•  1612
    AI-aesthetics and the Anthropocentric Myth of Creativity
    with Lev Manovich
    NODES 1 (19-20). 2022.
    Since the beginning of the 21st century, technologies like neural networks, deep learning and “artificial intelligence” (AI) have gradually entered the artistic realm. We witness the development of systems that aim to assess, evaluate and appreciate artifacts according to artistic and aesthetic criteria or by observing people’s preferences. In addition to that, AI is now used to generate new synthetic artifacts. When a machine paints a Rembrandt, composes a Bach sonata, or completes a Beethoven …Read more
  •  403
    AI-aesthetics and the artificial author
    Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics. forthcoming.
    ABSTRACT. Consider this scenario: you discover that an artwork you greatly admire, or a captivating novel that deeply moved you, is in fact the product of artificial intelligence, not a human’s work. Would your aesthetic judgment shift? Would you perceive the work differently? If so, why? The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in the realm of art has sparked numerous philosophical questions related to the authorship and artistic intent behind AI-generated works. This paper explores the debat…Read more
  •  2
    This paper examines the transformative potential of performativity in reimagining the concept of dwelling and of domestic spaces. Drawing from enactivist and embodied cognition perspectives, we delve into the dynamic relationship between individuals, their bodies, and the architectural environment. Emphasising the role of bodily engagement, sensorimotor experiences, and interoceptive awareness, we explore how individuals actively participate in and shape their architectural surroundings. Moving …Read more
  •  16
    Wittgenstein and Repetition
    Wittgenstein-Studien 14 (1): 1-16. 2023.
    “I myself still find my way of philosophizing new, & it keeps striking me so afresh, & that is why I have to repeat myself so often. […] [R]epetitions […] [f]or me […] are necessary.” (CV 1998: 3e) Wittgenstein's style is well known for its recursive—and according to some interpreters, even obsessive-compulsive—quality, but they are part of a thinking method: “I suggest repetition as a means of surveying the connections.” (AWL 1979: 43) The style also mirrors recurring ideas such as “concepts ar…Read more
  •  3
    Farsi piacere: la costruzione del gusto
    Raffaello Cortina editore. 2016.
  •  339
    Techno-animism and the Pygmalion effect
    with Emanuele Arielli and Lev Manovich
    Http://Manovich.Net/Index.Php/Projects/Artificial-Aesthetics. forthcoming.
    Chapter 3 of the ongoing publication "Artificial Aesthetics" Book information: Assume you're a designer, an architect, a photographer, a videographer, a curator, an art historian, a musician, a writer, an artist, or any other creative professional or student. Perhaps you're a digital content creator who works across multiple platforms. Alternatively, you could be an art historian, curator, or museum professional. You may be wondering how AI will affect your professional area in general and your …Read more
  •  255
    “Even an AI could do that”
    Http://Manovich.Net/Index.Php/Projects/Artificial-Aesthetics. forthcoming.
    Chapter 1 of the ongoing online publication "Artificial Aesthetics: A Critical Guide to AI, Media and Design", Lev Manovich and Emanuele Arielli Book information: Assume you're a designer, an architect, a photographer, a videographer, a curator, an art historian, a musician, a writer, an artist, or any other creative professional or student. Perhaps you're a digital content creator who works across multiple platforms. Alternatively, you could be an art historian, curator, or museum professional.…Read more
  •  28
    Images share a common feature with all phenomena of imagination, since they make us aware of what is not present or what is fictional and not existent at all. From this perspective, the philosophical approach of Kendall Lewis Walton—born in 1939 and active since the 1960s at the University of Michigan—is perhaps one of the most notable contributions to image theory. Walton is an authoritative figure within the tradition of analytical aesthetics. His contributions have had a considerable influenc…Read more
  •  5
    Spheres of action. The technological shift of control
    Img-Journal 3 (2): 40-53. 2020.
    Social interaction and experience are defined by their action possibilities; that is, they can be analyzed from the perspective of performative control (or lack thereof), namely their dynamics of activity and passivity. What I am able to influence in my environment and what lies beyond my reach determines my disposition and identity in relation to others. In this regard, media and communication devices are not only technical forms capable of modulating physical distance, but they can also tran…Read more
  •  183
    The anxieties of control and the aesthetics of failure
    Studi di Estetica 19 (1). 2021.
    For many contemporary artists, failure has been an instrument of experimentation and self-expression, of investigation into existential questions and manifestation of utopian tensions. In this paper, I will discuss how some of the well-known strategies of experimental and avant-garde artistic practices with failure involve risky actions, challenging or impossible attempts, loss of control, and compulsive repetition of inconclusive acts. In those experimentations, the ideal model of an effective …Read more
  •  179
    One of the most important contributions in Roland Posner’s work (1993) was the extension and development of the Gricean paradigm on meaning (1957) in a systematic framework, providing thus a general foundation of semiotic phenomena. According to this approach, communication consists in behaviors or artifacts based on reciprocal assumptions about the intentions and beliefs of the subjects involved in a semiotic exchange. Posner’s model develops with clarity the hierarchical relationships of semi…Read more
  •  285
    Strategies of irreproducibility
    Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics 11 60-76. 2019.
    In this paper I focus on the topic of reproducibility (and irreproducibility) of aesthetic experience and effects, distinguishing it from the traditional subject of artifact reproducibility. The main aim is to outline a typology of the various kind of irreproducibility of aesthetic experience and to draw some implications for the aesthetic discussion concerning contemporary art. Depending on the type of artwork, we can define the difference (or the “ratio”) between aesthetic experience in the pr…Read more
  •  454
    Coolness, Aesthetic Agency and Self-Construction
    Zonemoda Journal 1 (10): 15-22. 2020.
    The notion of coolness is connected with a broad range of different meanings that involve personal attitude, taste, fashion choices but also the recognition of uniqueness and authenticity by others. Moreover, coolness is related to self-confidence and imperturbability, as the usual historical reconstructions of its meaning show. In fact, the manifestation of subjective invulnerability is the expression of the general need to avoid any weakness that could challenge one’s own autonomy through othe…Read more
  •  303
    In this paper, a particular case of deceptive use of images – namely, misattributions – will be taken in consideration. An explicitly wrong attribution (“This is a picture of the event X”, this not being the case) is obviously a lie or a mistaken description. But there are less straightforward and more insidious cases in which a false attribution is held to be acceptable, in particular when pictures are also used in their exemplary, general meaning, opposed to their indexical function in referri…Read more
  •  22
    Aesthetic opacity
    Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics. 2017.
    Are we really sure to correctly know what do we feel in front ofan artwork and to correctly verbalize it? How do we know what weappreciate and why we appreciate it? This paper deals with the problem ofintrospective opacity in aesthetics (that is, the unreliability of self-knowledge) in the light of traditional philosophical issues, but also of recentpsychological insights, according to which there are many instances ofmisleading intuition about one’s own mental processes, affective states orpref…Read more
  •  8
    Interpretativer Realismus: Günter Abels Zeichen- und Interpretationsphilosophie (review)
    Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 67 (6): 1049-1057. 2019.
  •  24
    The aesthetics and multimodality of Style
    with Emanuele Arielli and Martin Siefkes
    Peter Lang. 2018.
    Style research has a long and venerable tradition, but its results are highly fragmented. Style exists in language and literature, art and architecture – but every discipline has its own theories. New approaches in empirical aesthetics and multimodality call for broader perspectives. This book offers an overview of experimental research on style, and proposes a common theoretical basis. How do we perceive styles? How do styles change – and why? What is multimodal style? Are style and personality…Read more
  •  510
    Sharing as speech act
    Versus 127 243-258. 2018.
    Social media platforms allow users to perform different speech acts: status updates could be assertives, a like is an expressive, a friendship request is a directive, and so on. But sharing (or "retweeting") seems to lack a fixed illocutive status: this explains why present controversies concerning the sharing of misinformation have been debated in legal procedure and discussed from the point of view of personal responsibility without reaching a general consensus. The premise of this paper is th…Read more
  •  211
    Taste and the algorithm
    Studi di Estetica 12 (3): 77-97. 2018.
    Today, a consistent part of our everyday interaction with art and aesthetic artefacts occurs through digital media, and our preferences and choices are systematically tracked and analyzed by algorithms in ways that are far from transparent. Our consumption is constantly documented, and then, we are fed back through tailored information. We are therefore witnessing the emergence of a complex interrelation between our aesthetic choices, their digital elaboration, and also the production of content…Read more
  •  342
    In this paper I will discuss some issues related to a recent trend in experimental philosophy (or x-phi), and try to show the reasons of its late (and scarce) involvement with aesthetics, compared to other areas of philosophical investigation. In order to do this, it is first necessary to ask how an autonomous experimental philosophy of aesthetics could be related to the long-standing tradition of psychological experimental aesthetics. After distinguishing between a “narrow” and a “broad” approa…Read more
  •  13
    Sperimentazioni estetiche: sound art e concezioni dell’ascolto sonoro
    with Roberta Busechian
    Rivista di Estetica 66 47-60. 2017.
    L’obiettivo di questo articolo è mostrare come le recenti pratiche artistiche della “sound art” svolgano un ruolo rilevante nell’illustrare sensibilmente attraverso le loro opere alcuni differenti aspetti del dibattito sull’ontologia del suono e sulla fenomenologia dell’ascolto sonoro. La riflessione filosofica in questo campo è ricca di posizioni teoriche alternative e contrastanti. Tali modelli trovano corrispettivi nell’esperienza estetica della sound art, che dunque si può mostrare essere si…Read more
  • Il problema della razionalità in psicologia
    with Paolo Legrenzi
    Nuova Civiltà Delle Macchine 26 (4). 2008.