Attractor: Franco Torriani

What are the hopes and fears of becoming a hybrid in a de-modern scenario? How to understand neo-biological civilization and its anxieties? Can artists and creative practitioners substantially contribute, by cross researches and productions, to the treatment of major diseases and chronic pains? When it comes to uncertainty, a complex set of our thoughts and attitudes of doubt is based on an archaic and suspicion-led skepticism linked to “dubitare”, the vibration. Where is our hybrid frontier, if we have one? “Hybrids exist, they are among and with us…”(Bernard Andrieu). Therefore, let us critically reflect on neuromutation, our “immersion into the tissue of the world” (Polona Tratnik) where we all act as “mutalogues” (Louis Bec), interconnected with other biomasses, cultures, and artifacts, being immersed in a world of a dreadful crisis, looking for invariants in the middle of omnipresent mutation(s).

Biography: Franco Torriani (Turin 1942). Graduated in Economics at University of Turin, he studied the relations between economy and social environment. Independent consultant in external relations and communication strategy, he worked on setting up several cultural events and contributed to many publications. From the early 1970s, he has been studying the interactions between science, technology, old and new creative media. In recent years he has specially focused on the relationship between the forms and means of expression and Life Sciences. He is member of the Board of Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes (Saint-Cloud, France – Chairman from 1998 to 2007); member, from the late 1980s, of Ars Technica (Turin, Paris), founding member of ArsLab (Turin) and editorial consultant for http://noemalab.org/.