“Care is the result of how we organize our world and our ideas about it”.  – Renzo Taddei.

Starting from the essay by the anthropologist Renzo Taddei, titled “Intervention of Another Nature: Resources for Thinking in (and out of) the Anthropocene” – and selected by Artissima as the theme of the fair for 2023 – CURA. Magazine develops and presents The planetary curator, a cycle of encounters supported by Jaguar that invites thinkers, artists and curators to collectively reflect on the subject of “taking care”.

In his essay, Taddei encourages us to get beyond the narratives and myths of the western world, which through paradigms and beliefs have nurtured and constructed a form of otherness and superiority of humankind in relation to the surrounding context, returning instead to contact with other forms of knowledge, coexistence and thought, based on the example of native populations. Shifting towards collective practices is already an act of awareness, useful to activate the vital forces of the biosphere and to get past the paradigms that permeate our knowledge of things, and the categories of our language. The environmental crisis reflects the fact that the way we organize our world and our ideas is deeply dysfunctional, and has been dysfunctional throughout our history.

Architects, urbanists and designers are fundamental players in the construction of correlated experiences of and through space. Artists have an even broader task, that of transforming the models of perception of reality, the sensibilities and deeply rooted affective grammars, in order to push us from the inside, in an individual and collective way.

The cycle of encounters develops by intertwining approaches, methods, aspects and themes connected with different experiences, linguistic categories and narrations: after the encounter with Taddei, the director of collections of Fondation Cartier in Paris, Grazia Quaroni, shifts to a conversation with the French artist Fabrice Hyber, winner of the Leone d’Oro at the Biennale di Venezia in 1997 and founder of La Vallée, an area of hundreds of hectares devoted to the alternative of a new agriculture, and example of how art can become a vehicle for awareness of the use of the territory and its species. Fabrice Hyber then interacts with the design curator Domitilla Dardi, recently the inventor of the BioGrounds project on the Certosa Island in Venezia, where artists and designers have created performances and devices to raise public awareness regarding the life of trees, soil and the landscape. The discussion then extends to contemporary design, through the experience of Formafantasma and the duo’s research on the origin of materials, examining the supply chain and granting visibility to those who are without it, from trees to livestock. The encounter with Formafantasma continues with Lucia Pietroiusti, curator and Head of Ecologies at the Serpentine in London, sharing methodologies and approaches to environmental breakdown, systemic change and research as the central infrastructure of the work. Lucia Pietroiusti then concludes the series of encounters, conversing with Nicolas Bourriaud, writer, founder of Radicants, and artistic director of the Gwangju Biennial 2024, to address the issues of the impact of humankind on the planet and on other species.

“From social distancing due to the pandemic to climate change, including flooding, desertification, and rising sea levels due to global warming, humanity’s relationship with space has changed dramatically over the past few years. It is time for a profound discussion about our changed senses and perceptions of space.”  – Nicolas Bourriaud

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Renzo Taddei in conversation with Grazia Quaroni 

Grazia Quaroni in conversation with Fabrice Hyber

Fabrice Hyber in conversation with Domitilla Dardi

Domitilla Dardi in conversation with Formafantasma

Formafantasma in conversation with Lucia Pietroiusti

Lucia Pietroiusti in conversation with Nicolas Bourriaud

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Speakers: Renzo Taddei (Professor of Anthropology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brasil), Grazia Quaroni (Director of Colletions at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain), Fabrice Hyber (Artist), Domitilla Dardi (Historian and independent Curator of Design), Formafantasma (Research-based design studio), Lucia Pietroiusti (Curator and Head of Ecologies at Serpentine, London), Nicolas Bourriaud (Writer, founder of Radicants and Artistic Director of Gwangju Biennial 2024)