- Media and Cultural Studies, Art and Science, New Media Art, Art Theory, Technology and Society, Media Studies, and 36 moreNew Media, Media theory and Research, Digital Media & Learning, Interactive and Digital Media, Media Arts, New Media Art & Emerging Practices, Education, Contemporary Art, Human Evolution, Visual Communication, Media Education, Evolution and Human Behavior, Futurism, Symbolic Interaction, Holography, Technology And Culture, Life Sciences, Modeling and Simulation, Art History, Digital Media, Online Journalism, Digital Story Telling, Anthropology of the Senses, Communication, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Social Media, Technology, Cultural Theory, Visual Studies, Digital Humanities, Digital Arts, Experimental Media Arts, New Media Studies, Technoculture, and Video Gamesedit
- Since the ‘80s Pier Luigi Capucci (https://capucci.org) has been working on new media and new art forms, and on the r... moreSince the ‘80s Pier Luigi Capucci (https://capucci.org) has been working on new media and new art forms, and on the relationships among arts, sciences and technologies. He has been professor at the Universities of Rome “La Sapienza”, Bologna, Florence, SUPSI Lugano, Urbino and Udine. Currently he is Director at LABA Rimini. Since 2007 he has been working as a supervisor in the T-Node PhD Research Program of the Planetary Collegium (University of Plymouth), and from 2013 to 2018 he has been appointed as Director of Studies. He is a member of AICA (Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art).
He had courses, lectures, conferences, lessons, seminars and workshops in:
• Universities: Bologna, Milan (Polytechnic and State), Royal College of Art (London), Modena, Salerno, Florence, Udine, Genoa, São Paulo, Trieste, Chicago, Rome “La Sapienza”, Siena, Lake Forest College (USA), Urbino, Reggio Calabria, NETTUNO-Network for University Everywhere, Universität für Angewandte Kunst (Vienna), MHMK Macromedia Hochschule für Medien und Kommunikation (München), SUPSI Lugano, The Fields Institute for Mathematical Sciences (Toronto), University of Western Australia (Perth), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim), Plymouth University, Gelişim University (Istanbul), Witwatersrand University (Johannesburg), Quasar Design University (Rome), Sabancı University (Istanbul), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brasil), Duke University (USA), Politecnico Turin.
• Fine Arts Academies and ISIA: Bologna, Rome, Naples, Turin, Urbino, Milan (Brera e NABA), Rimini (LABA), Venice, Lodz (Polonia), Carrara, Reggio Calabria, RUFA Rome, Perugia, L’Aquila, Pescara;
• Institutions, museums, among them: Domus Academy, Fondazione IDIS, Fondazione Garzanti, Istituto Gramsci, Vidéothèque de Paris, RAI (Roma), Goethe Institut, ARCO (Madrid), CINECA (Bologna), National Arts Center (Ottawa), Istituto Nazionale di Architettura (Roma), Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella), Venice Biennale, IRI (Rome), ISEA Istanbul, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice, PAV (Turin), Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture (Kefalonia), Anilla Cultural Latinoamerica – Europa (Montevideo), Open World Forum (Paris), Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial (Gijón), National Center for Contemporary Arts (Moscow), TEKS (Trondheim), SEAFair (Skopje), Swiss Design Network Symposium (Lugano), European Commission Joint Research Center (Ispra), VII International Cultural Forum (Saint Petersburg), Centre for Fine Arts – Bozar (Brussels), Teatro Solís (Montevideo), Kibla (Maribor), CIANT (Prague), Laznia Center for Contemporary Art (Gdansk), Museo dell’Arte (MAR) and Biblioteca Classense (Ravenna), Teatro Miela (Trieste), Museo del Sale (MUSA Cervia), Museo MACRO (Rome), ISEA Montreal, Centrale Idrodinamica del Porto Vecchio (Trieste), Museo MAXXI (Rome), Enrico Fermi Research Center (Rome), Sotto18 Film Festival (Turin), Future Film Festival (Bologna), Biennale Tecnologia (Turin).
He published the books Realtà del virtuale. Rappresentazioni tecnologiche, comunicazione, arte, 1993 (in 2015 also as eBook), on virtual technologies and the relationships between culture and sensorial representations; Il corpo tecnologico. L’influenza delle tecnologie sul corpo e sulle sue facoltà, 1994, on the impact of technologies on the human body; and Arte e tecnologie. Comunicazione estetica e tecnoscienze, 1996 (in 2013 also as eBook), about art, sciences and technologies. He co-curated the books art*science. The New and History, Noema, 2018 (in English), on the relationship between innovation and history, and Arte e complessità (Art and complexity), Noema, 2018, on contemporary artistic forms and complexity. He edited Dialogues across the seas: the ocean that keeps us apart also joins us. Charting knowledge and practice in the Anthropocene, Noema, 2022.
He published more than 400 texts in books, magazines and proceedings internationally.
He has been working on European projects on communication technologies. From 2004 to 2011 he was a member of the Ars Electronica International Advisory Board for the Net Communities category. Since 2018 he has been a consultant to the European Commission on the relationships between science, technology (Artificial Intelligence and Big Data) and humanities.
In 1994 he founded and directed the first italian online magazine, NetMagazine/MagNet, a research project on the relations between culture and technologies.
He is the founder and president of Noema (https://noemalab.eu), a journal about culture-science-technology relationships (2000). In 2003 Noema was selected as best Italian website. In 2012 he founded fivewordsforthefuture (https://fivewordsforthefuture.eu), to understand the “new” and innovation.
In 2017 he founded art*science (https://artscience.online), events on critical aspects of the contemporary. In 2018 it launched a three-year research project on art and climate change.edit
La pubblicazione nasce da due eventi sulle conseguenze della crisi climatica sui mari e sugli ambienti marini. Il primo, “Dal Mediterraneo al Pacifico. Dialoghi attraverso i mari”, a Cervia nel 2018; il secondo, il panel “The ocean that... more
La pubblicazione nasce da due eventi sulle conseguenze della crisi climatica sui mari e sugli ambienti marini. Il primo, “Dal Mediterraneo al Pacifico. Dialoghi attraverso i mari”, a Cervia nel 2018; il secondo, il panel “The ocean that keeps us apart also joins us: charting knowledge and practice in the Anthropocene” all’ISEA 2020 “Why Sentience?” a Montreal, nel 2020. Un campo fondamentale di ricerca sul clima riguarda lo stato e l’evoluzione dei mari e degli oceani, sui quali l’ONU ha pubblicato un rapporto e ha decretato la “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)”. Questa pubblicazione è originariamente uscita in inglese nel 2022, l'edizione italiana ripropone e aggiorna i contenuti e aggiunge i contributi di nuovi autori.
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This publication is about two events on the impact of the climate crisis on the seas and the marine environments. The first one was entitled “From the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Dialogues across the seas”, and took place on July 27-28,... more
This publication is about two events on the impact of the climate crisis on the seas and the marine environments. The first one was entitled “From the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Dialogues across the seas”, and took place on July 27-28, 2018, in Cervia, a coastal city nearby Ravenna where the Po Valley ends in the northern Adriatic Sea. Cervia is located in one of the most critical areas at risk of submersion in Italy: according to a research the sea level could rise from 315 to 1535 mm by 2100. The event in Cervia was made in collaboration with “Vital Transformations”, a series of events on art and climate change taking place simultaneously in New Plymouth, New Zealand. This collaboration set up an ideal bridge across two remote maritime venues – Cervia and New Plymouth – geographically located at almost the opposite sides on Earth but interested and linked by a common issue, the rising of the sea level: the climate emergency is both a local and global issue.
The second event was the panel “The ocean that keeps us apart also joins us: charting knowledge and practice in the Anthropocene”, that due to the Covid 19 pandemic took place online at ISEA 2020 “Why Sentience?” on October 14th, 2020, in Montreal. The panel, introduced by a 40 minutes video with all the speeches4, presented and discussed internationally the topics of the event in Cervia adding new perspectives. Among them the collaboration across hemispheres of Earth in the context of environment, the intergenerational relevance of the climate issues, the importance of the indigenous peoples’ knowledge beyond the Western conceptions, and the necessity to reshape the language as a result of these viewpoints and their influence on the creative and social practices.
The second event was the panel “The ocean that keeps us apart also joins us: charting knowledge and practice in the Anthropocene”, that due to the Covid 19 pandemic took place online at ISEA 2020 “Why Sentience?” on October 14th, 2020, in Montreal. The panel, introduced by a 40 minutes video with all the speeches4, presented and discussed internationally the topics of the event in Cervia adding new perspectives. Among them the collaboration across hemispheres of Earth in the context of environment, the intergenerational relevance of the climate issues, the importance of the indigenous peoples’ knowledge beyond the Western conceptions, and the necessity to reshape the language as a result of these viewpoints and their influence on the creative and social practices.
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“Arte e complessità” è stato il tema intorno al quale si è svolto il Festival della Complessità a Bologna nel Luglio 2017. Il volume, oltre all’insieme degli interventi del convegno, raccoglie contributi successivi su questo argomento... more
“Arte e complessità” è stato il tema intorno al quale si è svolto il Festival della Complessità a Bologna nel Luglio 2017. Il volume, oltre all’insieme degli interventi del convegno, raccoglie contributi successivi su questo argomento inviati da altri studiosi. Ma anche, soprattutto, mostra le molteplici connessioni tra esperienze, idee e persone accomunate dall’interesse e dalla passione per questo campo di studi e di pratiche. La complessità è infatti un modo di vedere il mondo “non determinista e non riduzionista”, alla ricerca di parole, immagini, suoni, testi, forme che lo rendano più comprensibile e pensabile come insieme di sistemi, di reti con ampia varietà di interrelazioni, dove sono co-presenti ordine e disordine, forme note e forme emergenti autorganizzate, regolarità e imprevedibilità.
Se la complessità è molteplicità, relazione, feedback, il sapere complesso è dato da altrettante discipline ed esperienze/esperimenti che possiamo connettere, dando vita a nuove configurazioni e idee. E se tutti i saperi sono pensati da umani, siamo noi ad avere il compito di intrecciarli, superando gli specialismi. Come curatori, rileggendo l’insieme degli scritti, siamo colpiti sia dal ripetersi e sovrapporsi di alcune parole-chiave (e infatti ricorsività e ridondanza sono concetti importanti per la complessità) sia dall’interesse con- diviso per il valore cognitivo ed esperienziale profondo delle forme artistiche. In particolare di quelle contemporanee, create da persone che ci propongono la loro personale visione del mondo in cui viviamo, negli stessi anni, in realtà diverse e lontane eppure inevitabilmente interdipendenti.
Da queste pagine emerge infatti un comune denominatore tra le esperienze degli autori, degli artisti e dei fruitori: l’arte è davvero imprescindibile perché amplia le nostre capacità intuitive, ci permette di apprendere dalle emozioni, di afferrare concetti e approfondire significati altrimenti poco accessibili e oscuri, di creare nuove idee e visioni del mondo. Oggi è difficile riuscire a comprendere e a descrivere la complessità del mondo senza attivare atteggiamenti e approcci artistici. L’arte appare come una sorta di filosofia della contemporaneità, una risorsa determinante per capire il presente e guardare al futuro.
Se la complessità è molteplicità, relazione, feedback, il sapere complesso è dato da altrettante discipline ed esperienze/esperimenti che possiamo connettere, dando vita a nuove configurazioni e idee. E se tutti i saperi sono pensati da umani, siamo noi ad avere il compito di intrecciarli, superando gli specialismi. Come curatori, rileggendo l’insieme degli scritti, siamo colpiti sia dal ripetersi e sovrapporsi di alcune parole-chiave (e infatti ricorsività e ridondanza sono concetti importanti per la complessità) sia dall’interesse con- diviso per il valore cognitivo ed esperienziale profondo delle forme artistiche. In particolare di quelle contemporanee, create da persone che ci propongono la loro personale visione del mondo in cui viviamo, negli stessi anni, in realtà diverse e lontane eppure inevitabilmente interdipendenti.
Da queste pagine emerge infatti un comune denominatore tra le esperienze degli autori, degli artisti e dei fruitori: l’arte è davvero imprescindibile perché amplia le nostre capacità intuitive, ci permette di apprendere dalle emozioni, di afferrare concetti e approfondire significati altrimenti poco accessibili e oscuri, di creare nuove idee e visioni del mondo. Oggi è difficile riuscire a comprendere e a descrivere la complessità del mondo senza attivare atteggiamenti e approcci artistici. L’arte appare come una sorta di filosofia della contemporaneità, una risorsa determinante per capire il presente e guardare al futuro.
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The book collects the proceedings of art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 conference, that took place in Bologna, July 3-5 2017. art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 International conference was keen on the relationship between artistic and scientific... more
The book collects the proceedings of art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 conference, that took place in Bologna, July 3-5 2017.
art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 International conference was keen on the relationship between artistic and scientific disciplines and celebrated the 50th anniversary of Leonardo journal, published by MIT Press, the most influential in the international arena on the relationships among arts, sciences and technologies. art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 general topic was “The New and History”. The “new”, the “innovation”, have roots in history but they can project this heritage into the future thanks to the collaboration among arts, sciences and technologies.
The conference topics:
1) a reflection on the idea of “new”. What is really the “new”, what is the meaning of “new” and “innovation”? What does “innovation” really mean? How can “innovation” be recognized, communicated, fostered, sustained and spread?
2) The relationship between the “new”, “innovation,” and history, through arts, scientific disciplines and technologies, a key element from cultural, historical, social and economic viewpoints. The Countries in the Mediterranean Rim, and more in general all European countries, have a long history and heritage in art and culture, that can be valued through new disciplines, sciences and technologies.
3) The integration of arts, design and humanities into science, engineering and medicine, sometimes called “Stem to Steam”.
art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 International conference was keen on the relationship between artistic and scientific disciplines and celebrated the 50th anniversary of Leonardo journal, published by MIT Press, the most influential in the international arena on the relationships among arts, sciences and technologies. art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 general topic was “The New and History”. The “new”, the “innovation”, have roots in history but they can project this heritage into the future thanks to the collaboration among arts, sciences and technologies.
The conference topics:
1) a reflection on the idea of “new”. What is really the “new”, what is the meaning of “new” and “innovation”? What does “innovation” really mean? How can “innovation” be recognized, communicated, fostered, sustained and spread?
2) The relationship between the “new”, “innovation,” and history, through arts, scientific disciplines and technologies, a key element from cultural, historical, social and economic viewpoints. The Countries in the Mediterranean Rim, and more in general all European countries, have a long history and heritage in art and culture, that can be valued through new disciplines, sciences and technologies.
3) The integration of arts, design and humanities into science, engineering and medicine, sometimes called “Stem to Steam”.
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Una riflessione sull’impatto culturale delle tecnologie nell’esistenza dell’uomo e del Pianeta, sull’evoluzione dello statuto del corpo, nella duplice accezione di organismo biologico e culturale. Sullo sfondo della fittizia dicotomia tra... more
Una riflessione sull’impatto culturale delle tecnologie nell’esistenza dell’uomo e del Pianeta, sull’evoluzione dello statuto del corpo, nella duplice accezione di organismo biologico e culturale. Sullo sfondo della fittizia dicotomia tra «naturale» e «artificiale», e nei limiti di una concezione antropocentrica dell’artificiale.
Nella seconda parte il filo conduttore è quello del virtuale, relativamente ai linguaggi neotecnologici di simulazione (computer image, olografia, realtà virtuale). Simulazione che concerne anche l’olfatto e il tatto, per un approccio sinestetico, polisensoriale, interdisciplinare, nei confronti di una rappresentazione che si fa sempre più globale e pervasiva. Nella seconda parte c’è anche un capitolo dedicato all’arte, perché l’artista è uno dei più efficaci, profondi e consapevoli sperimentatori dei sistemi e dei linguaggi del simbolico, contribuendo a incrementarne le potenzialità, ed è tra i pochi soggetti in grado di considerarli anche dal punto di vista etico.
Nella seconda parte il filo conduttore è quello del virtuale, relativamente ai linguaggi neotecnologici di simulazione (computer image, olografia, realtà virtuale). Simulazione che concerne anche l’olfatto e il tatto, per un approccio sinestetico, polisensoriale, interdisciplinare, nei confronti di una rappresentazione che si fa sempre più globale e pervasiva. Nella seconda parte c’è anche un capitolo dedicato all’arte, perché l’artista è uno dei più efficaci, profondi e consapevoli sperimentatori dei sistemi e dei linguaggi del simbolico, contribuendo a incrementarne le potenzialità, ed è tra i pochi soggetti in grado di considerarli anche dal punto di vista etico.
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Grazie alle tecnologie e alle ibridazioni con le comunicazioni mediali oggi l'operatività artistica è estremamente articolata e diffusa. L'arte non è più solo un limitato corollario dell'attività speculativa perché è in gioco una... more
Grazie alle tecnologie e alle ibridazioni con le comunicazioni mediali oggi l'operatività artistica è estremamente articolata e diffusa. L'arte non è più solo un limitato corollario dell'attività speculativa perché è in gioco una complessità che riguarda la realizzazione dell'opera e la sua fruizione nel sociale, l'impatto dei nuovi media, l'uso di adeguati strumenti di analisi critica, estetica, etica.... Le tecnologie di rappresentazione e di comunicazione (video, computer, reti telematiche, realtà virtuale, olografia...), con le loro filiazioni interattive e multimediali sono solo una parte di quelle che permeano la nostra cultura e il nostro immaginario. Il panorama è ben più ampio, va dalle tecnologie mediche alla robotica, dalla genetica alla vita artificiale, alle biotecnologie... In questo libro Capucci analizza le più avanzate forme di creazione e i linguaggi tecnoscientifici da cui derivano, che non costituiscono solo stimoli culturalmente fecondi ma anche nuovi strumenti di creazione.
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Artificial Intelligence is today a highly debated topic, with important implications in many economic and productive sectors, probably destined to have a deep impact on contemporary culture and society. AI has entered the production of... more
Artificial Intelligence is today a highly debated topic, with important implications in many economic and productive sectors, probably destined to have a deep impact on contemporary culture and society. AI has entered the production of images, videos, music, literature, new forms of expression have emerged, some sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. What changes in the creative, artistic process? What are the critical elements that emerge in making and enjoying art? How much human remains in these expressive forms?
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The text takes into consideration some emerging issues that design has to face. 1) A rethinking of the technologies of distance and of their tools, that have been emphasized by the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain in use. 2) The emerging... more
The text takes into consideration some emerging issues that design has to face. 1) A rethinking of the technologies of distance and of their tools, that have been emphasized by the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain in use. 2) The emerging of “Third Life”, that is the life of entities and organisms, inorganic, organic and mixed, originating from human culture, that are evolving increasingly powerful and autonomous. 3) The challenge of the climate crisis and of the Anthropocene, that implies a cognitive leap, a different idea of the relationship with the “non-human” as a complex dynamic intercourse, and requires a transdisciplinary outstanding design vision.
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La pubblicazione nasce da due eventi sulle conseguenze della crisi climatica sui mari e sugli ambienti marini. Il primo, “Dal Mediterraneo al Pacifico. Dialoghi attraverso i mari”, a Cervia nel 2018; il secondo, il panel “The ocean that... more
La pubblicazione nasce da due eventi sulle conseguenze della crisi climatica sui mari e sugli ambienti marini. Il primo, “Dal Mediterraneo al Pacifico. Dialoghi attraverso i mari”, a Cervia nel 2018; il secondo, il panel “The ocean that keeps us apart also joins us: charting knowledge and practice in the Anthropocene” all’ISEA 2020 “Why Sentience?” a Montreal, nel 2020. Un campo fondamentale di ricerca sul clima riguarda lo stato e l’evoluzione dei mari e degli oceani, sui quali l’ONU ha pubblicato un rapporto e ha decretato la “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)”. Questa pubblicazione è originariamente uscita in inglese nel 2022, l'edizione italiana ripropone e aggiorna i contenuti e aggiunge i contributi di nuovi autori.
Research Interests:
Imaginer l’avenir est une attitude typiquement humaniste. Probablement cette capacité s’est-elle développée avec l’évolution de la langue orale, qui, pour la première fois dans l’évolution humaine a permis d’exprimer un contenu abstrait... more
Imaginer l’avenir est une attitude typiquement humaniste. Probablement cette capacité s’est-elle développée avec l’évolution de la langue orale, qui, pour la première fois dans l’évolution humaine a permis d’exprimer un contenu abstrait ou inventé dans l’acte même de la communication.
La langue orale, dont l’origine remonte à des temps pour nous archaïques, tient à notre physiologie humaine, qui nous permet de résumer, évoquer, inventer, reconstruire, décrire et communiquer des choses pensables sans être nécessairement réelles, et de libérer notre pouvoir de communication de toute référence réelle, matérielle. Les idées, les connaissances, les projets, les expériences, les visions du monde, les valeurs, peuvent être partagées, discutées, modifiées, enrichies, transmises, et générer une connaissance commune. Nous pouvons réfléchir et penser le monde sans contact physique avec lui. La langue orale est un laboratoire où nous pouvons produire des modèles symboliques susceptibles d’avoir un impact réel sur le monde. Nous pouvons aussi concevoir grâce à elle des artefacts de plus en plus complexes et efficaces.
Capable de se questionner sur elle-même, cette communication orale peut transcender l’espace physique hic et nunc et créer des mondes parallèles, les questionner, et même penser ou refuser l’avenir. Ainsi, l’idée de questionner la mort, la fin de la vie, puis de concevoir des mondes post-mortem a émergé. Les mythologies et les religions sont nées ainsi, qui accompagnent toujours les cultures humaines : même aujourd’hui la grande majorité de l’humanité croit qu’il y a une sorte de vie après la mort…
La langue orale, dont l’origine remonte à des temps pour nous archaïques, tient à notre physiologie humaine, qui nous permet de résumer, évoquer, inventer, reconstruire, décrire et communiquer des choses pensables sans être nécessairement réelles, et de libérer notre pouvoir de communication de toute référence réelle, matérielle. Les idées, les connaissances, les projets, les expériences, les visions du monde, les valeurs, peuvent être partagées, discutées, modifiées, enrichies, transmises, et générer une connaissance commune. Nous pouvons réfléchir et penser le monde sans contact physique avec lui. La langue orale est un laboratoire où nous pouvons produire des modèles symboliques susceptibles d’avoir un impact réel sur le monde. Nous pouvons aussi concevoir grâce à elle des artefacts de plus en plus complexes et efficaces.
Capable de se questionner sur elle-même, cette communication orale peut transcender l’espace physique hic et nunc et créer des mondes parallèles, les questionner, et même penser ou refuser l’avenir. Ainsi, l’idée de questionner la mort, la fin de la vie, puis de concevoir des mondes post-mortem a émergé. Les mythologies et les religions sont nées ainsi, qui accompagnent toujours les cultures humaines : même aujourd’hui la grande majorité de l’humanité croit qu’il y a une sorte de vie après la mort…
Research Interests: Future Studies, Artificial Intelligence, Human Evolution, Philosophy Of Language, Art History, and 12 moreHumanities, Climate Change, Language Evolution, Generative Art, Future of artificial intelligence, Futures Studies and Foresight, Future, Patent Law, Climate Crisis, Third Life, Symbolic Behavior, and Externalization
Da un lato consideriamo la vicinanza fisica, il contatto personale, il rapporto diretto, senza mediazioni tecniche, come elementi costitutivi e ineludibili dell’esperienza e addirittura dell’essenza umana. Tuttavia, fin dagli albori... more
Da un lato consideriamo la vicinanza fisica, il contatto personale, il rapporto diretto, senza mediazioni tecniche, come elementi costitutivi e ineludibili dell’esperienza e addirittura dell’essenza umana. Tuttavia, fin dagli albori dell’umanità e dallo sviluppo delle capacità simboliche, abbiamo continuamente ricercato, inventato e utilizzato modalità di mediazione della realtà per tenerla a distanza, per interagire a distanza con il mondo e con gli altri.
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Eduardo Kac is a celebrated artists worldwide, with a research that has crossed through many techniques and art forms. Recently he created the Space Poetry and Art, with an artwork, Inner Telescope, specifically conceived for zero... more
Eduardo Kac is a celebrated artists worldwide, with a research that has crossed through many techniques and art forms. Recently he created the Space Poetry and Art, with an artwork, Inner Telescope, specifically conceived for zero gravity, which was made in space. With his activity Kac has raised many nodal questions on the transformations of society and culture, in a constant creative relationship with the culture, the technology and the science of his time. In his research communication, intended as mutual information exchange, as a dialogue, as a participation, is a fundamental topic, as he points out in the enclosed interview. This aptitude makes Kac a perfect interpreter of the resources and contradictions of the contemporary, with a strong vision on how the present time can possibly develop and evolve into the future. His interest in the theory of communication, linguistics, semiotics, philosophy, as well as his knowledge of technologies and scientific disciplines, outline a complex personality of both an artist, a researcher, a scholar and a theorist. The aim of this text is not that of retracing and recapitulating Kac’s artistic activity, but to pinpoint some key elements, ideas, and artworks, which are nodal in his research and that can have an impact on culture.
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[ITA] Gli esiti della relazione tra discipline artistiche, scientifiche e tecnologie da un lato hanno fatto crescere esponenzialmente il numero di manifestazioni artistiche dedicate, dall’altro hanno favorito l’inserimento delle materie... more
[ITA] Gli esiti della relazione tra discipline artistiche, scientifiche e tecnologie da un lato hanno fatto crescere esponenzialmente il numero di manifestazioni artistiche dedicate, dall’altro hanno favorito l’inserimento delle materie artistiche nei curricula scientifici, di cui quello che viene chiamato “From STEM to STEAM” è il più famoso. Hanno moltiplicato i programmi di artist in residence all’interno di istituzioni di ricerca scientifiche e, come vedremo in seguito, hanno aperto agli artisti opportunità di partecipazione a programmi di natura politico-istituzionale, economica, sociale e di ricerca.
[ENG] The results of the relationship between artistic, scientific and technological disciplines on the one hand have made the number of dedicated artistic events grow exponentially, on the other hand they have favored the inclusion of artistic subjects in scientific curricula, of which what is called “From STEM to STEAM” is the most famous. They have multiplied the artist-in-residence programs within scientific research institutions and, as we will see below, they have opened opportunities for artists to participate in programs of a political-institutional, economic and social nature and to research.
[ENG] The results of the relationship between artistic, scientific and technological disciplines on the one hand have made the number of dedicated artistic events grow exponentially, on the other hand they have favored the inclusion of artistic subjects in scientific curricula, of which what is called “From STEM to STEAM” is the most famous. They have multiplied the artist-in-residence programs within scientific research institutions and, as we will see below, they have opened opportunities for artists to participate in programs of a political-institutional, economic and social nature and to research.
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So, are there any practices or dynamics in the art world that could prove to be of interest for the communication of science? Yes, but not in the world of “avant garde art”, so exclusive and deliberately alien to the masses, with its... more
So, are there any practices or dynamics in the art world that could prove to be of interest for the communication of science? Yes, but not in the world of “avant garde art”, so exclusive and deliberately alien to the masses, with its devices and its rituals. The communication of science could, instead, have much to learn from the dynamics to be found within the communication of art today. Visions that are consistent but not too ambitious, neither too distant culturally nor too long term, narrations capable, however, of exciting and engaging. Art forms that amaze but, at the same time, do not demand exclusive cultural commitment, that, with passion, are capable of creating narratives that can be shared regarding the important contemporary questions like, for instance, Climate Change, and which are able to engage large numbers of people from a wide range of geographical and cultural areas.
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Humanity has always been imagining, representing and creating life forms, the thrust for creating life-like entities has been pervading the whole human history. In the symbolic realm from antiquity until the contemporary narratives gods... more
Humanity has always been imagining, representing and creating life forms, the thrust for creating life-like entities has been pervading the whole human history. In the symbolic realm from antiquity until the contemporary narratives gods and heroes are present in religions and mythologies, legendary creatures populate the imaginary of all human cultures, through stories, representations, sagas, fictional worlds and legends. Unicorns, dragons, centaurs, chimeras, angels and devils, cyclopes, minotaurs, magicians, sirens, ogres, fairies, witches, elves, goblins, harpies, trolls…, and also monsters, heroes and common people, populate movies, comics, TV series and video games. The symbolic realm is a wonderful “Second Life”, a territory of pulsing imaginary life forms.
In parallel, in the physical world, at least since the Neolithic, humanity has been creating new organic life forms by selecting and hybridising animal and vegetal species, giving birth to varieties that would have never evolved outside the human culture. In the organic realm the ability to operate with the matter of the living through bio-based sciences and technologies has lead to the creation of deeply modified and even totally new organisms. In the inorganic realm humanity has made increasingly powerful and autonomous artefacts, devices and machines that present behaviours similar to the living. Today Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnology, De-Extinction are expanding the boundaries of life and evolution. We are witnessing the extension of life to a complex scenery with organic, inorganic and mixed living forms. A “Third Life” originating from the human culture that expands Nature from within its own domain. “Third Life” being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension.
In parallel, in the physical world, at least since the Neolithic, humanity has been creating new organic life forms by selecting and hybridising animal and vegetal species, giving birth to varieties that would have never evolved outside the human culture. In the organic realm the ability to operate with the matter of the living through bio-based sciences and technologies has lead to the creation of deeply modified and even totally new organisms. In the inorganic realm humanity has made increasingly powerful and autonomous artefacts, devices and machines that present behaviours similar to the living. Today Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnology, De-Extinction are expanding the boundaries of life and evolution. We are witnessing the extension of life to a complex scenery with organic, inorganic and mixed living forms. A “Third Life” originating from the human culture that expands Nature from within its own domain. “Third Life” being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension.
Research Interests:
Humans have always been inspired by the living, representing, simulating and emulating it. Today we are witnessing the extension of life into a “Third Life” - being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in... more
Humans have always been inspired by the living, representing, simulating and emulating it. Today we are witnessing the extension of life into a “Third Life” - being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension - that expands Nature. This process is consistent with the progressive externalization outside the body of human functions and activities. In the beginning of body parts, then of knowledge and memory, then of activities and labour, and finally of some narrow reasoning and autonomous action. In the future, increasingly human activities will be externalized, evolving into Third Life.
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Nous soutenons la légitimité des différentes formes d’art qui s’expriment face aux sociétés de leur temps, même lorsqu’elles les célèbrent. Et dans le monde occidental elles trouvent leur raison d’être dans la différence, qui a toujours... more
Nous soutenons la légitimité des différentes formes d’art qui s’expriment face aux sociétés de leur temps, même lorsqu’elles les célèbrent. Et dans le monde occidental elles trouvent leur raison d’être dans la différence, qui a toujours été une valeur fondamentale de l’art. Il est difficile de décrire et de comprendre la complexité du monde d’aujourd’hui sans prendre en compte les approches artistiques, car l’art est une sorte de philosophie de la contem- poranéité qui permet de comprendre le présent et regarder vers l’avenir. Mais cela exige une recherche artistique consciente, capable de sortir des poncifs traditionnels dans lesquels elle tend à s’enfermer, d’adopter une démarche transdisciplinaire,
de dépasser la dimension anthropocentrique obtuse d’un simple reflet de l’être humain. Nous avons besoin d’un art éclairé, capable de prendre en compte aussi ce qui n’est pas humain (l’environnement, les autres es- pèces...), de se confronter et de dialoguer directement avec la complexité de l’existant, en dépassant des préjugés qui demeurent encore bien ancrés.
de dépasser la dimension anthropocentrique obtuse d’un simple reflet de l’être humain. Nous avons besoin d’un art éclairé, capable de prendre en compte aussi ce qui n’est pas humain (l’environnement, les autres es- pèces...), de se confronter et de dialoguer directement avec la complexité de l’existant, en dépassant des préjugés qui demeurent encore bien ancrés.
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Dunque, esistono delle dinamiche o delle pratiche del mondo dell’arte che possono risultare interessanti per la comunicazione della scienza? Sì, ma non nel mondo dell’“arte delle avanguardie”, così esclusivo e volutamente estraneo alle... more
Dunque, esistono delle dinamiche o delle pratiche del mondo dell’arte che possono risultare interessanti per la comunicazione della scienza? Sì, ma non nel mondo dell’“arte delle avanguardie”, così esclusivo e volutamente estraneo alle masse, con i suoi dispositivi e i suoi riti. Per la comunicazione della scienza possono invece essere interessanti le odierne dinamiche della comunicazione dell’arte. Visioni consistenti ma non troppo ambiziose, né troppo distanti nella cultura né a lungo termine, narrazioni tuttavia in grado di appassionare e coinvolgere. Forme artistiche che sollevano stupore e nel contempo non pretendono impegni esclusivi di carattere culturale. Che con passione sono capaci di creare narrazioni condivisibili su argomenti importanti e attuali della contemporaneità, come per esempio il Climate Change, e di coinvolgere un numero elevato di persone di varia provenienza geografica e culturale.
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Nel nostro Paese il Manifesto Emersivo si colloca nel solco di una discussione quasi trentennale sulle relazioni tra corpo e tecnologie e sul ruolo del corpo nella temperie tecnoscientifica. Il focus del Manifesto, che abbiamo il piacere... more
Nel nostro Paese il Manifesto Emersivo si colloca nel solco di una discussione quasi trentennale sulle relazioni tra corpo e tecnologie e sul ruolo del corpo nella temperie tecnoscientifica. Il focus del Manifesto, che abbiamo il piacere di presentare al lettore italiano, è incentrato, come recita il sottotitolo, sulla nascita delle Arti Immersive. Nonostante la brevità, il testo mostra il respiro della ricerca che i due autori, Bernard Andrieu, filosofo, e Anaïs Bernard, ricercatrice, portano avanti da anni sul corpo, sull’“immersione” e sui fenomeni collegati. Il saggio, denso e argomentato tra arte, scienza e tecnologia, considera le “arti immersive” come un’esperienza interattiva tra corpo, opera e ambiente, dove la fruizione dell’opera configura di fatto un’immersione esperienziale significativa che genera fenomeni emersivi. In altri termini, l’atto e la condizione dell’immersione producono tanto un’emersione articolata di sensazioni, immagini, fenomeni emotivi suscitati dall’ambiente immergente, quanto l’emersione nel corpo di produzioni spontanee che riguardano, secondo la tesi sostenuta, sia l’artista che lo spettatore, che secondo gli autori è anche attore.
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Art has always dealt with complexity, the artworks’ making often required complex processes, abilities, knowledge and intellectual as well as technical skills. Today, thanks to sciences and technologies, the most compelling contemporary... more
Art has always dealt with complexity, the artworks’ making often required complex processes, abilities, knowledge and intellectual as well as technical skills. Today, thanks to sciences and technologies, the most compelling contemporary art forms can refer to complex poetics. It becomes possible to express theories, topics, ideas, visions of the world, even critically, integrating different disciplines and tools. Art can discuss the complex issues between humanity and the phenomenal world, inherent to the environment, to the living beings, to the idea of Nature. From this point of view, and more effectively than other disciplines, art becomes a philosophy of contemporaneity.
Through sciences and technologies humanity is shaping up a vast and complex emerging panorama made up of new devices, machines, algorithms and new life forms. Art has always represented the living and Nature, and humanity, since its origin throughout its evolution, has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing Nature, for many purposes. Nature and the living have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to achieve protection, knowledge and effectiveness in the phenomenal world. And also in inventing narratives, in generating new aesthetics, in creating new art forms.
Today Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnologies, Nanotechnologies, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and other disciplines are expanding the boundaries of life and evolution. Many artefacts, devices, machines, entities are becoming increasingly powerful, complex, autonomous and independent. Scientific evolution has led to the ability to deeply modify the existing organisms and to create new ones, new species that would have never evolved. We are going to assist to the extension of the idea of life and life forms from the organic domain to a complex landscape with organic, inorganic and mixed life forms. Through sciences and technologies humanity is creating a sort of “Third Life”, originating from human knowledge and culture, which is independently and autonomously evolving, expanding Nature from within its own domain. These emerging life forms can be called “Third Life”, being the “First Life” the biological life, and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension.
In this profound transformation, many topics from the past appear as outdated and inadequate, while new topics are emerging. These processes seem to push forward the human knowledge and awareness, as well as its boundaries and goals, and at the same time they are undermining the centuries-old centrality of humanity. Will these processes be able to illuminate on a possible evolution? Will art, as in the past, succeed in anticipating and providing a reliable vision of these complex transformations?
Through sciences and technologies humanity is shaping up a vast and complex emerging panorama made up of new devices, machines, algorithms and new life forms. Art has always represented the living and Nature, and humanity, since its origin throughout its evolution, has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing Nature, for many purposes. Nature and the living have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to achieve protection, knowledge and effectiveness in the phenomenal world. And also in inventing narratives, in generating new aesthetics, in creating new art forms.
Today Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnologies, Nanotechnologies, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and other disciplines are expanding the boundaries of life and evolution. Many artefacts, devices, machines, entities are becoming increasingly powerful, complex, autonomous and independent. Scientific evolution has led to the ability to deeply modify the existing organisms and to create new ones, new species that would have never evolved. We are going to assist to the extension of the idea of life and life forms from the organic domain to a complex landscape with organic, inorganic and mixed life forms. Through sciences and technologies humanity is creating a sort of “Third Life”, originating from human knowledge and culture, which is independently and autonomously evolving, expanding Nature from within its own domain. These emerging life forms can be called “Third Life”, being the “First Life” the biological life, and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension.
In this profound transformation, many topics from the past appear as outdated and inadequate, while new topics are emerging. These processes seem to push forward the human knowledge and awareness, as well as its boundaries and goals, and at the same time they are undermining the centuries-old centrality of humanity. Will these processes be able to illuminate on a possible evolution? Will art, as in the past, succeed in anticipating and providing a reliable vision of these complex transformations?
Research Interests:
In art and design making it is possible to identify three main modes. In the first one the artist physically and directly shapes the matter or uses some simple body-based tools, like pencils, brushes, chisels, and so on. This happens, for... more
In art and design making it is possible to identify three main modes. In the first one the artist physically and directly shapes the matter or uses some simple body-based tools, like pencils, brushes, chisels, and so on. This happens, for instance, in traditional paintings, sculpture and ceramics, in lute manufactoring and so on. The second mode is the art-making mediated by some device or machine, which more or less automatically and industrially involves a process which is strictly driven by starting instructions. Though these instructions can change in time, the device must strictly follow them, and in fact the quality of the final result depends on its precision to attain to the model those instructions represent: the result must be as close as possible to the starting model. This happens in traditional design, in di technological arts, in printing and graphic arts, as well as in computer imaging, video, cinema, numeric controlled devices, 3D printing. This multiform and rapidly growing realm involves software and digital-based manufactoring, processing and automation, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Big Data, Internet of Things, autonomous agents and objects, and also Robotics technologies, nanotechnologies and nanorobotics... But it also involves biological-based technologies, like Genetic engineering, Synthetic Life and biology, De-exctinction as well as hybrid technologies (organic/inorganic), like in biorobotics.
Generative art can be considered a further step in art and design. Instead of a direct, unmediated construction process or of a mediated controlled one, there is an autonomous and open process which can limit or eliminate the human intervention and can be influenced by inputs. The artist is a processes’ activator setting up some general boundary conditions, but in the process of art making there are variables and interaction levels which make the final outcome (if any) as the (not necessarily) final result of an evolution: using a terminology from the art realm it is a work in progress. This evolution does not generate a fixed result strictly dependent from a starting model, it can create a range of outcomes depending on variables that can be external (like inputs from the environment and/or the user) as well as internal (in the process itself). The final result is open and it can never be completely predicted, it can present a variety of possibilities. If the process is interactive the context is fundamental: people can collaborate in creating the final outcome and even being co-authors, but also the artwork’s and the process’s environment have a great influence. In the so called “interactive arts”, also called “contextual arts”, the artwork resides in the process itself more than in the final result.
It is possibile to generate outcomes which simulate or emulate the behaviour of living systems and beings, as well as of natural phenomena. Generative art does not only concern the digital realm, it can also be biological-based, giving birth to organic and hybrid (organic/inorganic) constructs. In mirroring nature and life Generative art forms and processes can be considered as paths towards the advent of a “Third Life”, the life that humanity is giving to its artifacts, being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic realm.
Generative art can be considered a further step in art and design. Instead of a direct, unmediated construction process or of a mediated controlled one, there is an autonomous and open process which can limit or eliminate the human intervention and can be influenced by inputs. The artist is a processes’ activator setting up some general boundary conditions, but in the process of art making there are variables and interaction levels which make the final outcome (if any) as the (not necessarily) final result of an evolution: using a terminology from the art realm it is a work in progress. This evolution does not generate a fixed result strictly dependent from a starting model, it can create a range of outcomes depending on variables that can be external (like inputs from the environment and/or the user) as well as internal (in the process itself). The final result is open and it can never be completely predicted, it can present a variety of possibilities. If the process is interactive the context is fundamental: people can collaborate in creating the final outcome and even being co-authors, but also the artwork’s and the process’s environment have a great influence. In the so called “interactive arts”, also called “contextual arts”, the artwork resides in the process itself more than in the final result.
It is possibile to generate outcomes which simulate or emulate the behaviour of living systems and beings, as well as of natural phenomena. Generative art does not only concern the digital realm, it can also be biological-based, giving birth to organic and hybrid (organic/inorganic) constructs. In mirroring nature and life Generative art forms and processes can be considered as paths towards the advent of a “Third Life”, the life that humanity is giving to its artifacts, being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic realm.
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Oggi parlerò del rapporto fra immagine e testo partendo da alcune considerazioni che propongo all’inizio dei miei corsi di Fenomenologia. Le prime due lezioni sono dedicate alla dimensione del simbolico, perché la scrittura, l’immagine, e... more
Oggi parlerò del rapporto fra immagine e testo partendo da alcune considerazioni che propongo all’inizio dei miei corsi di Fenomenologia. Le prime due lezioni sono dedicate alla dimensione del simbolico, perché la scrittura, l’immagine, e prima l’oralità, derivano dalla dimensione simbolica. E dato che tutto quello che la nostra cultura crea poggia sulla dimensione del simbolico, per chi si occupa, come in accademia, di immagini e testi, penso che approfondire questo argomento sia importante. Siccome raccontare queste cose può essere molto noioso, insieme ai miei studenti compio un viaggio nel tempo. Parto dai segni indicali, dunque dagli albori del simbolico, da quando qualche milione di anni fa i nostri avi arcaici comunicavano con i gesti, con i segni indicali. Poi via via, passando attraverso l’oralità, la scrittura e le immagini, acquisiscono una serie di competenze e opportunità. In questo modo è più semplice ed efficace spiegare quali sono le caratteristiche introdotte dalle nuove modalità di comunicazione, quali nuove possibilità consentono e quali sono gli effetti collaterali. Questo percorso insegna anche che nessuna delle forme consolidate scompare con l’avvento delle nuove modalità: i segni indicali non scompaiono perché entra in gioco l’oralità, l’oralità non scompare perché entra in gioco l’immagine e l’immagine non scompare perché entra in gioco la scrittura.
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Through sciences and technologies humans are shaping a wide and complex panorama pervaded by new devices, machines, algorithms and lifeforms, emerging from different realms. From its dawn and all along its evolution, humanity has always... more
Through sciences and technologies humans are shaping a wide and complex panorama pervaded by new devices, machines, algorithms and lifeforms, emerging from different realms. From its dawn and all along its evolution, humanity has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing nature, for a variety of purposes. Nature and life have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to attain protection, knowledge and effectiveness on the phenomenal world. But also to invent narrations, to generate new aesthetics, to create new artforms. Today sciences and disciplines like Robotics, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and more are pushing further the borders of life and evolution. In this profound planetary transformation many issues appear as outdated and inadequate, while new ones are emerging.
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In the Stone Age from the first simple splitters to the fist-axes, which are more refined but not so different, there is a gap of one million years. Instead, between the discovery of fire and today’s fire-based many different devices pass... more
In the Stone Age from the first simple splitters to the fist-axes, which are more refined but not so different, there is a gap of one million years. Instead, between the discovery of fire and today’s fire-based many different devices pass four hundred thousand years.
For thousands years, until the invention of the telegraph, the speed of people, animals, things and information had approximately the same order of magnitude. The remote communication in real-time was the dream of the governments, that funded even projects based on telepathy. In roughly one century and half – a very small time if compared to the history of the human culture – the information speed had an extraordinary boost to: in fact today the information can roughly reach the speed of light, that is being more than five hundred thousand time quicker than people, animals and things.
An acceleration took also place inside the media realm. In the USA the radio required 38 years to reach 50 million people, the television needed 13 years, the cable 8 and the Internet 5. And inside the Internet-based communications Facebook required less than 4 years to reach 50 million users, while Skype took roughly two years.
Sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average life length was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, while at the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “advanced world”, the life length expectation has doubled.
Humans also developed a wide range of artifacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more powerful, complex, autonomous and that are becoming independent from the human control. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled life forms.
Why all this acceleration? How does it happen? Does it depend on a cultural or a biological issue, or both? What does it seem pushing forward the human limits, biological, cultural, technical?
For thousands years, until the invention of the telegraph, the speed of people, animals, things and information had approximately the same order of magnitude. The remote communication in real-time was the dream of the governments, that funded even projects based on telepathy. In roughly one century and half – a very small time if compared to the history of the human culture – the information speed had an extraordinary boost to: in fact today the information can roughly reach the speed of light, that is being more than five hundred thousand time quicker than people, animals and things.
An acceleration took also place inside the media realm. In the USA the radio required 38 years to reach 50 million people, the television needed 13 years, the cable 8 and the Internet 5. And inside the Internet-based communications Facebook required less than 4 years to reach 50 million users, while Skype took roughly two years.
Sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average life length was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, while at the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “advanced world”, the life length expectation has doubled.
Humans also developed a wide range of artifacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more powerful, complex, autonomous and that are becoming independent from the human control. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled life forms.
Why all this acceleration? How does it happen? Does it depend on a cultural or a biological issue, or both? What does it seem pushing forward the human limits, biological, cultural, technical?
Research Interests:
Il libro si svolge lungo due binari paralleli: da una parte esamina e documenta, inquadrandole storicamente e criticamente, varie forme artistiche in un percorso fenomenologico internazionale che attraversa il Novecento collegando artisti... more
Il libro si svolge lungo due binari paralleli: da una parte esamina e documenta, inquadrandole storicamente e criticamente, varie forme artistiche in un percorso fenomenologico internazionale che attraversa il Novecento collegando artisti e avanguardie. Un panorama dell’evoluzione della media art da un punto di vista privilegiato e, dagli anni ’80 del Novecento, militante. Dall’altra affianca a questo percorso l’attività dell’autore, Eduardo Kac, artista brasiliano tra i più celebri, che nel corso della sua ricerca ha utilizzato varie tecniche e discipline in una co- stante relazione creativa con scienze e tecnologie.
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Dans leur recherche les artistes ont toujours utilisé les techniques et les technologies de leur époque, adoptant les outils qu'ils pensaient ȇtre les plus aptes à exprimer leur poétique. Aujourd'hui, on trouve parmi les technologies... more
Dans leur recherche les artistes ont toujours utilisé les techniques et les technologies de leur époque, adoptant les outils qu'ils pensaient ȇtre les plus aptes à exprimer leur poétique. Aujourd'hui, on trouve parmi les technologies émergentes, une catégorie qualifiée de "bio", c'est-à-dire qui fait appel à des technologies relevant du règne organique, de la biologie, du vivant, de la vie. Traiter de la vie peut sembler éloigné de l'art, cependant l'art est à meme de dialoguer avec la science et d'aborder la vie de manière inédite, retrouvant une fonction de questionnement critique et une aura innovante.
Il est temps de repenser la Nature et la Vie, comme le montrent aujourd'hui la philosophie et la culture. Eensemble des activités humaines a été inspiré ou influencé par la Nature et la Vie.
L’art les a toujours abordées, bien que par le seul biais de la représentation, depuis les peintures rupestres jusq’à la nature morte en passant par le portrait ou le paysage. Par ailleurs, des disciplines telles que la vie artificielle, l’intelligence artificielle, la robotique, la vie de synthèse, la biologie de synthèse s'inspirent de la Nature et de la Vie en ce qu'elles simulent l'apparence ou le comportement du vivant.
En raison de leur complexité croissante, les artefacts créés par les humains imitent les formes, les fonctions et la dynamique de la Nature et de la Vie. Le Vivant fait office de modèle en ce qu'il a résisté aux épreuves depuis l'origine de la vie et qu'il a fait l'expérience du monde. Aujourd'hui, l'art peut collaborer avec une science traitant de la Nature et de la Vie de manière plus intime qu'à travers la représentation, en agissant directement sur la dynamique de la Vie.
L’art peut ainsi agir sur le Vivant pour engendrer un impact culturel de questionnement critique d'un point de vue aussi bien éthique, politique, écologique que social.
Il est temps de repenser la Nature et la Vie, comme le montrent aujourd'hui la philosophie et la culture. Eensemble des activités humaines a été inspiré ou influencé par la Nature et la Vie.
L’art les a toujours abordées, bien que par le seul biais de la représentation, depuis les peintures rupestres jusq’à la nature morte en passant par le portrait ou le paysage. Par ailleurs, des disciplines telles que la vie artificielle, l’intelligence artificielle, la robotique, la vie de synthèse, la biologie de synthèse s'inspirent de la Nature et de la Vie en ce qu'elles simulent l'apparence ou le comportement du vivant.
En raison de leur complexité croissante, les artefacts créés par les humains imitent les formes, les fonctions et la dynamique de la Nature et de la Vie. Le Vivant fait office de modèle en ce qu'il a résisté aux épreuves depuis l'origine de la vie et qu'il a fait l'expérience du monde. Aujourd'hui, l'art peut collaborer avec une science traitant de la Nature et de la Vie de manière plus intime qu'à travers la représentation, en agissant directement sur la dynamique de la Vie.
L’art peut ainsi agir sur le Vivant pour engendrer un impact culturel de questionnement critique d'un point de vue aussi bien éthique, politique, écologique que social.
Research Interests:
In perception the boundaries between opposite qualities are often blurred and even indistinguishable. A door is generally considered as rectangular, but it can be viewed as really rectangular only from its central perpendicular axis, at... more
In perception the boundaries between opposite qualities are often blurred and even indistinguishable. A door is generally considered as rectangular, but it can be viewed as really rectangular only from its central perpendicular axis, at the crossing of the diagonals. When moving outside from this position, the door should appear more and more trapezoidal, but people still say it is rectangular (because they see it rectangular or because they know it is rectangular?). Moving from the center towards the side of the door, at the end finally the door appears as trapezoidal, but the point where this transformation occurs seems undetectable. This threshold between vision and knowledge is imperceptible and obscure.
Something similar happens with the senses. The senses are considered as separate entities. Touch, hear, sight, smell and taste are generally described as distinct ways to detect the complexity of the phenomenal world, extracting the peculiar information that can drive life’s experience. But analyzing the way they work it clearly appears they are intermingled, they collaborate, the boundaries that are supposed to separate them are apparent: the senses are logically separable, but not separate. The sensorial system is a cohesive and interrelated continuum, in which the senses act in synergy with each other, exchanging functions, responsibilities, replacing each other, depending on the context and possible impairments.
Continuity and discreteness, indistinguishability and distinction, inseparability and division, are qualities to individuate, describe, define, classify, modify and/or communicate the phenomena. This qualities are both theoretical and technical, since they depend from the general perspective of the analysis, from the goals to be pursued, from the scale at which the phenomena are observed and from the accuracy of the instruments that are used. What does lie there, in between?
Something similar happens with the senses. The senses are considered as separate entities. Touch, hear, sight, smell and taste are generally described as distinct ways to detect the complexity of the phenomenal world, extracting the peculiar information that can drive life’s experience. But analyzing the way they work it clearly appears they are intermingled, they collaborate, the boundaries that are supposed to separate them are apparent: the senses are logically separable, but not separate. The sensorial system is a cohesive and interrelated continuum, in which the senses act in synergy with each other, exchanging functions, responsibilities, replacing each other, depending on the context and possible impairments.
Continuity and discreteness, indistinguishability and distinction, inseparability and division, are qualities to individuate, describe, define, classify, modify and/or communicate the phenomena. This qualities are both theoretical and technical, since they depend from the general perspective of the analysis, from the goals to be pursued, from the scale at which the phenomena are observed and from the accuracy of the instruments that are used. What does lie there, in between?
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Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a... more
Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a powerful “technology”, the main reason behind the evolution of the human species. It is at the basis of our attitude to invent technologies and create tools, machines, and even new future life forms. Born from the symbolic ability, sciences and technologies deeply in uenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average lifespan was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, and by the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “technological world”, the lifespan expectation has doubled. Hu- mans also developed a wide range of artefacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more and more powerful, complex, autonomous, and independent. ey could be de ned to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms. All this processes seem push- ing forward the human biological, cultural, technical boundaries. How do they happen? Where are technologies based on? Can these processes give any glimpses on a possible evolution?
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Youngblood coglie il passaggio in cui inizia a essere evidente il farsi ambiente della comunicazione simbolica mediata, il suo divenire habitat. In effetti stiamo andando in questa la direzione. Proviamo, ad esempio, a sommare il tempo... more
Youngblood coglie il passaggio in cui inizia a essere evidente il farsi ambiente della comunicazione simbolica mediata, il suo divenire habitat. In effetti stiamo andando in questa la direzione. Proviamo, ad esempio, a sommare il tempo che dedichiamo al simbolico, o anche più semplicemente ai media, nell’arco di una giornata. Il tempo per comunicare oralmente in maniera diretta con gli altri, e in maniera mediata tramite il telefono, lo smartphone o il tablet. Il tempo dedicato a leggere (giornali, libri, insegne, striscioni, graffiti, segnali, cruscotti, tastiere, supporti simbolici di qualche tipo) e a scrivere. Il tempo speso davanti alla televisione, al computer, a qualche altro schermo, nei videogame e nei social network, al cinema, in eventi come una mostra d’arte, uno spettacolo teatrale, un concerto… Tutto sommato è un tempo rilevante, anche considerando solo la comunicazione mediata. Nella dimensione simbolica, nei media, trascorriamo già una parte notevole del nostro tempo, ed è in questa dimensione o tramite essa che prendiamo o attuiamo molte delle decisioni più importanti della nostra vita.
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In a few years holography celebrated some important anniversaries: in 2010 the 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention; in 2011 the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to the Hungarian scientist Dennis Gabor for inventing... more
In a few years holography celebrated some important anniversaries: in 2010 the 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention; in 2011 the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to the Hungarian scientist Dennis Gabor for inventing holography; and in 2012 the 50th anniversary of the first holograms.
Holography can create an accurate visual simulation, with total parallax: a replica of the real object made of light, which has the real object’s visual properties but is immaterial, intangible. The holographic images are volumetric and exist in a real and measurable space, and are not based on the Renaissance perspective, which can represent the three-dimensional physical space onto a bi-dimensional one.
In a near future holography-based techniques will open up new possibilities in the visualization domain, allowing new visual worlds. In the meantime holography can be a useful technical and theoretical tool for reflecting on how our everyday mediascape works.
The media can produce, reproduce and transmit bi-dimensional images on flat supports. The media system has a high coherence degree and the images share similar morphostructural rules, so they can be transferred from one medium to another without any fundamental information loss: bi-dimensionality and image-support coincidence appear to be at the basis of this high level of translatability. Conversely holograms can’t be displayed through the usual media without loosing their peculiarity: they require new displays, new visual media, new genres of communication, even if they hybridize with the existing media.
Holography stands apart from the media realm, that in part explains the difficulties of this technique to emerge and integrate into the mediascape. Holography suggests a new visual universe within a culture where the visual simulation is the most effective communication system; and it let us reflect about the need for a more comprehensive definition of “image”. We can believe that future images will also be holographic and that we shall communicate more and more through them, in a delicate balance between presence and absence, immediacy and remoteness, materiality and immateriality, matter and energy.
Holography can work as a model in science. For example in the study of the brain activity in the Holonomic Brain Theory, originated by Austrian psychologist Karl Pribram and initially developed in collaboration with physicist David Bohm for explaining the human cognition.
Holography can also be a model in physics, in the idea of the physicist David Bohm of an “implicate order” in the universe, where the global structure can be found in each small part. The universe would be a gigantic and wonderfully detailed hologram.
More recently, theoretical results about the black holes suggest that the idea of a holographic universe is a viable hypothesis. And in the field of the quantum gravity and string theories the “holographic principle” suggests that the entire universe can be considered as a two-dimensional information structure, and the three-dimensional world we observe is but a description at macroscopic scales and at low energies.
Holography can create an accurate visual simulation, with total parallax: a replica of the real object made of light, which has the real object’s visual properties but is immaterial, intangible. The holographic images are volumetric and exist in a real and measurable space, and are not based on the Renaissance perspective, which can represent the three-dimensional physical space onto a bi-dimensional one.
In a near future holography-based techniques will open up new possibilities in the visualization domain, allowing new visual worlds. In the meantime holography can be a useful technical and theoretical tool for reflecting on how our everyday mediascape works.
The media can produce, reproduce and transmit bi-dimensional images on flat supports. The media system has a high coherence degree and the images share similar morphostructural rules, so they can be transferred from one medium to another without any fundamental information loss: bi-dimensionality and image-support coincidence appear to be at the basis of this high level of translatability. Conversely holograms can’t be displayed through the usual media without loosing their peculiarity: they require new displays, new visual media, new genres of communication, even if they hybridize with the existing media.
Holography stands apart from the media realm, that in part explains the difficulties of this technique to emerge and integrate into the mediascape. Holography suggests a new visual universe within a culture where the visual simulation is the most effective communication system; and it let us reflect about the need for a more comprehensive definition of “image”. We can believe that future images will also be holographic and that we shall communicate more and more through them, in a delicate balance between presence and absence, immediacy and remoteness, materiality and immateriality, matter and energy.
Holography can work as a model in science. For example in the study of the brain activity in the Holonomic Brain Theory, originated by Austrian psychologist Karl Pribram and initially developed in collaboration with physicist David Bohm for explaining the human cognition.
Holography can also be a model in physics, in the idea of the physicist David Bohm of an “implicate order” in the universe, where the global structure can be found in each small part. The universe would be a gigantic and wonderfully detailed hologram.
More recently, theoretical results about the black holes suggest that the idea of a holographic universe is a viable hypothesis. And in the field of the quantum gravity and string theories the “holographic principle” suggests that the entire universe can be considered as a two-dimensional information structure, and the three-dimensional world we observe is but a description at macroscopic scales and at low energies.
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Research Interests:
The current mediascape requires a deep inquiry on the use of the media (of the “old” and “new” media) in many fields and in particular in the educational realm. Tools like computers, consoles, smartphones, extended TV, MP3 readers, photo... more
The current mediascape requires a deep inquiry on the use of the media (of the “old” and “new” media) in many fields and in particular in the educational realm. Tools like computers, consoles, smartphones, extended TV, MP3 readers, photo and videocameras are of common use today and give rise to many applications which can change the way we get in touch each other, communicate, learn and teach. In our culture the remote and mediated communication has become increasingly relevant. In order to have an idea of the extent of this process, which occurred in less than 200 years, we could compare today’s many opportunities – synchronous communications like cellular and old plain telephony, IP based communications like Skype and chats, and asynchronous communications like email, fora, blogs, social networks and so on... – which can be very inexpensive, with the communications technologies which were available by mid of the XIX Century. Before the mass diffusion of photography (which Baudelaire considered as a bane) only a small number of people was able to create pictures. Today everybody can easily create images through many devices, like cameras, computers, smartphones, webcams... And photography has become that “brothel without walls” as defined by McLuhan. Today people can create videos in an easy and economic way, a common task that only twenty years ago was very difficult and expensive, and, more, they can share online their videos with millions people. Ten years ago the audiovisual remote synchronous communication was complex and expensive and only the television organizations could manage it. Today a videoconference can be made with cheap and personal tools which everybody can manage, just like PCs, smartphones and wired or wireless connections. And many other examples could be done.
This evolution is opening up a wide bunch of unprecedented communication possibilities, which have changed and are changing the way people live, work, study, learn. People are experts in communication, are information producers, gatherers, disseminators, sharers, modifiers and storers. Communities are no more only country (locally)-based. Today an increasing part of the knowledge on the world we live in is achieved through the media (in a mediated way) and a relevant role in this trend is performed by the remote communications, both synchronous and asynchronous. People can instantly, inexpensively and easily communicate in remote and an increasing part of the communication is in remote. What for centuries has been the dream of the political and economic power, of the governments, of the inventors and of the magicians, is here and cheap today.
This has a relevant role in teaching, since teachers are often in front of students who daily use these tools, who are born with them and maybe they are the best users of these tools. Experiences like e-learning, distance learning, videoconference, learning in the metaverse, interactive learning..., are usual. Since the early two thousand Noema has been developing and using some of these tools and experiences, and in 2010, in the Xth anniversary of Noema’s foundation, we are restructuring and improving the tools related to (new) media education and research.
This evolution is opening up a wide bunch of unprecedented communication possibilities, which have changed and are changing the way people live, work, study, learn. People are experts in communication, are information producers, gatherers, disseminators, sharers, modifiers and storers. Communities are no more only country (locally)-based. Today an increasing part of the knowledge on the world we live in is achieved through the media (in a mediated way) and a relevant role in this trend is performed by the remote communications, both synchronous and asynchronous. People can instantly, inexpensively and easily communicate in remote and an increasing part of the communication is in remote. What for centuries has been the dream of the political and economic power, of the governments, of the inventors and of the magicians, is here and cheap today.
This has a relevant role in teaching, since teachers are often in front of students who daily use these tools, who are born with them and maybe they are the best users of these tools. Experiences like e-learning, distance learning, videoconference, learning in the metaverse, interactive learning..., are usual. Since the early two thousand Noema has been developing and using some of these tools and experiences, and in 2010, in the Xth anniversary of Noema’s foundation, we are restructuring and improving the tools related to (new) media education and research.
Research Interests:
The 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention fell in 2010, while in 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Dennis Gabor, the Hungarian scientist who invented holography. Holography can create an accurate visual... more
The 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention fell in 2010, while in 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Dennis Gabor, the Hungarian scientist who invented holography. Holography can create an accurate visual simulation, with total parallax: a replica made of light which has the visual properties of the real object but is immaterial, intangible.
A well-known visual simulation technique is the Renaissance perspective, which represents the three-dimensional physical space onto a bi-dimensional one. Although the perspective was invented in the XV Century we are still immersed in (and influenced by) this way of representing and interpreting the world. In fact the perspective was inherited by photography, cinema, video, computer photorealistic images, virtual reality, 3D videogames, the metaverses... We live in a perspective-based culture. But, although the perspective is presented as an “objective” visualization technique, its objectivity is theoretically and technically based on the “point of view”, that is on the most subjective and personal element of the discourse production.
Holography gives more freedom to the observer: he can choose the viewpoint, his spatial position and he can successfully change his own visual perspective, like in front of a real, material, object and scene.
The media can produce, reproduce and transmit bi-dimensional images on flat supports. The media system has a high coherence degree and the images share similar morphostructural rules, so they can be transferred from one medium to another without any fundamental information loss: bi-dimensionality and image-support coincidence appear to be at the basis of this high level of translatability. Conversely holograms can’t be displayed through the usual media without loosing their peculiarity: they require new displays, new visual media, new genres of communication, even if they hybridize with the existing media.
In a near future holography-based techniques will open up new possibilities in the visualization domain, allowing new visual worlds. In the meantime holography can be a useful technical and theoretical tool for reflecting on how our everyday mediascape works.
A well-known visual simulation technique is the Renaissance perspective, which represents the three-dimensional physical space onto a bi-dimensional one. Although the perspective was invented in the XV Century we are still immersed in (and influenced by) this way of representing and interpreting the world. In fact the perspective was inherited by photography, cinema, video, computer photorealistic images, virtual reality, 3D videogames, the metaverses... We live in a perspective-based culture. But, although the perspective is presented as an “objective” visualization technique, its objectivity is theoretically and technically based on the “point of view”, that is on the most subjective and personal element of the discourse production.
Holography gives more freedom to the observer: he can choose the viewpoint, his spatial position and he can successfully change his own visual perspective, like in front of a real, material, object and scene.
The media can produce, reproduce and transmit bi-dimensional images on flat supports. The media system has a high coherence degree and the images share similar morphostructural rules, so they can be transferred from one medium to another without any fundamental information loss: bi-dimensionality and image-support coincidence appear to be at the basis of this high level of translatability. Conversely holograms can’t be displayed through the usual media without loosing their peculiarity: they require new displays, new visual media, new genres of communication, even if they hybridize with the existing media.
In a near future holography-based techniques will open up new possibilities in the visualization domain, allowing new visual worlds. In the meantime holography can be a useful technical and theoretical tool for reflecting on how our everyday mediascape works.
Research Interests:
According to the official science we perceive through the senses, which are usually considered as being five: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through the senses we detect and perceive what is “outside the body”, the so called... more
According to the official science we perceive through the senses, which are usually considered as being five: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through the senses we detect and perceive what is “outside the body”, the so called phenomenal reality, and we get in touch with the world, we can evaluate matter, energy and information in order to survive. Considering the senses as separate elements has no point, while considering them as a continuum with the ability to perceive the information at distance, proximity and contact, can show some interesting features.
The sensory system can’t detect many kinds of information and matter generated by the natural processes and by the human activities. All these phenomena simply overcome our sensory faculties. And although we invented technologies, devices and machines which can expand our sensory capabilities there are many entities which still escape our detection (for instance the dark matter and energy in the universe).
The simulation of reality or of the way the senses perceive reality becomes a common practice, from Parrhasius’ competition with Zeuxis – narrated by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in the first century of the Common Era – to the contemporary virtual images, from the Baroque trompe l’oeil representations to the cinema’s simulation of the movement, to the holographic “realities”... This in turn applies, with relevant differences in the substance of the information and in the technologies involved, in the sound, the smell, the taste and the touch realms...
So, basically, we define what reality is through the senses, naked or expanded, and we build new realities tricking the senses, which are as real as the real they want to represent. Through the senses we build models of the world, in a turnover of models which arise, become dominant and fall, replaced by new ones seemingly better suited to explain the world, which spring out from the culture of the age they are born in. Our senses filter what our evolution selected to filter. Moreover many cultural filters limit further our vision. So “reality” escapes...
The sensory system can’t detect many kinds of information and matter generated by the natural processes and by the human activities. All these phenomena simply overcome our sensory faculties. And although we invented technologies, devices and machines which can expand our sensory capabilities there are many entities which still escape our detection (for instance the dark matter and energy in the universe).
The simulation of reality or of the way the senses perceive reality becomes a common practice, from Parrhasius’ competition with Zeuxis – narrated by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in the first century of the Common Era – to the contemporary virtual images, from the Baroque trompe l’oeil representations to the cinema’s simulation of the movement, to the holographic “realities”... This in turn applies, with relevant differences in the substance of the information and in the technologies involved, in the sound, the smell, the taste and the touch realms...
So, basically, we define what reality is through the senses, naked or expanded, and we build new realities tricking the senses, which are as real as the real they want to represent. Through the senses we build models of the world, in a turnover of models which arise, become dominant and fall, replaced by new ones seemingly better suited to explain the world, which spring out from the culture of the age they are born in. Our senses filter what our evolution selected to filter. Moreover many cultural filters limit further our vision. So “reality” escapes...
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"What is Life? The idea – or definition – of life is indeed very challenging and fascinating, but we don’t really know exactly what is, even from a scientific viewpoint. There are many definitions of life, representing the disciplines... more
"What is Life? The idea – or definition – of life is indeed very challenging and fascinating, but we don’t really know exactly what is, even from a scientific viewpoint. There are many definitions of life, representing the disciplines which gave birth to these statements. So, to give some examples, life could be in turn: “what it is born and grows, procreates and dies” (in biology); “a continuous flux of energy and information” (in evolutionary biology); “what is able to procreate and correct the reproductive errors by means of the natural selection” (in neodarwinism); “what can contrast entropy preserving its physical structure constant in time and with the ability to reproduce an entity similar to itself” (in physics); “what can absorb free energy in the forms of solar light or chemical potential energy (food and oxygen) and use this energy in order to grow in accordance with the instructions coded in its genes” (in biochemistry); “an organism is a delimited system open to a matter and energy flux, which can maintain steady its internal composition and keep intact its physical state in a changing environment, that is to remain in homeostasis” (in geophysiology). And we could go on…
Today life has two distinct divisions. The first one has its roots in the organic matter and is founded on carbon compounds. Historically the representation of the carbon-based living forms has always been a recursive subject in a wide part of the arts. But the relationship between art and organic life has drawn new energy from the development of bio-based disciplines like biotechnologies, genetics, synthetic biology, etc.
The second division of the living is by far more recent, and arises from a collection of various disciplines, including Artificial Life and Robotics, these being perhaps the most representative. After a very long period in which life on Earth only evolved inside the organic realm, from a few decades life has been expanded by these and other disciplines. In a near future we could assist to an extension of the idea of life and of life forms from the barely organic realm to an articulated panorama with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled (organic/inorganic) life forms."
Today life has two distinct divisions. The first one has its roots in the organic matter and is founded on carbon compounds. Historically the representation of the carbon-based living forms has always been a recursive subject in a wide part of the arts. But the relationship between art and organic life has drawn new energy from the development of bio-based disciplines like biotechnologies, genetics, synthetic biology, etc.
The second division of the living is by far more recent, and arises from a collection of various disciplines, including Artificial Life and Robotics, these being perhaps the most representative. After a very long period in which life on Earth only evolved inside the organic realm, from a few decades life has been expanded by these and other disciplines. In a near future we could assist to an extension of the idea of life and of life forms from the barely organic realm to an articulated panorama with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled (organic/inorganic) life forms."
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Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Human Evolution, Media Studies, Numerical Analysis, Computational Mathematics, and 6 moreSimulation, Dynamic Systems and Control, Information Technology and System Integration, Optimization Technology, System Modeling and Simulation, and Integration Technology of Automation Systems
The idea of “simulation” is a very intriguing issue. Simulation is often at the core of representation, storytelling, communication and creation, and has many levels of “perfection”. The historical media simulate what we use to call... more
The idea of “simulation” is a very intriguing issue. Simulation is often at the core of representation, storytelling, communication and creation, and has many levels of “perfection”. The historical media simulate what we use to call “reality”: paintings, photography, cinema, video... Computer technology refers to simulation too, although it adds chances which are not allowed in the real world (like for instance the copy/paste action). The interfaces of the most popular computer’s operative systems simulate the desktop in order to be more intuitive. The computer programs for writing and desktop publishing simulate the paper page, the 2D applications for painting or drawing simulate the canvas and the effects of the painting/drawing techniques. The software applications for creating 3D images simulate a 3D space onto the 2D space of the computer screen (using the same, although simplified, rules of the Renaissance perspective), and simulate the light behaviour, the appearance of the matter, the physics of the “real world”... The audiovisual cinematic media not only simulate by means of the images, but also through the movement (frames per second) and the sound space (stereophony, quadriphony, holophony). The technological media are based on simulation: 3D computer image/animation, 3D cinema, holography, virtual reality, flight simulators, 3D computer games, the metaverse... simulate some aspects of reality and create new worlds. In order to enhance communication and creation it seems crucial to represent or create in a way which is based on the simulation of some issues of the “real”.
The symbolic communication relies on simulation. But simulation seems working at many levels. In science we build models which simulate the phenomena in order to understand, describe and/or communicate them. Many disciplines simulate nature and life. Artificial Intelligence started simulating some aspects of the human symbolic intelligence and reproduce them in the machines. Artificial Life simulates the basics of life, its principles, processes and evolution. Robotics build entities which simulate the behaviour of the living beings in the “real world”. Synthetic biology builds biological systems which do not exist in nature or artificially modifies existing ones, simulating nature. In biology the mirror neurons system, which is involved in social cognition, empathy, language, art, builds inner simulations of actions and behaviours, giving an internal insight of an external situation. And, in the year of Darwin, the natural selection, which is the process where the environment advantages the prolificity of some organisms instead of others, could be interpreted as a simulation-driven process: the survival of the fittest in that particular environment means the survival of the organisms which best reflect that environment’s features, that is the survival of the best simulation.
So is simulation only a communication technique? Is it a way to create symbolic constructions in order to share information, ideas, artefacts, worlds? Is it a natural strategy of knowledge and consciousness too? Could it even be considered as a basic process in nature’s evolution?
The symbolic communication relies on simulation. But simulation seems working at many levels. In science we build models which simulate the phenomena in order to understand, describe and/or communicate them. Many disciplines simulate nature and life. Artificial Intelligence started simulating some aspects of the human symbolic intelligence and reproduce them in the machines. Artificial Life simulates the basics of life, its principles, processes and evolution. Robotics build entities which simulate the behaviour of the living beings in the “real world”. Synthetic biology builds biological systems which do not exist in nature or artificially modifies existing ones, simulating nature. In biology the mirror neurons system, which is involved in social cognition, empathy, language, art, builds inner simulations of actions and behaviours, giving an internal insight of an external situation. And, in the year of Darwin, the natural selection, which is the process where the environment advantages the prolificity of some organisms instead of others, could be interpreted as a simulation-driven process: the survival of the fittest in that particular environment means the survival of the organisms which best reflect that environment’s features, that is the survival of the best simulation.
So is simulation only a communication technique? Is it a way to create symbolic constructions in order to share information, ideas, artefacts, worlds? Is it a natural strategy of knowledge and consciousness too? Could it even be considered as a basic process in nature’s evolution?
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In this paper I’ll try to argue that the symbolic acquisition acquired by our species is at the basis of the ongoing and future evolution of life forms. The idea – or definition – of life is indeed very challenging, and we don’t really... more
In this paper I’ll try to argue that the symbolic acquisition acquired by our species is at the basis of the ongoing and future evolution of life forms. The idea – or definition – of life is indeed very challenging, and we don’t really know what exactly it is, also from a scientific viewpoint. After a very long period in which life on Earth only evolved inside the organic realm, from a few decades life has been expanded by some disciplines, like artificial life and robotics among others. In a near future we could assist to an extension of the idea of life and of life forms from the barely organic realm to an articulated panorama with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled (organic/inorganic) life forms.
In this path the human kind’s acquisition of the symbolic ability played a key role. By the simbolic realm and the tools which hence were produced our ancestors began to know, control, manage and use the environment, and in the same time they established a “security distance” from the phenomenic world. With the symbolic dimension they achieved three main goals: knowledge, protection and effectiveness.
The symbolic acquisition (in the beginning the indical signs and the orality, then the images, the writing…) gave birth to a whole world of opportunities, habits. Among them: abstraction, remote communication (in space and time), culture and knowledge sharing, consciousness, imagination, introspection, the ideas of past, of future and of living in a parallel world, myths and religions, spirituality…, the ability to project, imagine and design the future. Like a chain reaction in a LASER, with a spectacular growth of the photons until their energy causes the ray to sort out from the tube, the symbolic ability produced a huge acceleration in the process of tools’ and artifacts’ making and in their complexity.
Today we assist to an evolution which is generating more and more complex projects and devices, still born from the symbolic ability, that are bringing to light autonomous, living entities, more suited to the anthropic environment and to the new technological challenges.
In this path the human kind’s acquisition of the symbolic ability played a key role. By the simbolic realm and the tools which hence were produced our ancestors began to know, control, manage and use the environment, and in the same time they established a “security distance” from the phenomenic world. With the symbolic dimension they achieved three main goals: knowledge, protection and effectiveness.
The symbolic acquisition (in the beginning the indical signs and the orality, then the images, the writing…) gave birth to a whole world of opportunities, habits. Among them: abstraction, remote communication (in space and time), culture and knowledge sharing, consciousness, imagination, introspection, the ideas of past, of future and of living in a parallel world, myths and religions, spirituality…, the ability to project, imagine and design the future. Like a chain reaction in a LASER, with a spectacular growth of the photons until their energy causes the ray to sort out from the tube, the symbolic ability produced a huge acceleration in the process of tools’ and artifacts’ making and in their complexity.
Today we assist to an evolution which is generating more and more complex projects and devices, still born from the symbolic ability, that are bringing to light autonomous, living entities, more suited to the anthropic environment and to the new technological challenges.
Research Interests:
"“Intelligenza” è un concetto ambiguo. Per “intelligenza” in realtà spesso intendiamo la nostra capacità simbolica, cioè la nostra abilità nell’utilizzare e manipolare simboli. Così, quasi sempre, quando magnifichiamo l’“intelligenza”... more
"“Intelligenza” è un concetto ambiguo. Per “intelligenza” in realtà spesso intendiamo la nostra capacità simbolica, cioè la nostra abilità nell’utilizzare e manipolare simboli. Così, quasi sempre, quando magnifichiamo l’“intelligenza” umana, magari in un ottuso paragone con le altre specie viventi, dovremmo intendere l’“intelligenza simbolica”. Ottuso perché, anche se non siamo i soli a possedere capacità simboliche (altri primati superiori le posseggono), siamo i soli a utilizzarle in maniera così massiccia e pervasiva.
L’intelligenza simbolica è il genio della nostra specie, su di essa poggia il successo evolutivo dell’umanità. Grazie all’intelligenza simbolica abbiamo stabilito una sorta di “distanza di sicurezza” dal reale fenomenico, creando quella complessa sfera dell’antropico – conoscenze, progetti, artefatti, dispositivi, protesi, macchine… – che ad un tempo ci consente di conoscere il reale, di proteggerci da esso e di intervenire su di esso modificandolo. Col simbolico abbiamo creato un sapere comune separato dalla sostanza del reale fenomenico, un laboratorio in cui, mediante l’elaborazione di modelli simbolici, è possibile sperimentare ipotesi e simulare il loro impatto col mondo, originando una progettualità capace di produrre artefatti sempre più complessi. Il simbolico è il luogo dell’astrazione, delle ipotesi, dello scambio, della condivisione, dell’accumulo e della trasmissione di informazioni, di esperienze, di valori, è il luogo di mediazione dei conflitti. Il simbolico è un laboratorio in cui sperimentare le relazioni con il mondo reale nella sua complessità, il luogo in cui il confronto col mondo reale viene sempre più trasferito.
Grazie al simbolico si sono sviluppate la coscienza, l’immaginazione, l’interiorità, l’introspezione, l’autoconsapevolezza, sono nate le condizioni per trascendere l’hic et nunc fisico e creare un mondo parallelo, sono nate le mitologie, i riti, le religioni. Grazie al simbolico si sono sviluppati, in maniera quasi ipertrofica, i concetti di passato e di futuro, il “pensarsi” (declinarsi) al futuro.
La dimensione simbolica è un universo sempre più autonomo, in continua espansione e ristrutturazione, un universo della simulazione che si avvicina al mondo reale fino a confondersi con esso e a sostituirsi ad esso. Gli artefatti e le macchine che abbiamo inventato derivano dall’uso dell’intelligenza simbolica e spesso, come nel caso dell’intelligenza artificiale, nascono dal tentativo di simularla o di emularla. Come si evolverà questo processo?
L’intelligenza simbolica è scaturita dalla dimensione organica, la sua irruzione ha generato l’esplosione di strumenti, protesi, artefatti, ha cambiato profondamente l’interazione umana con l’ambiente, ha generato il mondo antropizzato che conosciamo e prelude al prossimo passo evolutivo. La mia ipotesi è che le macchine, i dispositivi, gli artefatti, diverranno estensioni autonome (in un processo che del resto è in atto da tempo), e che ciò che definiamo “vivente”, grazie alla pressione dell’ambiente antropico, si evolverà al di là della dimensione dell’organico, ibridandosi con esso o fondandosi interamente sull’inorganico – in un percorso che in fondo ricapitola la nascita della vita sulla Terra – diversificando ulteriormente la vita e le forme del vivente, rivendicando la complementarietà tra organico e inorganico. E noi siamo i padrini di questa nuova genesi, del tutto naturale. Fino a che punto potremo “fabbricare”, gestire, e indirizzare queste nuove “intelligenze”? Avrà ancora un peso il simbolico in queste “intelligenze”, o sarà solo una vecchia eredità?"
L’intelligenza simbolica è il genio della nostra specie, su di essa poggia il successo evolutivo dell’umanità. Grazie all’intelligenza simbolica abbiamo stabilito una sorta di “distanza di sicurezza” dal reale fenomenico, creando quella complessa sfera dell’antropico – conoscenze, progetti, artefatti, dispositivi, protesi, macchine… – che ad un tempo ci consente di conoscere il reale, di proteggerci da esso e di intervenire su di esso modificandolo. Col simbolico abbiamo creato un sapere comune separato dalla sostanza del reale fenomenico, un laboratorio in cui, mediante l’elaborazione di modelli simbolici, è possibile sperimentare ipotesi e simulare il loro impatto col mondo, originando una progettualità capace di produrre artefatti sempre più complessi. Il simbolico è il luogo dell’astrazione, delle ipotesi, dello scambio, della condivisione, dell’accumulo e della trasmissione di informazioni, di esperienze, di valori, è il luogo di mediazione dei conflitti. Il simbolico è un laboratorio in cui sperimentare le relazioni con il mondo reale nella sua complessità, il luogo in cui il confronto col mondo reale viene sempre più trasferito.
Grazie al simbolico si sono sviluppate la coscienza, l’immaginazione, l’interiorità, l’introspezione, l’autoconsapevolezza, sono nate le condizioni per trascendere l’hic et nunc fisico e creare un mondo parallelo, sono nate le mitologie, i riti, le religioni. Grazie al simbolico si sono sviluppati, in maniera quasi ipertrofica, i concetti di passato e di futuro, il “pensarsi” (declinarsi) al futuro.
La dimensione simbolica è un universo sempre più autonomo, in continua espansione e ristrutturazione, un universo della simulazione che si avvicina al mondo reale fino a confondersi con esso e a sostituirsi ad esso. Gli artefatti e le macchine che abbiamo inventato derivano dall’uso dell’intelligenza simbolica e spesso, come nel caso dell’intelligenza artificiale, nascono dal tentativo di simularla o di emularla. Come si evolverà questo processo?
L’intelligenza simbolica è scaturita dalla dimensione organica, la sua irruzione ha generato l’esplosione di strumenti, protesi, artefatti, ha cambiato profondamente l’interazione umana con l’ambiente, ha generato il mondo antropizzato che conosciamo e prelude al prossimo passo evolutivo. La mia ipotesi è che le macchine, i dispositivi, gli artefatti, diverranno estensioni autonome (in un processo che del resto è in atto da tempo), e che ciò che definiamo “vivente”, grazie alla pressione dell’ambiente antropico, si evolverà al di là della dimensione dell’organico, ibridandosi con esso o fondandosi interamente sull’inorganico – in un percorso che in fondo ricapitola la nascita della vita sulla Terra – diversificando ulteriormente la vita e le forme del vivente, rivendicando la complementarietà tra organico e inorganico. E noi siamo i padrini di questa nuova genesi, del tutto naturale. Fino a che punto potremo “fabbricare”, gestire, e indirizzare queste nuove “intelligenze”? Avrà ancora un peso il simbolico in queste “intelligenze”, o sarà solo una vecchia eredità?"
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For a long time the living has been considered as based on the organic realm, simply because life on Earth is organic. Since the end of the '80 artificial life expanded the design of the living to the inorganic realm, shifting the roots... more
For a long time the living has been considered as based on the organic realm, simply because life on Earth is organic. Since the end of the '80 artificial life expanded the design of the living to the inorganic realm, shifting the roots of life from the matter to the algorithm. Today the opposition between organic and inorganic is easily crossed and these two realms blends in many fields and applications. The living is the best model in making tools, machines, artifacts, devices which must autonomously work in and adapt to many environments. But despite its evidence, we are not able to define what life is, especially at the nanoscale. Organic and inorganic are two osmotic realms, two declinations of the living, and art can be also a powerful bridge between the two. This multiplicity of the living configures a new step in the evolution of life, envisaging autonomous extensions, enhanced organisms (organic/inorganic) and new forms of consciousness and intelligence.
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Intorno al tema del “vivente”, tornato al centro della discussione contemporanea e quindi anche delle pratiche dell’arte, è possibile individuare sostanzialmente due approcci. Il primo, più antico, ha le radici nella materia organica,... more
Intorno al tema del “vivente”, tornato al centro della discussione contemporanea e quindi anche delle pratiche dell’arte, è possibile individuare sostanzialmente due approcci. Il primo, più antico, ha le radici nella materia organica, nella “carne” degli esseri viventi, si basa sull’impiego o sulla manipolazione della materia organica di cui il vivente è costituito. Su questo approccio, che mostra una rinnovata vitalità con le scienze e le tecnologie derivate dalla biologia, si fondano la bioarte e i suoi sottoinsiemi, come l’arte biotecnologica, l’arte genetica e l’arte transgenica.
Il secondo approccio deriva da varie discipline, tra cui la “vita artificiale” e la robotica, e ha generato numerose applicazioni in molti settori, compreso quello artistico. Questo secondo approccio ha messo in discussione il concetto tradizionale di vita, legato alla necessità della materia organica – di cui sulla Terra è composto il vivente – estendendo l’idea di “vivente” al di fuori del dominio nel quale lo si è sempre inquadrato.
Si tratta di percorsi separati, di diverse declinazioni del vivente, che, anche nelle loro ibridazioni, oltre a costituire degli strumenti a disposizione dell’arte configurano nuove opportunità cognitive e persino evolutive.
Il secondo approccio deriva da varie discipline, tra cui la “vita artificiale” e la robotica, e ha generato numerose applicazioni in molti settori, compreso quello artistico. Questo secondo approccio ha messo in discussione il concetto tradizionale di vita, legato alla necessità della materia organica – di cui sulla Terra è composto il vivente – estendendo l’idea di “vivente” al di fuori del dominio nel quale lo si è sempre inquadrato.
Si tratta di percorsi separati, di diverse declinazioni del vivente, che, anche nelle loro ibridazioni, oltre a costituire degli strumenti a disposizione dell’arte configurano nuove opportunità cognitive e persino evolutive.
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Soprattutto dalla metà degli anni ’90 del secolo scorso sono apparse forme espressive collegate a strumenti e approcci del tutto diversi da quelli di derivazione informatica. Pure spesso condividendo alcune delle istanze provenienti dallo... more
Soprattutto dalla metà degli anni ’90 del secolo scorso sono apparse forme espressive collegate a strumenti e approcci del tutto diversi da quelli di derivazione informatica. Pure spesso condividendo alcune delle istanze provenienti dallo stesso quadro filosofico e scientifico generale di riferimento e talvolta ibridandosi con tecnologie di derivazione informatica, queste nuove forme hanno fatto riferimento soprattutto alla dimensione organica, all’ambito della biologia, alle “discipline del vivente”.
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Il “vivente” è tornato oggi a occupare una posizione rilevante nel cuore della riflessione e della pratica contemporanea, quindi anche nelle applicazioni dell’arte. E’ possibile individuare due approcci: il primo, che conosciamo si può... more
Il “vivente” è tornato oggi a occupare una posizione rilevante nel cuore della riflessione e della pratica contemporanea, quindi anche nelle applicazioni dell’arte. E’ possibile individuare due approcci: il primo, che conosciamo si può dire da sempre, ha le radici nella materia organica, fondata sui composti del carbonio, e mostra una rinnovata vitalità e un’evoluzione straordinaria con le scienze e le tecnologie più recenti, tra cui in particolare la biologia. Questo approccio si basa sull’intervento e sulla manipolazione della materia organica di cui è costituito il vivente, e su di esso si fondano la bioarte e i suoi sottoinsiemi, come la biotech art, l’arte genetica (anche se solo in parte) e arte transgenica.
Il secondo approccio proviene da varie discipline, tra cui spiccano la “vita artificiale”, definita nei suoi contorni fondamentali a partire dalla fine degli anni ’80, e la robotica. Questo secondo approccio, che ha generato numerose applicazioni in molti settori tra cui anche quello artistico, ha avuto il merito di mettere in discussione il concetto di vita, tradizionalmente legato alla compresenza della materia organica di cui è composto il vivente sulla Terra, estendendolo al di fuori del dominio all’interno del quale lo si è sempre conosciuto e inquadrato.
Si tratta di due diversi percorsi del vivente, di due declinazioni che – anche dialogando tra loro, interagendo o ibridandosi – arricchiscono le conoscenze dell’umanità (e quindi anche gli strumenti a disposizione dell’arte), configurano nuove opportunità cognitive e persino nuove possibilità evolutive.
Il secondo approccio proviene da varie discipline, tra cui spiccano la “vita artificiale”, definita nei suoi contorni fondamentali a partire dalla fine degli anni ’80, e la robotica. Questo secondo approccio, che ha generato numerose applicazioni in molti settori tra cui anche quello artistico, ha avuto il merito di mettere in discussione il concetto di vita, tradizionalmente legato alla compresenza della materia organica di cui è composto il vivente sulla Terra, estendendolo al di fuori del dominio all’interno del quale lo si è sempre conosciuto e inquadrato.
Si tratta di due diversi percorsi del vivente, di due declinazioni che – anche dialogando tra loro, interagendo o ibridandosi – arricchiscono le conoscenze dell’umanità (e quindi anche gli strumenti a disposizione dell’arte), configurano nuove opportunità cognitive e persino nuove possibilità evolutive.
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Ho presentato per la prima volta l’argomento della Terza Vita nel 2008, a Vienna a una conferenza internazionale, e poi in varie altre occasioni. Grazie alle scienze e alle tecnologie stanno emergendo entità, create dalla cultura umana,... more
Ho presentato per la prima volta l’argomento della Terza Vita nel 2008, a Vienna a una conferenza internazionale, e poi in varie altre occasioni. Grazie alle scienze e alle tecnologie stanno emergendo entità, create dalla cultura umana, che mostrano comportamenti analoghi al vivente, estendendo i confini della vita e dell’evoluzione. Molti artefatti, dispositivi, macchine, entità, stanno diventando sempre più complessi e autonomi, e abbiamo la capacità di modificare organismi esistenti o di creane di nuovi, che non si sarebbero mai evoluti naturalmente. Agenti e oggetti autonomi, forme di vita artificiale, robotica e biorobotica, nanoentità, ibridi (organici/inorganici), organismi modificati ed espansi, vita sintetica, organismi “de-estinti” costituiscono i campi emergenti. Ho chiamato “Terza Vita” tutte queste forme create dalla cultura umana, mentre la “Prima Vita” è la vita biologica e la “Seconda Vita” è la vita nel simbolico.
La Terza Vita non scaturisce da un’evoluzione biologica generale ma dall’evoluzione di una specie particolare, quella umana. Queste forme non vengono selezionate dallo stesso ambiente che ha selezionato le forme organiche viventi, come piante, animali, compresi noi esseri umani. La Terza Vita è progettata, creata e selezionata dalla sfera antropica mediante un processo culturale, è il risultato della cultura e dell’ambiente antropico.
La Terza Vita non scaturisce da un’evoluzione biologica generale ma dall’evoluzione di una specie particolare, quella umana. Queste forme non vengono selezionate dallo stesso ambiente che ha selezionato le forme organiche viventi, come piante, animali, compresi noi esseri umani. La Terza Vita è progettata, creata e selezionata dalla sfera antropica mediante un processo culturale, è il risultato della cultura e dell’ambiente antropico.
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Una intervista sul presente e sul futuro tecnologico per il magazine online Cronache Letterarie
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Quinto appuntamento con il nostro ciclo dedicato alla didattica dei nuovi media, a cura di Alessio Chierico. Oggi incontriamo il prof. Pier Luigi Capucci: per introdurvi la sua bella intervista, ecco alcuni cenni sulla sua biografia e... more
Quinto appuntamento con il nostro ciclo dedicato alla didattica dei nuovi media, a cura di Alessio Chierico. Oggi incontriamo il prof. Pier Luigi Capucci: per introdurvi la sua bella intervista, ecco alcuni cenni sulla sua biografia e sulle attività che lo vedono impegnato sul campo sin dai primissimi anni ‘80, sia in Italia che all’estero.
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Humans have always been inspired by the living, representing, simulating and emulating it. Today we are witnessing the extension of life into a “Third Life” - being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in... more
Humans have always been inspired by the living, representing, simulating and emulating it. Today we are witnessing the extension of life into a “Third Life” - being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension - that expands Nature. This process is consistent with the progressive externalization outside the body of human functions and activities. In the beginning of body parts, then of knowledge and memory, then of activities and labour, and finally of some narrow reasoning and autonomous action. In the future, increasingly human activities will be externalized, evolving into Third Life.
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Sulle tecnologie e le scienze emergenti, sulle relazioni tra arti e scienze, sulle forme avanzate di comunicazione e di espressione, Caronia presidiava, spesso controcorrente, i territori incerti e scomodi del possibile, delle... more
Sulle tecnologie e le scienze emergenti, sulle relazioni tra arti e scienze, sulle forme avanzate di comunicazione e di espressione, Caronia presidiava, spesso controcorrente, i territori incerti e scomodi del possibile, delle contaminazioni, delle trasformazioni, delle eccezioni, perché sapeva che in questi territori c’è la più alta probabilità di genesi del nuovo.
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Intervento alla conferenza "Dopofuturismo", organizzata in occasione del centenario del Manifesto Futurista, Carrara, Accademia di Belle Arti, 19/02/09
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Intervento al convegno “Diritto alla comunicazione nello scenario di fine millennio”, organizzato da Strano Network, iniziativa in difesa della telematica amatoriale.
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Una mostra all’aperto, in un giardino, è abbastanza insolita per l’arte contemporanea (almeno per la pittura), sovente sono altri, e chiusi, i luoghi deputati dove l’arte deve presentarsi e consumarsi. L’occasione si presta a varie... more
Una mostra all’aperto, in un giardino, è abbastanza insolita per l’arte contemporanea (almeno per la pittura), sovente sono altri, e chiusi, i luoghi deputati dove l’arte deve presentarsi e consumarsi. L’occasione si presta a varie riflessioni, ma le più persistenti hanno a che fare in qualche modo con l’origine, con l’inizio, da cui si proviene, e insieme col futuro, a cui si non si può che tendere. Il parco, il giardino, costellato di opere, è infatti attraversato dalla figura di Orfeo, diretto verso dove sappiamo con lo sguardo rivolto dietro di sé. Passato e futuro di certo non brillano come spunti originali, ma non vi sono molti altri argomenti per tentare di capire (forse per questo tentiamo sempre di riconciliarli, inseguendo una qualche ragione di unitarietà, per dare senso all’esistenza). Nello specifico voglio quindi soffermarmi su due aspetti, tra loro connessi: il labirinto e il rapporto tra natura e artificio.
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Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a... more
Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a powerful “technology”, the main reason behind the evolution of the human species. It is at the basis of our attitude to invent technologies and create tools, machines, and even new future life forms. Born from the symbolic ability, sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average lifespan was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, and by the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “technological world”, the lifespan expectation has doubled. Humans also developed a wide range of artefacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more and more powerful, complex, autonomous, and independent. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms. All this processes seem pushing forward the human biological, cultural, technical boundaries. How do they happen? Where are technologies based on? Can these processes give any glimpses on a possible evolution?
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Through sciences and technologies humans are shaping a wide and complex panorama pervaded by new devices, machines, algorithms and lifeforms, emerging from different realms. From its dawn and all along its evolution, humanity has always... more
Through sciences and technologies humans are shaping a wide and complex panorama pervaded by new devices, machines, algorithms and lifeforms, emerging from different realms. From its dawn and all along its evolution, humanity has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing nature, for a variety of purposes. Nature and life have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to attain protection, knowledge and effectiveness on the phenomenal world. But also to invent narrations, to generate new aesthetics, to create new artforms. Today sciences and disciplines like Robotics, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and more are pushing further the borders of life and evolution. In this profound planetary transformation many issues appear as outdated and inadequate, while new ones are emerging.
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In the Stone Age from the first simple splitters to the fist-axes, which are more refined but not so different, there is a gap of one million years. Instead, between the discovery of fire and today’s fire-based many different devices pass... more
In the Stone Age from the first simple splitters to the fist-axes, which are more refined but not so different, there is a gap of one million years. Instead, between the discovery of fire and today’s fire-based many different devices pass four hundred thousand years.
For thousands years, until the invention of the telegraph, the speed of people, animals, things and information had approximately the same order of magnitude. The remote communication in real-time was the dream of the governments, that funded even projects based on telepathy. In roughly one century and half – a very small time if compared to the history of the human culture – the information speed had an extraordinary boost to: in fact today the information can roughly reach the speed of light, that is being more than five hundred thousand time quicker than people, animals and things.
An acceleration took also place inside the media realm. In the USA the radio required 38 years to reach 50 million people, the television needed 13 years, the cable 8 and the Internet 5. And inside the Internet-based communications Facebook required less than 4 years to reach 50 million users, while Skype took roughly two years.
Sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average life length was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, while at the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “advanced world”, the life length expectation has doubled.
Humans also developed a wide range of artifacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more powerful, complex, autonomous and that are becoming independent from the human control. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled life forms.
Why all this acceleration? How does it happen? Does it depend on a cultural or a biological issue, or both? What does it seem pushing forward the human limits, biological, cultural, technical?
For thousands years, until the invention of the telegraph, the speed of people, animals, things and information had approximately the same order of magnitude. The remote communication in real-time was the dream of the governments, that funded even projects based on telepathy. In roughly one century and half – a very small time if compared to the history of the human culture – the information speed had an extraordinary boost to: in fact today the information can roughly reach the speed of light, that is being more than five hundred thousand time quicker than people, animals and things.
An acceleration took also place inside the media realm. In the USA the radio required 38 years to reach 50 million people, the television needed 13 years, the cable 8 and the Internet 5. And inside the Internet-based communications Facebook required less than 4 years to reach 50 million users, while Skype took roughly two years.
Sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average life length was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, while at the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “advanced world”, the life length expectation has doubled.
Humans also developed a wide range of artifacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more powerful, complex, autonomous and that are becoming independent from the human control. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled life forms.
Why all this acceleration? How does it happen? Does it depend on a cultural or a biological issue, or both? What does it seem pushing forward the human limits, biological, cultural, technical?
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In May 2011 Derrick de Kerckhove asked me for participating to a video collection on McLuhan's statements (as you may remember in 2011 fell the 100th anniversary of McLuhan's birth). I had to create a very short video which would have... more
In May 2011 Derrick de Kerckhove asked me for participating to a video collection on McLuhan's statements (as you may remember in 2011 fell the 100th anniversary of McLuhan's birth). I had to create a very short video which would have been showed during some conferences, with the other videos referred to McLuhan's sentences.
I accepted and decided the statement to discuss on in my video ("Tomorrow is our permanent address"), which is about the future. With the help of Raffaella Rivi, a friend of mine and a great video maker, we made the movie. Since it seemed it had a good success, I decided to add the subtitles and share it.
I accepted and decided the statement to discuss on in my video ("Tomorrow is our permanent address"), which is about the future. With the help of Raffaella Rivi, a friend of mine and a great video maker, we made the movie. Since it seemed it had a good success, I decided to add the subtitles and share it.
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"The current mediascape requires a deep inquiry on the use of the media (of the “old” and “new” media) in many fields and in particular in the educational realm. Tools like computers, consoles, smartphones, extended TV, MP3 readers, photo... more
"The current mediascape requires a deep inquiry on the use of the media (of the “old” and “new” media) in many fields and in particular in the educational realm. Tools like computers, consoles, smartphones, extended TV, MP3 readers, photo and videocameras are of common use today and give rise to many applications which can change the way we get in touch each other, communicate, learn and teach. In our culture the remote and mediated communication has become increasingly relevant. In order to have an idea of the extent of this process, which occurred in less than 200 years, we could compare today’s many opportunities – synchronous communications like cellular and old plain telephony, IP based communications like Skype and chats, and asynchronous communications like email, fora, blogs, social networks and so on... – which can be very inexpensive, with the communications technologies which were available by mid of the XIX Century. Before the mass diffusion of photography (which Baudelaire considered as a bane) only a small number of people was able to create pictures. Today everybody can easily create images through many devices, like cameras, computers, smartphones, webcams... And photography has become that “brothel without walls” as defined by McLuhan. Today people can create videos in an easy and economic way, a common task that only twenty years ago was very difficult and expensive, and, more, they can share online their videos with millions people. Ten years ago the audiovisual remote synchronous communication was complex and expensive and only the television organizations could manage it. Today a videoconference can be made with cheap and personal tools which everybody can manage, just like PCs, smartphones and wired or wireless connections. And many other examples could be done.
This evolution is opening up a wide bunch of unprecedented communication possibilities, which have changed and are changing the way people live, work, study, learn. People are experts in communication, are information producers, gatherers, disseminators, sharers, modifiers and storers. Communities are no more only country (locally)-based. Today an increasing part of the knowledge on the world we live in is achieved through the media (in a mediated way) and a relevant role in this trend is performed by the remote communications, both synchronous and asynchronous. People can instantly, inexpensively and easily communicate in remote and an increasing part of the communication is in remote. What for centuries has been the dream of the political and economic power, of the governments, of the inventors and of the magicians, is here and cheap today.
This has a relevant role in teaching, since teachers are often in front of students who daily use these tools, who are born with them and maybe they are the best users of these tools. Experiences like e-learning, distance learning, videoconference, learning in the metaverse, interactive learning..., are usual. Since the early two thousand Noema has been developing and using some of these tools and experiences, and in 2010, in the Xth anniversary of Noema’s foundation, we are restructuring and improving the tools related to (new) media education and research."
This evolution is opening up a wide bunch of unprecedented communication possibilities, which have changed and are changing the way people live, work, study, learn. People are experts in communication, are information producers, gatherers, disseminators, sharers, modifiers and storers. Communities are no more only country (locally)-based. Today an increasing part of the knowledge on the world we live in is achieved through the media (in a mediated way) and a relevant role in this trend is performed by the remote communications, both synchronous and asynchronous. People can instantly, inexpensively and easily communicate in remote and an increasing part of the communication is in remote. What for centuries has been the dream of the political and economic power, of the governments, of the inventors and of the magicians, is here and cheap today.
This has a relevant role in teaching, since teachers are often in front of students who daily use these tools, who are born with them and maybe they are the best users of these tools. Experiences like e-learning, distance learning, videoconference, learning in the metaverse, interactive learning..., are usual. Since the early two thousand Noema has been developing and using some of these tools and experiences, and in 2010, in the Xth anniversary of Noema’s foundation, we are restructuring and improving the tools related to (new) media education and research."
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On the occasion of 15 years of activity Noema has launched a Survey on which inventions, scientific disciplines, technologies and events in the last 15 years have deeply influenced, or will be influencing, the relationships among culture,... more
On the occasion of 15 years of activity Noema has launched a Survey on which inventions, scientific disciplines, technologies and events in the last 15 years have deeply influenced, or will be influencing, the relationships among culture, society, sciences and technologies. The Survey took place in two times, from April 13 to May 4, 2016. In the first phase, since the number of the elements to include could have been too high, Noema has asked to every member of its International Board and of the Editorial Staff for indicating five entries, from which, basing on the recurrences, have been drawn 21 entries. These entries, selected by Noema, have been finally proposed to a circle of people based on the magazine’s and its members' network. The result is one hundred of answered Surveys (not bad considering the specificity of many topics, the required knowledge and the difficulty to evaluate the impact of some issues).
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in this second discussion about the simulation issues the topics (the un-simulatable and the simulation of the senses) are very different, although related. In the remote and mediated communication some senses we normally use and that are... more
in this second discussion about the simulation issues the topics (the un-simulatable and the simulation of the senses) are very different, although related. In the remote and mediated communication some senses we normally use and that are very important in our everyday’s life - like smell and touch - simply do not pass, they are not effective, are useless. While the simulation hugely involves the sight and the hear, which are the so called “superior senses”, all the other sensory information is dropped out.
Asimple information about the chemical senses:
http://www.slideshare.net/lwolberg/chemical-senses-smell-and-taste
Many times we have heard about the need of restructuring and redefining the communication, a critique about “balancing” and discussing the communication’s issues. Many important international events (like the almost concurrent Transmediale) seem devoted to the ethical issues of the communication. But maybe the problem is at a more general level, on the fact that from a sensory viewpoint the remote and mediated communication is poorer than the direct one because drops out an important part of the way we “get in touch” with each other. Hence we must admit we accepted to communicate more rapidly, over greater distance, in an increasingly affordable and economic way, but in exchange for an impoverished communication.
On the other side, in a world where the information is extensively simulated by the mass media and the new media - a topic debated in our first discussion last year in Yasmin - is there anything which can’t enter the realm of simulation, which can’t be simulated, hence reduced - since the simulation is always a reduction of the phenomenon which is being simulated? So what is un-simultable? And why?
What are the artist doing in this direction?
Asimple information about the chemical senses:
http://www.slideshare.net/lwolberg/chemical-senses-smell-and-taste
Many times we have heard about the need of restructuring and redefining the communication, a critique about “balancing” and discussing the communication’s issues. Many important international events (like the almost concurrent Transmediale) seem devoted to the ethical issues of the communication. But maybe the problem is at a more general level, on the fact that from a sensory viewpoint the remote and mediated communication is poorer than the direct one because drops out an important part of the way we “get in touch” with each other. Hence we must admit we accepted to communicate more rapidly, over greater distance, in an increasingly affordable and economic way, but in exchange for an impoverished communication.
On the other side, in a world where the information is extensively simulated by the mass media and the new media - a topic debated in our first discussion last year in Yasmin - is there anything which can’t enter the realm of simulation, which can’t be simulated, hence reduced - since the simulation is always a reduction of the phenomenon which is being simulated? So what is un-simultable? And why?
What are the artist doing in this direction?
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We extensively use and live into simulation. In our everyday life we imagine situations, events, projects and decline them to the future: we simulate possible worlds and test them in a sort of permanent “what if” which is continuously... more
We extensively use and live into simulation. In our everyday life we imagine situations, events, projects and decline them to the future: we simulate possible worlds and test them in a sort of permanent “what if” which is continuously reworked and modified. This process has been methodologically formalized in the sciences, where we build models, simulations, which try to describe facts, events and phenomena. Models and simulations have a very important cognitive role in knowing and understanding the world we live in.
Simulations are in the way we represent the world, in tools like photography, cinema, and video. It is in the visualization systems we use to model any types of processes (natural, social...). It is in the images we use to communicate, in the computer built stories like the recent movie “Avatar” by Cameron. Simulations doesn’t only refer to images but to sounds too, since the sound synthesis, the acoustic effects, the multitrack recording studio’s possibilities literally build the sound of an artist, creating a sound space which is totally independent from the real, synchronous and direct dimension of the live concert. Moreover simulations can refer to other senses too, involving the taste, the smell and the touch as well, playing a pivotal role in communication and creation.
But there are also other kinds of simulations that could be called “behaviour simulations”. Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Robotics simulate the behaviour of the living organisms. Sometimes certain complex behaviours of the living organisms spontaneously may emerge in robotics, A-Life, synthetic biology, showing a sort of “third life” in evolution.
So, what is simulation? How does it work? Does it only stick to human representations or visualizations or does it refer to a more general realm? What are the layers (technological, social, imaginative, conventional) that construct simulation? Which conflicts and power relations (in material or technological and sociocultural terms) are involved in their construction? And how do we make sense of them? Can these mechanisms be modified, enhanced, re-elaborated through artistic practice?
Maybe you can find some insights in this paper (“Simulation as a Global Resource”) I presented to Consciousness Reframed X in Munich the last November, which you can find here ( http://www.noemalab.org/sections/ideas/ideas_articles/capucci_simulation_global_resource.html ).
The simulation topic on Yasmin will be moderated by Jennifer Kanary Nikolova and me."
Simulations are in the way we represent the world, in tools like photography, cinema, and video. It is in the visualization systems we use to model any types of processes (natural, social...). It is in the images we use to communicate, in the computer built stories like the recent movie “Avatar” by Cameron. Simulations doesn’t only refer to images but to sounds too, since the sound synthesis, the acoustic effects, the multitrack recording studio’s possibilities literally build the sound of an artist, creating a sound space which is totally independent from the real, synchronous and direct dimension of the live concert. Moreover simulations can refer to other senses too, involving the taste, the smell and the touch as well, playing a pivotal role in communication and creation.
But there are also other kinds of simulations that could be called “behaviour simulations”. Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Robotics simulate the behaviour of the living organisms. Sometimes certain complex behaviours of the living organisms spontaneously may emerge in robotics, A-Life, synthetic biology, showing a sort of “third life” in evolution.
So, what is simulation? How does it work? Does it only stick to human representations or visualizations or does it refer to a more general realm? What are the layers (technological, social, imaginative, conventional) that construct simulation? Which conflicts and power relations (in material or technological and sociocultural terms) are involved in their construction? And how do we make sense of them? Can these mechanisms be modified, enhanced, re-elaborated through artistic practice?
Maybe you can find some insights in this paper (“Simulation as a Global Resource”) I presented to Consciousness Reframed X in Munich the last November, which you can find here ( http://www.noemalab.org/sections/ideas/ideas_articles/capucci_simulation_global_resource.html ).
The simulation topic on Yasmin will be moderated by Jennifer Kanary Nikolova and me."
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Art and Science, Modeling and Simulation, Numerical Analysis, and 8 moreNew Media Art, Computational Mathematics, Simulation, Dynamic Systems and Control, Information Technology and System Integration, Optimization Technology, System Modeling and Simulation, and Integration Technology of Automation Systems
Research Interests: Sociology, Human Evolution, Social Anthropology, Symbolic Interaction, Open Source/Open Access and Libraries, and 11 moreComputer Mediated Communication, Symbolic Anthropology (Anthropology), Antropología, Knowledge Communities, Technology Enhanced Education, Developmental Work Research, Sociologia della comunicazione, Instructional Engineering, Innovation & Change Management, Open Distance Learning, and E Learning
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importance to respect the human sensorial system. Hence the real goal is tomodify the current systems and genres of communication or to design new ones.2. REPORTIt is well known that since 14OO and -for at least -four centuries... more
importance to respect the human sensorial system. Hence the real goal is tomodify the current systems and genres of communication or to design new ones.2. REPORTIt is well known that since 14OO and -for at least -four centuries subsequent—ly the construction o-F a tridimensional space on a bidimensional support has beena kind of obsession for artists very o+ten exorcised by employing perspectiverepresentation.But perspective is a visual strategy which makes it possible to see as ob—jective representations whose objectivity is theoretically and technically foundedon the 'point of view", that is on the most subjective and persontl element ofimage
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Nous soutenons la légitimité des différentes formes d'art qui s'expriment face aux sociétés de leur temps, même lorsqu'elles les célèbrent. Et dans le monde occidental elles trouvent leur raison d'être dans la différence,... more
Nous soutenons la légitimité des différentes formes d'art qui s'expriment face aux sociétés de leur temps, même lorsqu'elles les célèbrent. Et dans le monde occidental elles trouvent leur raison d'être dans la différence, qui a toujours été une valeur fondamentale de l'art. Il est difficile de décrire et de comprendre la complexité du monde d'aujourd'hui sans prendre en compte les approches artistiques, car l'art est une sorte de philosophie de la contemporanéité qui permet de comprendre le présent et regarder vers l'avenir. Mais cela exige une recherche artistique consciente, capable de sortir des poncifs traditionnels dans lesquels elle tend à s'enfermer, d'adopter une démarche transdisciplinaire, de dépasser la dimension anthropocentrique obtuse d'un simple reflet de l'être humain. Nous avons besoin d'un art éclairé, capable de prendre en compte aussi ce qui n'est pas humain (l'environnement, les autres espèces...), ...
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Tesi di laurea in Teoria e Tecnica dei Linguaggi Multimediali ... I. LE FORME DEL LINGUAGGIO CINEMATOGRAFICO ............................9 I.1 Alcune convenzioni del Cinema.................................... more
Tesi di laurea in Teoria e Tecnica dei Linguaggi Multimediali ... I. LE FORME DEL LINGUAGGIO CINEMATOGRAFICO ............................9 I.1 Alcune convenzioni del Cinema................................. ..........................................9 I.1.1 L'illusione cinematografica ........................................................... ...
Research Interests: Human Evolution, Social Anthropology, Symbolic Interaction, Open Source/Open Access and Libraries, Computer Mediated Communication, and 10 moreSymbolic Anthropology (Anthropology), Antropología, Knowledge Communities, Technology Enhanced Education, Developmental Work Research, Sociologia della comunicazione, Instructional Engineering, Innovation & Change Management, Open Distance Learning, and E Learning
In perception the boundaries between opposite qualities are often blurred and even indistinguishable. A door is generally considered as rectangular, but it can be viewed as really rectangular only from its central perpendicular axis, at... more
In perception the boundaries between opposite qualities are often blurred and even indistinguishable. A door is generally considered as rectangular, but it can be viewed as really rectangular only from its central perpendicular axis, at the crossing of the diagonals. When moving outside from this position, the door should appear more and more trapezoidal, but people still say it is rectangular (because they see it rectangular or because they know it is rectangular?). Moving from the center towards the side of the door, at the end finally the door appears as trapezoidal, but the point where this transformation occurs seems undetectable. This threshold between vision and knowledge is imperceptible and obscure. Something similar happens with the senses. The senses are considered as separate entities. Touch, hear, sight, smell and taste are generally described as distinct ways to detect the complexity of the phenomenal world, extracting the peculiar information that can drive life’s experience. But analyzing the way they work it clearly appears they are intermingled, they collaborate, the boundaries that are supposed to separate them are apparent: the senses are logically separable, but not separate. The sensorial system is a cohesive and interrelated continuum, in which the senses act in synergy with each other, exchanging functions, responsibilities, replacing each other, depending on the context and possible impairments. Continuity and discreteness, indistinguishability and distinction, inseparability and division, are qualities to individuate, describe, define, classify, modify and/or communicate the phenomena. This qualities are both theoretical and technical, since they depend from the general perspective of the analysis, from the goals to be pursued, from the scale at which the phenomena are observed and from the accuracy of the instruments that are used. What does lie there, in between?
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"According to the official science we perceive through the senses, which are usually considered as being five: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through the senses we detect and perceive what is “outside the body”,... more
"According to the official science we perceive through the senses, which are usually considered as being five: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through the senses we detect and perceive what is “outside the body”, the so called phenomenal reality, and we get in touch with the world, we can evaluate matter, energy and information in order to survive. Considering the senses as separate elements has no point, while considering them as a continuum with the ability to perceive the information at distance, proximity and contact, can show some interesting features. The sensory system can’t detect many kinds of information and matter generated by the natural processes and by the human activities. All these phenomena simply overcome our sensory faculties. And although we invented technologies, devices and machines which can expand our sensory capabilities there are many entities which still escape our detection (for instance the dark matter and energy in the universe). The simulation of reality or of the way the senses perceive reality becomes a common practice, from Parrhasius’ competition with Zeuxis – narrated by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in the first century of the Common Era – to the contemporary virtual images, from the Baroque trompe l’oeil representations to the cinema’s simulation of the movement, to the holographic “realities”... This in turn applies, with relevant differences in the substance of the information and in the technologies involved, in the sound, the smell, the taste and the touch realms... So, basically, we define what reality is through the senses, naked or expanded, and we build new realities tricking the senses, which are as real as the real they want to represent. Through the senses we build models of the world, in a turnover of models which arise, become dominant and fall, replaced by new ones seemingly better suited to explain the world, which spring out from the culture of the age they are born in. Our senses filter what our evolution selected to filter. Moreover many cultural filters limit further our vision. So “reality” escapes..."
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Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Simulation (Computer Science), Anthropology of the Body, Numerical Analysis, Technology and Society, and 7 moreComputational Mathematics, Simulation, Dynamic Systems and Control, Information Technology and System Integration, Optimization Technology, System Modeling and Simulation, and Integration Technology of Automation Systems
importance to respect the human sensorial system. Hence the real goal is tomodify the current systems and genres of communication or to design new ones.2. REPORTIt is well known that since 14OO and -for at least -four centuries... more
importance to respect the human sensorial system. Hence the real goal is tomodify the current systems and genres of communication or to design new ones.2. REPORTIt is well known that since 14OO and -for at least -four centuries subsequent—ly the construction o-F a tridimensional space on a bidimensional support has beena kind of obsession for artists very o+ten exorcised by employing perspectiverepresentation.But perspective is a visual strategy which makes it possible to see as ob—jective representations whose objectivity is theoretically and technically foundedon the 'point of view", that is on the most subjective and persontl element ofimage
"In a few years holography celebrated some important anniversaries: in 2010 the 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention; in 2011 the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to the Hungarian scientist Dennis Gabor... more
"In a few years holography celebrated some important anniversaries: in 2010 the 50th anniversary of the L.A.S.E.R. invention; in 2011 the 40th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to the Hungarian scientist Dennis Gabor for inventing holography; and in 2012 the 50th anniversary of the first holograms. Holography can create an accurate visual simulation, with total parallax: a replica of the real object made of light, which has the real object’s visual properties but is immaterial, intangible. The holographic images are volumetric and exist in a real and measurable space, and are not based on the Renaissance perspective, which can represent the three-dimensional physical space onto a bi-dimensional one. In a near future holography-based techniques will open up new possibilities in the visualization domain, allowing new visual worlds. In the meantime holography can be a useful technical and theoretical tool for reflecting on how our everyday mediascape works. The media can produce, reproduce and transmit bi-dimensional images on flat supports. The media system has a high coherence degree and the images share similar morphostructural rules, so they can be transferred from one medium to another without any fundamental information loss: bi-dimensionality and image-support coincidence appear to be at the basis of this high level of translatability. Conversely holograms can’t be displayed through the usual media without loosing their peculiarity: they require new displays, new visual media, new genres of communication, even if they hybridize with the existing media. Holography stands apart from the media realm, that in part explains the difficulties of this technique to emerge and integrate into the mediascape. Holography suggests a new visual universe within a culture where the visual simulation is the most effective communication system; and it let us reflect about the need for a more comprehensive definition of “image”. We can believe that future images will also be holographic and that we shall communicate more and more through them, in a delicate balance between presence and absence, immediacy and remoteness, materiality and immateriality, matter and energy. Holography can work as a model in science. For example in the study of the brain activity in the Holonomic Brain Theory, originated by Austrian psychologist Karl Pribram and initially developed in collaboration with physicist David Bohm for explaining the human cognition. Holography can also be a model in physics, in the idea of the physicist David Bohm of an “implicate order” in the universe, where the global structure can be found in each small part. The universe would be a gigantic and wonderfully detailed hologram. More recently, theoretical results about the black holes suggest that the idea of a holographic universe is a viable hypothesis. And in the field of the quantum gravity and string theories the “holographic principle” suggests that the entire universe can be considered as a two-dimensional information structure, and the three-dimensional world we observe is but a description at macroscopic scales and at low energies."
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... 5 See Walter Benjamin, op.cit. ... But to give a more general idea of power computing growth, I can recall that Deep Blue, the machine which in 1997 defeated the chess world champion Gary Kasparov, had a computing power of roughly 3... more
... 5 See Walter Benjamin, op.cit. ... But to give a more general idea of power computing growth, I can recall that Deep Blue, the machine which in 1997 defeated the chess world champion Gary Kasparov, had a computing power of roughly 3 millions MIPS, while one of today's most ...
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"is acrostic of the word ANT(H)ROPOCENE attempts to re#ect on the current geological era, in which human beings and their activities are blamed for the main causes of territorial, structural and climatic changes. "e initial eleven letters... more
"is acrostic of the word ANT(H)ROPOCENE attempts to re#ect on the current geological era, in which human beings and their activities are blamed for the main causes of territorial, structural and climatic changes. "e initial eleven letters (twelve with the H in brackets) enclose the incipit to adhere to an awareness of climate change. "e H in brackets represents the loss of humanity (a returnable vacuum), an emergency intervention (a climate holocaust). ANT(H)ROPOCENE was born within the project of art*science 2018 - Art & Climate Change conceived by Pier Luigi Capuc-ci, with the collaboration of Roberta Buiani. ANT(H)ROPOCENE is the space dedicated to the problem of climate change through a form of poetic expression leaving space for new “ecosystems of environmental thought”.
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Eduardo Kac is a celebrated artist worldwide, with research that has crossed through many techniques and art forms. Recently he created Space Poetry and Art, with an artwork, Inner Telescope, specifically conceived for zero gravity, which... more
Eduardo Kac is a celebrated artist worldwide, with research that has crossed through many techniques and art forms. Recently he created Space Poetry and Art, with an artwork, Inner Telescope, specifically conceived for zero gravity, which was made in space. With his activity Kac has raised many nodal questions on the transformations of society and culture, in a constant creative relationship with the culture, technology and science of his time. In his research communication, intended as mutual information exchange, as a dialogue, as a participation, is a fundamental topic, as he points out in the enclosed interview. This aptitude makes Kac a perfect interpreter of the resources and contradictions of the contemporary, with a strong vision on how the present time can possibly develop and evolve into the future. His interest in the theory of communication, linguistics, semiotics and philosophy, as well as his knowledge of technologies and scientific disciplines, outline a complex perso...
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... Search result page. Title: La "Terza Vita". Ipotesi sulla molteplicità del vivente. Author: Pier LuigiCapucci. Abstract: Journal: S&F_scienzaefilosofia.it. Issn: 20362927. EIssn: Year: 2009. Volume: 2. Issue:... more
... Search result page. Title: La "Terza Vita". Ipotesi sulla molteplicità del vivente. Author: Pier LuigiCapucci. Abstract: Journal: S&F_scienzaefilosofia.it. Issn: 20362927. EIssn: Year: 2009. Volume: 2. Issue: pages/rec.No: 185-193. Key words, Life ; art ; symbol ; langauages ; future. ...
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"eXistenZ è il nome di una sorta di videogame di ruolo, che si può giocare collettivamente, il quale a sua volta si trova all’interno di un altro gioco, transCendenZ. Il giocatore è totalmente immerso in una realtà... more
"eXistenZ è il nome di una sorta di videogame di ruolo, che si può giocare collettivamente, il quale a sua volta si trova all’interno di un altro gioco, transCendenZ. Il giocatore è totalmente immerso in una realtà virtuale “assoluta” che è pressoché indistinguibile dalla realtà “reale”, anche perché restituisce la completezza delle informazioni sensoriali (oltre che la vista e l’udito anche il tatto, l’olfatto, il gusto, ecc.). Il game funziona collegando direttamente un particolare dispositivo al sistema nervoso del giocatore mediante una “bioporta” situata sulla schiena, con un’operazione considerata ormai comune (nel mondo di eXistenZ sono rari coloro che non hanno installata una bioporta). Questo dispositivo è il Pod, una specie di joystick fatto di carne, di natura biologica, vivo, che entra in simbiosi psico-sensoriale con il giocatore. In eXistenZ bisogna sconfiggere dei nemici, veri o presunti, districandosi tra curiosi personaggi, doppi giochi, tradimenti, scontri tra fazioni (i “realisti”, che sono contro le realtà virtuali dei games e coloro che vivrebbero sempre in questi mondi fantastici), cercando di salvare il gioco conteso (eXistenZ, inventato da Allegra Geller, considerata una star di questo tipo di games), sullo sfondo di una guerra senza esclusione di colpi tra game companies. Nel film, ambientato in un futuro indefinibile nel quale i games hanno un ruolo centrale nell’esistenza quotidiana, la realtà supposta “reale” e quella del gioco ricreata dal Pod sono confuse, reale e virtuale si compenetrano senza soluzione di continuità. In eXistenZ i personaggi vogliono “vivere” nella realtà virtuale del gioco, considerano questa realtà superiore a quella “reale” perché quest’ultima è meno emozionante, è più “noiosa”. I vari piani di esistenza si intrecciano e convivono inestricabilmente, e il finale lascia aperto il dubbio su quale sia, e se in fondo esista davvero, una realtà unica e definitiva."