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Sep 06 2020 - 09:00

Sala Conferenze del Mart, Rovereto

After Covid-19: Extinguish or Change

Questioning what comes after the Covid-19 emergency is necessary, just as it is to remain clear-headed about what is happening in the midst of the pandemic and the "normalcy" from which we have distanced ourselves. Caffo seeks a universal discussion about what will be, committed to making the dialogue among all living beings an integral part of the future we are building. The need to recover an ancient relationship with nature, returning to experiences like those of Thoreau and Wittgenstein, seems to be the key to avoiding mistakes.

After all, what do a nature-loving thinker-writer who enjoys wandering, an enigmatic terrorist who was once a mathematics professor at Berkeley, a pioneering architect, and a brilliant philosopher who revolutionized not only their fields but also modern cognition of the world have in common? Four cabins. On the shores of a lake, in the depths of a forest, or in a rocky bay, four essential and archetypal dwellings through which life becomes one form of life among others: trees, earth, water, and animals. And humanity approaches a simplicity that subtracts from the essence of things.

Leonardo Caffo is a philosopher and co-curator of the Public Program 2020 at Triennale Milano. He teaches theoretical philosophy at the Polytechnic University of Turin and the phenomenology of contemporary visual arts at NABA in Milan. A host and author for Rai Radio 3, he collaborates with Corriere della Sera. Among his works are A come animale (2015) and Costruire futuri (2018), published by Bompiani, and La vita di ogni giorno (2016), Fragile umanità (2017), and Vegan (2018), published by Einaudi. His latest books include the novel Il cane e il filosofo (Mondadori, 2020), Dopo il Covid-19 (nottetempo, 2020), and Quattro capanne (nottetempo, 2020).