Lo stato dell’arte – Philippe Descola

“Lo stato dell’arte”, the programme promoted by Palazzo Grassi and curated by the philosopher Barbara Carnevali, is making its return. It invites personalities from the world of culture to reflect on the state of the art today, through a conference and an original essay published by Marsilio Arte, Venice, in collaboration with Palazzo Grassi.

After the writer Rachel Cusk and the philosopher Judith Butler, Philippe Descola, one of the leading anthropologists, presents “L'arte prima dell'arte” (2024) his contribution made at the invitation of Palazzo Grassi and published by Marsilio Arte, translated by Alberto Folin.

Philippe Descola (Parigi, 1949), disciple and successor of Claude Lévi-Strauss, has taught at the Collège de France and is member of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. After having extensively worked in the field ethnology of the Amazon, Descola has for several years devoted himself to comparative anthropology, reflecting on the plurality of ontologies (the different ways of "constructing the world") and the relationships between human and non-human beings. His major publication, "Beyond Nature and Culture" (2005), marked a turning point in contemporary debate for its theoretical implications and influence on ecological movements. In his most recent research, Descola has been interested in the anthropology of images and art. His latest book "Les formes du visibles" (2021) is in the process of being translated into Italian.