniziative si allineino con i quadri politici nazionali e internazionali, tra cui la Strategia Nazionale per la Biodiversità italiana, la Direttiva Quadro sulla Strategia Marina dell’UE e gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile. In definitiva, l’articolo sostiene che l’eco-arte è più che simbolica: offre un modello convincente per integrare la pratica culturale nella governance ambientale. Per promuovere l’eco-arte come pratica sostenuta dalle politiche, esso propone una serie di raccomandazioni da adottare a livello nazionale e internazionale
Il molteplice umano
No full textThe article then examines how modern notions of human omnipotence persist and are reinforced by digital technologies, and argues for a shift toward new forms of interaction between humans and technological artefacts. Instead of domination or complete delegation, these relations should take the form of mobile, negotiated exchanges that preserve difference and enable creativity.
The article then examines how modern notions of human omnipotence persist and are reinforced by digital technologies, and argues for a shift toward new forms of interaction between humans and technological artefacts. Instead of domination or complete delegation, these relations should take the form of mobile, negotiated exchanges that preserve difference and enable creativity.
 
Immersion as Fiction: Divergent Uses of Emotion in Artistic and Occupational Virtual Reality
No full textThis paper investigates the relationship between immersion, emotion, and imagination in virtual reality (VR), focusing on two seemingly distant domains: Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s installation Carne y Arena (2017) and VR-based workplace safety training. Both cases demonstrate that simulated environments can elicit authentic emotional responses – such as fear, stress, or vulnerability – yet the implications of these experiences diverge sharply. Drawing on theories of presence and the “paradox of fiction”, we argue that VR should be understood not as a substitute for imagination but as a heightened form of fiction that depends on the user’s willingness to engage in make-believe. While Carne y Arena frames affect as an entry point for moral imagination within an explicit artistic and symbolic context, occupational safety training instrumentalizes emotion as a means of behavioral conditioning within a productivist framework. The danger in both domains lies not in immersive experience itself but in mistaking a single simulation for the fullness of lived reality.This paper investigates the relationship between immersion, emotion, and imagination in virtual reality (VR), focusing on two seemingly distant domains: Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s installation Carne y Arena (2017) and VR-based workplace safety training. Both cases demonstrate that simulated environments can elicit authentic emotional responses – such as fear, stress, or vulnerability – yet the implications of these experiences diverge sharply. Drawing on theories of presence and the “paradox of fiction”, we argue that VR should be understood not as a substitute for imagination but as a heightened form of fiction that depends on the user’s willingness to engage in make-believe. While Carne y Arena frames affect as an entry point for moral imagination within an explicit artistic and symbolic context, occupational safety training instrumentalizes emotion as a means of behavioral conditioning within a productivist framework. The danger in both domains lies not in immersive experience itself but in mistaking a single simulation for the fullness of lived reality
Charisma in conservation biology. Preliminary notes to an aesthetic-philosophical approach
No full textThe aim of this paper is to explore the notion of charisma in conservation biology.
In recent years, this notion has become very popular among conservationists, for example in the expression “charismatic megafauna.” In general, in conservation biology, species are described as “charismatic” when they exert a non-ordinary impact on humans – specifically in their capacity to capture attention, engage the imagination, and evoke memorable emotional responses.
Despite its widespread usage, the notion of charisma has, with few exceptions, received limited critical scrutiny so far from a conceptual and philosophical standpoint within the conservation sciences.
This paper sets out to begin that task, by returning to the Weberian origin of the concept and putting forward an interpretation of non-human charisma as an emergent, relational, context-dependent, and ecologically collective phenomenon.Il carisma nella biologia della conservazione. Note preliminari per un approccio estetico-filosofico
L’obiettivo del presente articolo è esplorare la nozione di carisma nella biologia della conservazione. Negli ultimi anni tale nozione ha acquisito grande popolarità tra i conservazionisti, come è possibile constatare ad esempio nell’espressione “megafauna carismatica”. In generale, nella biologia della conservazione, una specie è definita “carismatica” quando esercita un impatto non ordinario sugli esseri umani – in particolare nella capacità di catturare l’attenzione, stimolare l’immaginazione e suscitare risposte emotive memorabiliNonostante l’uso diffuso, la nozione di carisma ha ricevuto finora, salvo poche eccezioni, una scarsa attenzione critica da un punto di vista concettuale e filosofico all’interno delle scienze della conservazione. Il presente articolo si propone di avviare tale indagine, tornando all’origine weberiana del concetto e proponendo un’interpretazione del carisma non umano come fenomeno emergente, relazionale, dipendente dal contesto ed ecologicamente collettivo.
Estetica e Biodiversità. Esperienza estetica, cura e relazione per ripensare il futuro della Biodiversità
No full textEditorialeAesthetics and Biodiversity. Aesthetic experience, care and relationships to rethink the future of Biodiversity
Editoria
Biodiversity and the art of living. Food as an aesthetic and environmental experience
No full textBiodiversità e arte di vivere. Il cibo come esperienza estetica e ambientale
Questo saggio esplora il rapporto tra biodiversità e arte di vivere attraverso la lente del cibo, inteso sia come esperienza estetica che ambientale. Si inizia esaminando l\u27attuale crisi della biodiversità e la proliferazione dei sistemi alimentari industriali, che contribuiscono a stili di vita insostenibili e malsani. La dimensione estetica del mangiare viene poi analizzata alla luce del “capitalismo estetico” (Böhme) e delle pratiche di greenwashing che spesso esso comporta. All\u27interno del quadro teorico dell\u27estetica quotidiana (Berleant, Saito), il saggio propone una cultura e un\u27esperienza alimentare alternativa basata sui concetti di impegno e cura. Attingendo al concetto greco di diaita - inteso non semplicemente come regime alimentare, ma come stile di vita armonioso e consapevole - il saggio reinterpreta l\u27esperienza gastronomica come una pratica estetica incarnata e situata, capace di integrare sensorialità, etica e sostenibilità. In questo senso, il nutrimento non è più ridotto a un oggetto di consumo, ma viene ridefinito come una forma di aisthesis: un modo di conoscenza sensibile che rispetta e promuove la biodiversità sia naturale che culturale.This essay explores the relationship between biodiversity and the art of living through the lens of food, understood as both an aesthetic and environmental experience. It begins by examining the current biodiversity crisis and the proliferation of industrial food systems, which contribute to unsustainable and unhealthy lifestyles. The aesthetic dimension of eating is then analyzed in light of “aesthetic capitalism” (Böhme) and the greenwashing practices it often entails. Within the theoretical framework of Everyday Aesthetics (Berleant, Saito), the essay proposes an alternative food culture and experience grounded in the concepts of engagement and care. Drawing on the Greek notion of diaita — understood not simply as a dietary regimen but as a harmonious and mindful way of life —the essay reinterprets gastronomic experience as an embodied and situated aesthetic practice, capable of integrating sensoriality, ethics, and sustainability. In this sense, nourishment is no longer reduced to a consumable object but is redefined as a form of aisthesis: a mode of sensitive knowledge that respects and fosters both natural and cultural biodiversity
Le soglie del sé: una comparazione vegetale
No full textThe thresholds of the self: a vegetal comparison
The article, starting from a satirical quote of a comedy by Aristophanes that starts the reflection, analyzes the concept of sensation of self throughout the history of philosophy, exposes the different positions offered by the numerous authors who have treated it with different theories, and offers a comparison with plants (roses), hypothesizing that reproductive self-incompatibility could be a sort of sketched sensation of self that has allowed the biodiversity of the species. The reason that led to considering the vegetal comparison valid is this. The absence of a nervous system in plants has not in the least denied them some form of “cognition”. And what if this absence “revealed” or was in some way a good starting point to clarify the matter of the self?L’articolo, prendendo le mosse da una citazione satirica tratta da una commedia di Aristofane che offre uno spunto alla riflessione, analizza il concetto di sensazione di sé nel corso della storia della filosofia, espone le diverse posizioni offerte dai numerosi autori che lo hanno trattato con diverse teorie e offre un confronto con le piante (le rose), ipotizzando che l’incompatibilità riproduttiva possa essere una sorta di sensazione di sé abbozzata che ha permesso la biodiversità della specie. Il motivo che ha portato a considerare valido il paragone vegetale è il seguente. L’assenza di un sistema nervoso nelle piante non ha affatto negato loro una qualche forma di “cognizione”. E se questa assenza “rivelasse” o fosse in qualche modo un buon punto di partenza per chiarire la questione del sé