More and more, the acknowledgement takes root that precarity – or the critical uncertainty of not knowing one’s immediate future – constitutes a fundamental characteristic of the contemporary human condition. The need arises, therefore, to broaden the horizon of expert knowledge – and what one understands under this term – from the containers of science and policy towards the communities of practice that live through the consequences of capitalist restructuring.
In my own experience, I have found the interactive arts – theatre, visual arts and performance – to be an interesting way to broaden my horizon in such sense because, as it goes, different agents (human, non-human, and more-than-human) are typically caught up in the midst of artistic transformations.
Between 2012 and 2017 I have been member of a theatre company in Bologna by the name of The Compagnia dei rifugiati (Refugee Theatre), now called Cantieri Meticci. The company is directed by Pietro Floridia, who has a long experience with political and ‘travelling’ theatre. It originates in the theatre company ITC-San Lazzaro / Teatro dell-Argine. The group is made up of over 70 people from more than 30 nationalities, whose work focuses on crucial issues such as citizenship rights, racism and migration. Through the embodied experience of intercultural art, it wants to contribute to cultural dialogue and the promotion of lived diversity as a means of active social participation and cooperation.
Since 2015 I also collaborate with MIC|C (The Margin is the Center of Change) an anonymous collective composed of scientists, artists, and activists who engage in a participant research of the Margins. The collective’s goal is to occupy a permanent place in this liminal space, in order to reveal and to challenge its internal contradictions.
Other public engagements include digital gold, a traveling exhibition on the consequences of mineral supply chain formalization on the livelihoods of small-scale miners in Eastern DRC.
A summary of my recent public engagements can be read from my personal ORCID webpage.
