“Elements” – Paola Giacomoni

A new appointment for exploring the artist Matt Mullican’s artwork 102 Signs for a Museum Fence at Museion Passage. A talk by the History of Philosophy lecturer, Paola Giacomoni.

The talk will be available from Tuesday 2nd March on the Museion YouTube channel “MUSEIONbz”

This Museion initiative that features five online interviews inspired by the American artist, Matt Mullican’s artwork “102 Signs for a Museum Fence” seeks to weave a conversation between art and various other disciplines, such as neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, literature and design. The installation, which has been on display on the ground floor of Museion since last November, marks the opening of a new format at Passage, in which works from the museum collection will be exhibited independently of the other exhibitions on display.

The fourth event in the programme hosts Paola Giacomoni. In her talk, the philosopher and history of philosophy lecturer examines the complex system of colored symbols and pictograms that in Mullican’s installation reflect the world in which we live. With an approach similar to many philosophers, Matt Mullican uses his art that codifies the world to read and order what surrounds him. In particular, Giacomoni focuses on what the artist calls the world of matter and the elements. Philosophy considers our relationship with nature and the way we relate to the world around us. Living in our daily dimension, we find it difficult to perceive larger ones, like the cosmos and the problems linked to it, such as climate change or pandemics. In this sense, the history of philosophy can help us widen our perspectives to include the phenomena around us that are too powerful and too evident to be ignored. So, philosophy, like art, helps us provide keys to understanding the contemporary world.

Paola Giacomoni will give her talk in Italian. Versions of the video with English and German subtitles will be available on the Museion YouTube channel.

Watch the video interview

Paola Giacomoni teaches History of Philosophy at the University of Trento. Her works include numerous international essays and her monographs include: Le forme e il vivente. Morfologia e filosofia della natura in J.W. Goethe, Naples 1993; Il laboratorio della natura. Paesaggio montano e sublime naturale in età moderna, Milan, 2001; Ardore. Quattro prospettive sull’ira da Achille agli Indignados, Carocci, Rome, 2014. She has also edited together with colleagues, the forthcoming volume, The Dark Side. Philosophical Reflections on the “negative emotions”, Springer, New York, 2021.

Next week there will be a discussion with the designer, Antonino Benincasa.